SOME PEOPLE find it difficult to see the points of watching a live show on a cinema screen. Until you say: “Bill Nighy… close-up.”

Ah, yes, that puts a different complexion on it. Perhaps even enough to lead you to see a transmission of a 20-year-old play by David Hare, who never quite convinces of his lasting worth. Of course, Nighy, and Carey Mulligan, who stars with him in Skylight, are both powerful actors.

RichMix Cinema in Shoreditch is offering the show from the comfort of its cinema seats “at a fraction of the cost” for one night only. A fraction, really? You might get tickets for a performance at Wyndham’s Theatre for not much more, although its seats will be more Ryanair than Singapore Airlines. And the broadcast version comes via cameras placed around the the auditorium to ensure that cinema audiences get the best view.

The synopsis, from a blurb that reads in parts like the Great McGonagall, says that on a bitterly cold evening, schoolteacher Kyra Hollis (Mulligan) receives an unexpected visit from her former lover, Tom Sergeant (Nighy), a successful  restaurateur whose wife has recently died. As the evening progresses, the two attempt to rekindle their once passionate relationship…

Never mind the florid prose, The Guardian reviewer gave the play 5 stars.

RichMix’s Negede Assefa says: “There are lots of theatre fans among RichMix members, local Shoreditch [sic] residents and the growing number of visitors to the area and we’re delighted to be able to continue offering… very good combined cinema/theatre experience… wide audience… truly diverse programme… timely revival… high demand.”

You get the picture.

Hamish Scott 270414

* Main picture, by John Haynes: Nighy and Mulligan in the play.

* Skylight will be screened at RichMix, 35 Bethnal Green Road, Shoreditch E1 6LA (020 7613 7498), on Thurs 17 July 2014 at 7pm: £16.50, members £14.50, concessions £13.50. Good disabled access

*  Wyndham’s Theatre, 32 Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA 

* Emboldened underscored words in most cases indicate a hyperlink, a reader service rare among websites. If a link does not work, it is probably because the site to which the URL refers has not been maintained.