By Louise
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfL2t_VotoU
Available until: Unknown
Support British have produced a number of brilliant online productions during lockdown and A Christmas Carol is another opportunity to see a really entertaining play with some really excellent actors. It is also a good play for feeling Christmassy!
By Megan
Link: https://www.patreon.com/shakesceneshakespeare (Shake-Scene recorded another Richard III in 2020. This is the one is from October 2021.)
Available until: Unknown
If you don’t know the normal British way of naming the Kings (which you might not if you don’t live in the UK), you might think Richard III is the third in a trilogy with Richard II being the second and Richard I… well maybe that got lost like Cardenio.
If you do know that Richard III is the third English King called Richard, you might think that Richard III is a standalone history play like King John.
By Arran
Link: https://leedsplayhouse.org.uk/events/oliver-twist-at-home
Available until: 20th November 2021. Available for 48 hours after the date and time of your showing.
Oliver Twist is a really brilliant play from Ramps on the Moon and it is a very important one too. I haven’t read the book (I don’t think even Megan has read it yet and she reads Shakespeare and Jane Austen) so I don’t know how close it is to the original though it is similar to the musical. But this production is not just about turning a book into a brilliant play. It is about showing how capable people with disabilities are.
By Megan
Link: https://www.patreon.com/shakesceneshakespeare
Available until: Unknown
The acting in Shake-Scene productions is always brilliant. The plots are really clear (though there are probably things I will understand better when I get older) and the actors perform with lots of enthusiasm. They are also the only company who uses cue scripts like Shakespeare did which gives them a real individuality. If you are interested in cue scripts you should definitely watch these plays. It is really interesting and cue scripts really do work.
By Megan
Link: https://www.patreon.com/shakesceneshakespeare
Available until: Unknown
Henry VI Part II is believed to be Shakespeare’s first history play. It’s not King John, which is the earliest historically. It’s not Henry VI Part I, which you’d expect to come before Part II. It was Henry VI Part II (though it probably wasn’t called Part II at the time). Well, it was probably the first. It’s difficult to be completely sure with Shakespeare’s plays. Shakespeare might actually have liked it that way. I think he liked to keep people guessing.
By Megan
Link: https://www.patreon.com/shakesceneshakespeare
Available until: Unknown
Half-term is traditionally a time when children have fun and that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to watch the three parts of Shakespeare’s Henry VI over five days. It sounds quite a lot because even the shortest one (this one) is nearly four hours long but it’s by Shakespeare and it’s presented by Shake-Scene Shakespeare Theatre Company so I knew it was going to be really good.
By Megan
Link: https://www.untanglingscience.com/blog/episode-7-planets-part-1
Also available on podcast sites including Spotify, Listen Notes, Buzzsprout, Apple, and Player FM.
Link to transcript: https://www.untanglingscience.com/blog/episode-7-planets-part-1
Planets Part 1 is about three of the first four planets in the solar system – Mercury, Venus and Mars. Earth gets a few mentions too because there are comparisons with Earth but we know a lot about Earth already from living here (and from listening to all the other podcasts) so the episode focuses on the other three planets.
Link:
The Merchant of Venice is definitely a problem play for me. There’s a lot here to make a modern audience very uncomfortable.
Another problem is whose side you’re on. Nobody behaves all that well – and while this is a charge that could be levelled at a number of Shakespeare’s characters, the characters in The Merchant of Venice aren’t as easy to invest in as such incredible creations as Iago and the Macbeths.
By Megan
Link: https://www.untanglingscience.com/episode-6-interview-with-dalia-science
Link to transcript: not available and there might not be one as the episode wasn’t scripted but if someone does write a transcript you will find a link to it here https://www.untanglingscience.com/blog
The episode can also be found on podcast sites including Spotify, Listen Notes, Buzzsprout and Player FM.
Episode 6 of Untangling Science is different from the others but just as good. The other episodes focus on a scientific topic, including photosynthesis, the sun and the periodic table. Episode 6 is an interview with a PhD student at Oxford University called Dalia Gala who is known as Dalia Science on social media.
By Megan
Link: https://www.untanglingscience.com/episode-5-photosynthesis (also available on Spotify, Listen Notes etc)
Link to transcript: https://www.untanglingscience.com/blog/episode-5-photosynthesis
Available until: Unknown
Untangling Science is a brilliant podcast by Darragh Ennis who is most famous for being a Chaser on the Chase but he’s also a scientist. He really wants to share science with other people and show them how interesting and important it is and he does a really good job of this.
By Louise
Link: https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/thornhill-theatre/audio-fringe-ttsfringe2-IgbFPcUSyOZ
Available until: Unknown
Emerging Voices is a collection of eight short plays by students from the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, presented by Thornhill Theatre Space as part of #TTSFringe2. The plays were written when the students were in the 10th-12th grades. If you’re in England or Wales, that’s Years 11-13 and if you’re in Scotland, that’s S4-S6. I’m in Year 10 and it is amazing to think some of these writers are only one year older than me, but they are already able to write really mature plays.
