TWO live screenings from London will take place at Helmsley Arts Centre this week.

The Royal Shakespeare Company's current production of The Merchant of Venice will screened live on Wednesday, July 22, at 7pm, directed by Polly Findlay.

In the melting pot of Venice, trade is God. With its ships plying the globe, the city opens its arms to all, as long as they come prepared to do business and there is profit to be made. With the gold flowing all is well, but when a contract between Bassanio and Shylock is broken, simmering racial tensions boil over. A wronged father, and despised outsider, Shylock looks to exact the ultimate price for a deal sealed in blood.

On Friday, July 24, at 7.30pm, the National Theatre's production of Everyman, starring BAFTA winner and Academy Award nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) will be screened, as a "captured live" performance.

This dynamic new production of one of English drama’s oldest plays is directed by the National Theatre’s new director Rufus Norris (Broken, London Road). Everyman is successful, popular and riding high when death comes calling. He is forced to abandon the life he has built and embark on a last, frantic search to recruit a friend, anyone, to speak in his defence. But death is close behind, and time is running out. One of the great primal, spiritual myths, Everyman asks whether it is only in death that we can understand our lives.

A cornerstone of English drama since the 15th century, it now explodes onto the stage in a startling production with words by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy and movement by Javier De Frutos.

To book, phone the box office on 01439 771700 or online at helmsleyarts.co.uk