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The stages are shut and we’re all stuck indoors, but there are plenty of options to bring the stage to your living room
Digital theatre has come a very long way since the first lockdown in March 2020: initially, a number of big institutions threw open their digital archives to allow free streaming of the productions they’d pre-recorded for cinema or archive. As time wore on, an increasing number of original works of digital theatre have been created, while several theatres – notably the Old Vic – have opted to stream fully live performances from empty theatres, a practice that is allowed to continue during lockdowns.
While some shows are simply now available to stream indefinitely, this is a round up of shows that are either performed live or only available to watch for a limited time. Many of them are pay-for and ticketed.
There’s also a basic round-up of digital streaming platforms.
What is it? Shakespeare’s Globe’s digital platform.
What’s on it? More than 130 professionally filmed plays from the Globe’s vaults, mostly Shakespeare (duh) but also a couple of other tragedies including ‘The Duchess of Malfi’ starring Gemma Arterton (pictured).
What does it cost? From £3.99 to rent a play and from £5.99 to own one, plus some compilation bundles.
What is it? A Netflix-style streaming service for Digital Theatre’s purpose-made recordings of various plays, operas and dance.
What’s on it? It’s a tiny bit random, veering from West End to fringe, but lots of juicy stuff, with heavy hitters including Richard Armitage in ‘The Crucible’ (pictured) and Sheridan Smith in ‘Funny Girl’.
What does it cost? It’s £9.99 a month for full access, or you can rent an individual show for £7.99.
What is it? A streaming player which has a chunk of RSC Shakespeare shows plus a lot of miscellaneous opera and dance from across the globe.
What’s on it? David Tennant in ‘Richard II’ is the pick of the RSC stuff; or if you want to get into opera there’s a complete Ring Cycle on there.
What does it cost? £8.99 a month or £69.99 a year, but it’s offering a 30-day free trial during the pandemic, which is cool.
What is it? After keeping us sane in summer 2020 by putting a play a week onto YouTube for free, the NT has launched a subscription service that might actually make some money.
What’s on it? Loads and loads of stuff, with more plays added by the NT each month.
What does it cost? £9.99 a month or £99.98 a year, or individual shows can be ‘rented’ for 72 hours, at either £7.99 (cinema quality NT Live recording) or £5.99 (lower quality archive recording).
What is it? A new theatre streaming platform, mostly based around musicals, but with a couple of plays and the promise of concerts in the future.
What’s on it? A fairly random selection of things - ‘Kinky Boots’ is probably the biggest musical, John Logan’s ‘Red’ the biggest play.
What does it cost? £4.99 per show.
London’s most famous dance theatre is laying on a free programme of work, including full productions and dance workshops.
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