THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST to be streamed for free by National Theatre At Home

Photo credit: Marc Brenner

The National Theatre has announced the return of Take Your Seats – the special weeklong streaming initiative from National Theatre at Home allowing anyone, anywhere, to access world-class theatre for free. This year, the National Theatre production of The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, directed by Max Webster, will be available to stream worldwide on YouTube from 12 March.

Audiences can tune in for a digital watch-along YouTube premiere at 7pm GMT with the opportunity to interact through a chat function and engage in polls during the show. Captioned, audio described, and BSL options will also be available. The play will be available for free on YouTube until 18 March and will release to National Theatre at Home for subscribers on 19 March.

Three-time Olivier Award-winner Sharon D Clarke was joined by Ncuti Gatwa, Ronkẹ Adékọluẹ́jọ́, Eliza Scanlen, and Hugh Skinner in this joyful reimagining captured live from its National Theatre run in winter 2024/2025. The filming was then released in cinemas around the world with National Theatre Live reaching over 175,000 people.

Max Webster’s ‘exuberant, joyous and celebratory’ (Financial Times) production has since transferred to the Noel Coward Theatre in London’s West End with cast including Olly Alexander, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Hugh Dennis, Shobna Gulati, Kitty Hawthorne, Jessica Whitehurst, Hayley Carmichael and Stephen Fry, in a co-production with Sonia Friedman Productions, where it played to critical acclaim and packed houses from 18 September 2025 - 10 January 2026.

For more info on The Importance of Being Earnest, please click here