National Theatre Live: Young Marx

1850, and Europe’s most feared terrorist is hiding in Dean Street, Soho. Broke, restless and horny, the thirty-two-year-old revolutionary is a frothing combination of intellectual brilliance, invective, satiric wit, and child-like emotional illiteracy. Creditors, spies, rival revolutionary factions and prospective seducers of his beautiful wife all circle like vultures. His writing blocked, his marriage dying, his friend Engels in despair at his wasted genius, his only hope is a job on the railway. But there’s still no one in the capital who can show you a better night on the piss than Karl Heinrich Marx.

Directed by Nicholas Hytner, National Theatre Live: Young Marx leans on a strong ensemble — Rory Kinnear, Nicholas Burns, Oliver Chris — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about comedy titles of 2017.