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Much-loved Waterloo theatre The Old Vic has announced a whole raft of new online initiatives responding to London’s lockdown. Your Old Vic brings the spirit of the institution into your home, with loads of educational resources, a scheme to help with employment in the hard-hit theatre sector, and a series of full-length online streams of Old Vic archive productions. These shows will be hosted for free on the Old Vic’s YouTube channel, starting with ‘A Monster Calls’ from 2018. This heart-wrenching, Olivier Award-winning show tells the story of a 13-year-old-boy, Conor, who is visited by a monster every night.
Plays released at various times, check website for details. Free.

If you love queer cinema, the LGBTQ+ specialists at Peccadillo Pictures are here for you with a series of Thursday night director Q&As, tied in with a recent release. You’ll need to stream the film in question and then send questions to the filmmaker via Peccadillo’s YouTube channel before 8.45pm BST each Thursday.
Thursdays, 8.45pm. Free.

Manchester International Festival is a highlight on the calendar of any arts and culture-lover – and its virtual offering will certainly keep fans happy. MIF Live will stream hit shows from the archives, as well as new talks from creatives and specially commissioned work from Manchester artists. 
Various times, check website for details. Free.

London’s National Theatre has been keeping audiences at home the world over on the edge of their sofas during lockdown by streaming plays from its archive on YouTube for free every Thursday night. The first two months of plays from the cherished institution have been hugely popular, and June’s programming is just as packed with star-studded productions. Catch James Graham’s political satire ‘This House’ until June 4; then at 7pm on June 4, watch Tom Hiddleston take to the Donmar Warehouse stage as Coriolanus. The play remains free to watch for a week after screening, and comes with bonus content including cast and creatives Q&As and post-stream talks. 
Thursdays, 7pm. Free.

Calling all musical-theatre lovers: this one’s for you. Following the closure of all London’s playhouses, much-loved venue The Theatre Café and Lambert Jackson productions launched Leave a Light On, a series of intimate piano-and-voice concerts starring some of the biggest names in the biz. For just £7.50 you can watch concerts by stars from hit West End musicals including ‘Everybody’s Talking About Jamie’ and ‘Waitress’. That’s your theatre fix sorted, plus you’ll be helping out an industry doing it tough.
Line-ups released weekly, three sessions Mon-Fri. £7.50 per show.

Film streaming services are a lifeline for everyone in self-isolation right now, but it can never really compare to going to the cinema, followed by dissecting the movie with your friends once the credits have rolled. To try and revive the spirit of communal film watching, Viral Film Festival wants you to join in a mass movie-watching-session organised via Instagram. Here’s how it’s going to play out: they pick the film, tell you the best place to watch it, and when it’s over, everyone meets up on Insta for an interactive discussion about it with the festival’s curators (playwright Brian Mullin and Irish film festival programmer Seán McGovern). Each week’s programme will be announced on the festival’s Instagram. Previous films have included ‘Thelma and Louise’ and ‘Little Shop of Horrors’. 
Thursday-Saturday, 7.30pm. Free.

Cirque du Soleil can’t perform to a live audience right now, so it’s taking the show online. Every Friday at 8pm BST, the troupe will share the most impressive moments from its larger-than-life shows on CirqueConnect, its new digital hub. The tension and spectacle will never be the same as the live events, but at least these are completely free.
Fridays, 8pm. Free.

London’s iconic Royal Albert Hall is closed for the first time since the Second World War. While it’s on a temporary hiatus, the giant oval building will be taking its concerts straight to the living rooms of musicians, storytellers and artists for the new digital initiative called #RoyalAlbertHome. It began with a beautiful set from singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright, and continues with classical concerts, readings and even a science, music and comedy show called ‘Sea Shambles’. Concerts are available to watch once the broadcast is over.
Daily, various times. Free.