By Cal
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHM--zjDQ14
Available until: Unknown
Charles Dickens is known for his larger-than-life characters with impossible names, but I first encountered him as the writer of a ghost story – A Christmas Carol. Although I had a feeling he’d written other stories with a spooky theme, I hadn’t read or heard any of them till listening to this reading of The Signalman.
By Jack
Link: https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/thornhill-theatre/audio-fringe-ttsfringe2-a-RcL5D1ZVQ-s/
Available until: Unknown
I’ll listen to anything with Dick in the title. Especially if there’s a chance of people getting eaten by something other than zombies. But I wouldn’t give five stars based on that. It has to have other good bits in too and I’m not just talking about rude stuff.
I’ll try to keep it fairly serious in this review. I don’t want to cause offence. It’s fun to joke around a bit but the most important thing to get across is that A Theater in the Dark worked really hard on this project so I don’t want to show disrespect.
By Louise
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUldVu7FjdA
Available until: Unknown
A 2020 Vision is a really beautiful performance which is part of #TTFringe2. It’s all about the pandemic, which has caused a lot of sadness, but this play is full of happiness and hope.
It was written by Emma Wood ‘and the people of Victoria, Australia’ and it includes a selection of so many of the different situations the people of Victoria have faced since the start of the pandemic. Their words were taken from a questionnaire which asked fourteen questions over fourteen days to about two hundred people.
By Megan
Link: https://www.patreon.com/shakesceneshakespeare
Available until: Unknown
Lots of theatres are reopening all over the country but there is still lots of online theatre to be enjoyed and one company who has said they will keep going because they are enjoying it so much is Shake-Scene Theatre Company. They have already started their King Henry VI cycle with the final part coming next month. We will be reviewing all three close together like we did with Henry IV.
By Louise
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FpqZKACdCY
Available until: Unknown
Monologue Monday 2 of Thornhill Theatre Space's #TTSFringe2 features five monologues which are all very different.
Slow Dating by Adam Szdrich is a really incredible monologue about an elderly lady who tries speed-dating. The monologue is short, but it has humour, it has warmth and it has so much emotion. I really like the way it has been filmed too. Mr Szudrich and Katie Burson are both credited as directors and the cinematographer is Remy Fowler. I like the fact we are mostly at a distance because it’s like being at the theatre, but whenever there’s a really important emotional moment, we see the character’s face in close-up. I think this is a great way of using the best parts of theatre and film to create a great performance.
By Cal
Link: https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/thornhill-theatre/audio-fringe-ttsfringe2-one-6bwmjB7kr-H
Available until: Unknown
Sometimes there’s one person you can’t quite let go of. No matter how hard you might try to move on with your life, there’s one person you can’t forget. One person you want to see just one more time – if one more night can really be enough.
By Megan
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwH3OFeoeNw
Available until: Unknown
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a story that has been adapted lots of times in lockdown and it has been really interesting to see all the different ways the story has been presented. It’s a story a lot of people really identify with at the moment. The whole idea of being in a new world where everything seems slightly off is one most of us can relate to.
By Cal
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uH1rOkpROA
Available until: Unknown
Rosegold, presented as part of #TTSFringe2, is an exceptionally powerful piece of writing which is wonderfully performed by the writer. There is no age rating, but it’s definitely a production where listener discretion is advised. There are descriptions of violence and injury as well as references to alcoholism. If you’re young or you’re feeling sensitive, this might not be a good time for you to listen to it, but maybe consider it again when you’re older or you feel stronger because it really is brilliant.
By Megan
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXRViqvsCO0&t=16s
Available until: Unknown
I’m really enjoying Thornhill Theatre Space’s #TTSFringe2. It has so many different types of performances about different subjects and in different styles from all over the world. #TTSFringe2 is a really nice celebration of digital theatre which is something that has been really important to a lot of people for the last eighteen months.
By Cal
Link: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/caledonian-sleeper
Available until: Unknown
The Edinburgh Festival is an important event in the calendar for many theatre fans, but it’s not something I’d experienced until lockdown. A number of different shows are available online. Some have to be watched live, but Caledonian Sleeper is one of many that can be watched on demand.
By Louise
Link: https://www.cft.org.uk/whats-on/event/south-pacific-stream
Available until: Streams on Saturday 21st August at 2.30pm, and Thursday 26th and 31st August and Friday 3rd September at 7.30pm. Stream available for 24 hours.
A lot of theatres are starting to focus on in-person performances only, but there are still quite a few shows available online and Chichester Festival Theatre’s South Pacific is a great opportunity to see a staged production of a really enjoyable musical.
By Louise
Link: https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/thornhill-theatre/audio-fringe-ttsfringe2-K7gxudr84GU/
Available until: Unknown
Little Ships is a lovely new musical about a family in wartime. It is one of the audio dramas in Thornhill Theatre Space’s second fringe festival, #TTSFringe2.
