The Iliad Online: Mark Gatiss, John Simm, Kate Fleetwood take part in epic 15-hour live performance
More than 60 artists are performing the live reading of Homer's 15,000 line poem – and you can stream it now
Mark Gatiss, Simon Russell Beale, Lesley Manville, John Simm, Ben Whishaw and Kate Fleetwood are just some of the actors taking part in a truly epic production.
They will be part of a 60-strong cast performing a live reading of Homer's Greek tragedy The Iliad, streamed for over 15 hours from the British Museum – it's happening now and you can watch it here.
Every word of the 15,000 line poem will be performed by stars of stage and screen in a relay reading starting at 9am on Friday 14th August and continuing long into the night.
Simon Russell Beale was first up on Friday morning after Professor Simon Goldhill kicked off proceedings by reading the first 50 lines in Ancient Greek.
Director Rupert Goold said he was inspired by Dermot O'Leary's 24-hour Comic Relief dance-a-thon.
Sherlock's Mark Gatiss, James Bond stars Ben Wishaw and Rory Kinnear, Doctor Who's John Simm and The Widower's Kate Fleetwood will all be taking part throughout the day.
See the full list of performers taking part below
Nikki Amuka-Bird
Adjoa Andoh
Pippa Bennett-Warner
Katie Brayben
Lorna Brown
Simon Callow
Bertie Carvel
Oliver Chris
Simon Coates
Brian Cox
Sinéad Cusack
Adrian der Gregorian
Joe Dixon
Monica Dolan
Amanda Drew
Lisa Dwan
Noma Dumezweni
Tim Dutton
Caroline Faber
Will Featherstone
Stephen Fewell
Susannah Fielding
Deborah Findlay
Annie Firbank
Kate Fleetwood
Barbara Flynn
Naomi Frederick
Mariah Gale
Mark Gatiss
Julian Glover
Simon Goldhill
Scott Handy
Janine Harouni
Kevin Harvey
John Heffernan
Joshua Higgott
Will Houston
Rory Kinnear
Lesley Manville
Eleanor Matsuura
Ian McDiarmid
Tobias Menzies
Hattie Morahan
Jonjo O'Neill
Tim Pigott-Smith
Ben Porter
Prasanna Puwanarajah
Paul Ready
Jenna Russell
Simon Russell Beale
Annabel Scholey
Michael Shaeffer
John Simm
Jonathan Slinger
Sharon Small
Matthew Spencer
Gavin Spokes
Janet Suzman
Tafline Steen
Luke Thompson
Samuel West
Ben Whishaw
Lia Williams
Angus Wright
Hara Yannas
