Terry Pratchett’s Nation broadcast live from the National Theatre in London to a screen near you – in the QFT, to be precise

‘Sometimes you’d see the puppets crawling across the stage towards you out of the corner of your eye,’ Gary Carr shudders. ‘That was strange.’

Carr is the young actor playing Mau in the stage adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s Nation,and he eventually got used to his wooden cast mates. ‘You stop looking at them in bits,’ he explains. ‘They’re not the puppet and the two people working them; they’re a character in the play, in that world.’

Nation is currently playing at the National Theatre in London, but the matinee performance on January 30 will be showing in the Queen’s Film Theatre (QFT) in Belfast, as part of the National Theatre Live Season. Each show is filmed in high definition and broadcast to 300 venues around the world, from Birmingham to Japan.

‘It’s amazing!’ Carr exclaims. ‘It feels great that so many people are able to see our work. To me that’s such a brilliant thing. I’m grateful to be a part of the NT Live Season and it’s something I’ll remember forever.’