19 Unmissable Online Theatre Experiences

Special The Show Must Go Online
19 Unmissable Online Theatre Experiences
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With Broadway still dark, and in-person shows few and far between, online theatre continues to bring entertainment to your home. Some shows replicate and recreate the feeling of sitting in an audience sharing live art with fellow theatre-goers, while others make the online experience different and unique. All of them help us keep the love of theatre alive and discover performances we may never have seen under normal circumstances. Here’s our pick of the season’s most interesting online shows and the best platforms to find them on.

By Fiona Brutscher

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Special The Show Must Go Online
19 Unmissable Online Theatre Experiences.
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User Not Found is an impressive example of how a play already perfectly suited to the digital stage may evolve and possibly even be improved when reimagined as an online-only performance. UK-based site-specific theatre company Dante or Die asks the question, “What happens to your digital life after you die?”, and aims to find the answers in an immersive video podcast made for smartphone viewing. While the original premiere performance at Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2018 was well received, the new format allows viewers to sit with their own thoughts and feelings on the subject, intensifying the effect. The new digital adaptation is available to watch for free here.

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Special The Show Must Go Online
19 Unmissable Online Theatre Experiences.
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What’s a zoomsical? To find out, click here to read an interview with writer and director Haddon Kime, who invented the novel online format and brought us the first of its kind… or watch online now! Lag: A Zoomsical was merely the first of many immersive online productions to debut under the portmanteau coined by Kime in March. If you enjoy this musical comedy, filmed and presented with video conferencing software, then go on out there and find more!

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Special The Show Must Go Online
19 Unmissable Online Theatre Experiences.
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The Abbey Theatre is on any arts enthusiast’s must-visit list during a trip to Dublin. The National Theatre of Ireland has faced existential challenges before in its 116-year history, and its work has always been intertwined with the history of the island and the Republic. This year, it has taken the forced closure of the physical theatre stage as an opportunity to take stock of where the country stands. Dear Ireland, a series of 50 monologues written by 50 writers and performed by 50 actors, remains online until November.

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Special The Show Must Go Online
19 Unmissable Online Theatre Experiences.
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If all these screened performances feel, quite literally, flat, you could try adding a third dimension. Virtual reality theatre subscription service LIVR offers 360° VR viewings of live performances from a wide range of theatres. Once you register, you get a headset into which you can insert your smartphone. The app then gives you access to one show per month. The result may just be the closest thing to live theatre that’s still compatible with social distancing. The first month is free, so you can find out whether it scratches that itch for you, risk-free.

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Special The Show Must Go Online
19 Unmissable Online Theatre Experiences.
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Despite the wealth of online performances available, the lack of a personal connection between audience and performance is often noticeable; Performance for One proves that you don’t have to share a physical space to create that connection. The 25-minute one-on-one performance is usually presented by a rotating cast from New York-based Untitled Theater Company #61, always by one performer for one audience member at a time. Although a number of in-person performances are currently scheduled to take place in NYC during October and November, viewers from anywhere in the world can book a private slot online. [Photo via untitledtheater.com]

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Special The Show Must Go Online
19 Unmissable Online Theatre Experiences.
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Original Theatre Online delivers exactly what its name advertises. Most recently, the group formerly known as Original Theatre Company ended the successful run of Watching Rosie, adapted from an existing play into a video chat format suited to our times. The troupe’s next performance is a crowdfunded production of new online play Apollo 13: The Dark Side of the Moon. Partly based on transcripts from the ill-fated space mission 50 years ago, it lends a whole new meaning to “being stuck inside”.

6/19
Special The Show Must Go Online
19 Unmissable Online Theatre Experiences.
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Another performance that deals explicitly with the lockdown theme is a world-premiere triple bill of contemporary dance and ballet that was filmed in the empty Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield, UK, and is available on demand until 18 October. Locked Down. Locked In. But Living. is the succession of titles tying together the three choreographies grappling with isolation, loneliness and escapism.

7/19
Special The Show Must Go Online
19 Unmissable Online Theatre Experiences.
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Also from Lawrence Batley Theatre comes an elaborate adventure that will keep kids entertained for a full week. Charlotte Holmes, Super Detective is an interactive theatrical experience that casts children aged 7-11 in the role of assistant sleuth. It all begins with an activity box, which can be ordered online and is delivered by mail. The clues contained within kick off the mystery, to be solved by the main character in a series of online episodes, enhanced by offline elements, spread out over seven days.

8/19
Special The Show Must Go Online
19 Unmissable Online Theatre Experiences.
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London’s Unicorn Theatre has also been looking after the littlest theatre buffs during lockdown and continues to provide entertainment for them with The Twits online, a theatrical reading of Roald Dahl’s story. The three-part video series is guaranteed to gross out and delight young viewers with tales of Mr and Mrs Twit, “the nastiest couple you could ever hope (not) to meet.” Perfect for those days when the adults don’t have time for story time.

