The Guardian is to stream performances of acclaimed plays staged at Hampstead theatre about the NHS in crisis and the artist Ai WeiWei’s 2011 imprisonment.
The first production, Tiger Country, is written by Nina Raine, whose dramas include Consent and Tribes. Raine directs her own 2014 revival of the play, which was first staged at Hampstead in 2011 and follows a group of doctors and nurses at a London hospital during December, its busiest time of year. Indira Varma (Game of Thrones) stars as a registrar in the fast-paced drama, which combines plotlines about pressure, prejudice and romance. Tiger Country will be available to watch on the Guardian and Hampstead theatre’s websites from 10am on 20 April until 10pm on 26 April.
Tiger Country will be followed by #AIWW: The Arrest of Ai Weiwei, which was directed by James Macdonald in 2013. Howard Brenton’s play is based on a book by Barnaby Martin about the 81-day detention and interrogation of Ai Weiwei by the Chinese government in 2011. Benedict Wong stars as the artist and activist. The production will be available to watch from 10am on 27 April until 10pm on 3 May.
Neither production has been streamed before by the Guardian, which this month has brought back previous live-streams of Mike Bartlett’s play Wild, Beth Steel’s Wonderland and Drawing the Line, Brenton’s play about the partition of India. Drawing the Line is available to watch until 10pm on 19 April.
