A slew of National Theatre Live screenings at Connecticut arts venues this month, with markedly morbid themes. Ridgefield Playhouse and Fairfield University’s Quick Center both offer the series, which emanates, naturally, from the National Theatre in London.

“National Theatre Live” could be seen as a misnomer, as these are not live broadcasts but rather pre-recorded performances. On the other hand, they are unaugmented live stage performances filmed for posterity.

“Live” is also an amusing designation when there’s so much dog gowned death in these shows. October screenings include:

Othello, which was shown in Fairfield last month and is at Ridgefield Oct. 14. It stars Adrian Lester as the Moor and Rory Kinnear as his sinister right-hand man Iago.

Macbeth (Oct. 17 in Fairfield, Oct. 21 in Ridgefield) marks the return of Kenneth Branagh to live Shakespeare,  in a much less heroic role than, say, Henry V.

Danny Boyle’s production of Frankenstein, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Lee Miller, is sewn together on Halloween night, Oct. 31, in Ridgefield and Nov. 1 at the Quick Center.

Not as scary, but one of the Live at the Metropolitan Opera attractions this month is shostakovich’s creepy adaptation of the Russian Absurdist allegory The Nose.