9/19
Special The Show Must Go Online
19 Unmissable Online Theatre Experiences.
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The Ministry of Mundane Mysteries has announced a new season launching in autumn. Judging by the success of their interactive telephone play’s spring and summer run, you should probably book a slot as early as possible. As the name suggests, the immersive theatre group/detective agency specialises in solving everyday mysteries. The set-up works like remote improv theatre, with a case developing over a series of daily phone calls in which you, the client, give clues to the detective on the other end of the line and follow them on their journey to a satisfactory solution. [Photo via mundanemysteries.com]

10/19
Special The Show Must Go Online
19 Unmissable Online Theatre Experiences.
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From their base in Oxford, Creation Theatre have produced a string of plays that make the most of online formats. After the riotous Alice, a Virtual Theme Park and a cheeky Merry Wives of WhatsApp, a live Zoom performance of Macbeth is next on the programme. The production is filmed live and lets the potentially spooky setting in a closed theatre inform the mystery of the action. At the end of the year, you can look forward to a seasonal performance of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

11/19
Special The Show Must Go Online
19 Unmissable Online Theatre Experiences.
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If the immersive element is what attracts you to these productions, find more interactive livestreams on Everything Immersive, a new platform dedicated to showcasing innovative online entertainment formats. It features experiences from a variety of genres and for different age groups, but the one thing they all have in common is a willingness to experiment and engage in collaboration with a distanced audience.

12/19
Special The Show Must Go Online
19 Unmissable Online Theatre Experiences.
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As anyone with even the most basic knowledge of Elizabethan theatre knows, contemporary productions of the Bard’s plays were bawdy, participatory affairs that involved much cheering, jeering, booing and shouting. Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre usually honours this tradition by staging plays in a replica of the original London playhouse, recreating the experience for a modern audience. Within the current limitations, they are streaming pre-recorded productions, but also inviting audience participation, for example with online workshops, storytelling sessions and resources for budding actors, directors and producers.

13/19
Special The Show Must Go Online
19 Unmissable Online Theatre Experiences.
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For a more lo-fi, but no less engaging take on the Bard, tune in to The Show Must Go Online for a weekly dramatic live reading of a Shakespeare play. British actor Robert Myles started organising the Zoom performances in March and has been recruiting colleagues to go through the plays in the (assumed) order in which they were written. You can set yourself a reminder to join each performance as it happens and participate in the live chat, or view all 28 performances to date from the archive. If they inspire you to delve deeper into the language – or you simply want to support the creator of the project – you can purchase the Shakespeare Deck, a set of cards he designed to “crack Shakespeare’s codes and wield the full power of his words.”

14/19
Special The Show Must Go Online
19 Unmissable Online Theatre Experiences.
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Most of the online streaming options that received widespread attention earlier this year came from some of the biggest cultural institutions all over the world. Smaller houses and theatre companies putting out individual works on their own platforms also reached their audiences, but Scenesaver helps them pool their resources to attract more eyeballs. The streaming service features the work of small, independent theatres, with many Off West End productions, as well as plays, musicals, immersive projects and fringe festival performances from all over the UK and beyond.

15/19
Special The Show Must Go Online
19 Unmissable Online Theatre Experiences.
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New York’s legendary Wooster Group has made some archival footage available online. If there are no trips to downtown Manhattan in your immediate future, these live recordings, excerpts and recorded rehearsals may be the next best thing. Performances include sneak peeks of the ongoing rehearsals for a Kickstarter-funded production of Bertolt Brecht’s The Mother – a unique opportunity to look behind the scenes and experience the process of creating a play that will one day see the light of stage.

16/19
Special The Show Must Go Online
19 Unmissable Online Theatre Experiences.
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Last chance to catch: Curve Theatre already wowed us with a free stream of My Beautiful Launderette, adapted by Hanif Kureishi who wrote the film‘s screenplay, which had been performed at the theatre in Leicester last year. Now you can watch another film adaptation, Romantics Anonymous, which premiered in an online livestream and is being performed live daily until 5 October.

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Special The Show Must Go Online
19 Unmissable Online Theatre Experiences.
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The Metropolitan Opera was first off the mark with its nightly screenings of highlights from the archive, which will continue into 2021. The programme is only announced two weeks in advance, so keep an eye on the Met website to find out the current theme and upcoming highlights. In addition to the free performances from the company’s Live in HD series, you can also attend ticketed live shows starring its most acclaimed soloists.

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Special The Show Must Go Online
19 Unmissable Online Theatre Experiences.
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Earlier this year, musical lovers relished the opportunity to re-watch their favourite Andrew Lloyd-Webber spectaculars on the dedicated channel The Shows Must Go On! After a brief summer break, the channel is now returning to its schedule of weekly streams on YouTube, with titles announced shortly in advance on social media. Since the first “season” wrapped up with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, the same musical that kicked off proceedings in March, there’s probably a good chance that we’ll be seeing some more repeats. Which should only make it easier for everyone to sing along from the comfort of their own living room.

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Special The Show Must Go Online

19 Unmissable Online Theatre Experiences

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Special The Show Must Go Online