It might be quite difficult to stage because some of it is set on the sea, but it works very well as an audio drama and it is very clear what is happening. It is set in the 1940s in wartime, but it’s very different from a lot of wartime stories I’ve read and listened to. Although a lot of bad and sometimes scary things happen, it is generally written in a lighter style with lots of happiness and love.
By Cal
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8fJX4VI7U0
Available until: Unknown
Thornhill Theatre Space’s second virtual fringe festival, #TTSFringe2, opened on 2nd August with three brilliant and thought-provoking monologues. The festival will run throughout August with new work uploaded most days and we have very kindly been asked to be a Digital Sponsor, supporting the festival with reviews of and tweets about as much of their work as possible.
To find out what will happen as part of the Festival in the future (though some videos are probably already available), check out the Kick-Off Event. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIoaVrxuKlc
Monologue Monday Part 1 gives the Festival a very strong start. After eighteen months of monologues, there are still so many new stories to be told about new characters and the three monologues featured here are great and varied examples of the way a monologue can be used and the diverse range of subjects.
By Cal
Link to Episode 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWyfBfRxhmk
Episode 1 with subtitles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rey2Zp7KAwk
Other episodes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRc2lmDAjXa1_wLCuL-PKFw/videos
Available until: Unknown
There have been many adaptations of Shakespeare plays which have been made digitally available in lockdown, but all of them can teach you something new about the plays that inspired them and Lear Alone is definitely not the exception. On the contrary.
By Louise
Link: https://booking.guildford-shakespeare-company.co.uk/booking-start
Available until: 15th August 2021. The recording becomes available at 7.30pm (and 2.30pm on Sundays) on the day you book.
Guildford Shakespeare Company have been very generous with their digital productions since the pandemic and their many enjoyable productions include A Christmas Carol and Henry V. They have recently returned to live performances, but they have still very kindly chosen to share She Stoops to Conquer and now As You Like It with us. The productions aren’t free to watch online (and there is no reason why they should be), but the company went to the trouble of recording the shows and making them available to us and the standard is always very high so it is well worth the money. Guildford is quite a long way away from where I live so it would be difficult to visit especially now but I am really glad we have had the opportunity to get to know this company’s work, even though the reason is sad.
By Megan
Links: https://www.untanglingscience.com/episode-4-the-sun
Transcript: https://www.untanglingscience.com/blog/episode-4-the-sun
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-4-the-sun/id1573107927?i=1000530964648
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0fuoMDNFbDPZEpsT1czeet
Untangling Science is so brilliantly put together. The four episodes so far have covered very different subjects (DNA, viruses, the periodic table and the Sun) so if you look at the list you might think it’s jumping around all over the place but it’s really not and the things you learn in previous episodes turn out to be really useful for future episodes.
By Cal
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aTlHSECRcE&t=2s
With subtitles: https://www.scenesaver.co.uk/production/masks-and-faces-subtitled
Available until: Wednesday 25th August 2021
Masks are so much a part of our lives now, I mistakenly expected this to be a new play about current times. I was only about 170 years out of date. Masks and Faces is a Victorian farcical comedy, first performed in 1852.
By Megan
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcIwYTkaB0M
Available until: Sunday 29th August 2021, 5pm
Glyndebourne Festival Opera is going ahead this year which is brilliant but they are still very kindly putting some of their previous productions on their YouTube channel for us to enjoy. Or get very sad about in this case.
La traviata is one of the best-known operas with really gorgeous, emotional music and a story which is easy to follow and which actually makes sense most of the time. (There are subtitles if you don’t speak Italian.) It is based on Alexandre Dumas fils’ novel La Dame aux Camélias. The opera is set in the past world of courtesans and consumption but I think it is very relatable to the present day. A lot of people know what it’s like to be separated from someone you love and I think the whole world knows how cruel illness can be.
By Louise
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1hzjxF88nA
Available until: Unknown
King Lear is the latest play in a long series of Zoom plays which have been presented by UK Actors Support Network throughout lockdown. Other highlights have included well-known plays like The Winter’s Tale and The Importance of Being Earnest, as well as plays I hadn’t heard of like Hindle Wakes.
By Megan
Link: https://www.untanglingscience.com/episode-3-atoms-and-elements (also available on other podcast sites)
Available until: Unknown
I think these episodes get better every week so I might have to invent six star reviews. I feel like I learn so much and it is so much fun to listen to, it doesn’t feel like I am working at all. Darragh Ennis is really brilliant at these podcasts because he makes science sound exciting. Science is very exciting but not everyone has the ability to bring that across. It really helps to learn about it from someone who finds it exciting themselves and really wants to tell us about it.
By Megan
Link: https://stream.roh.org.uk/packages/don-giovanni/videos/don-giovanni-1
Available until: 15th August 2021
Don Giovanni is not like Mozart’s other main characters. There are some who do things which aren’t the best idea like the characters in Così fan tutte. There are characters who get themselves into really serious difficulties like the title character in Idomeneo (who makes a promise he really regrets) and Tito in La clemenza di Tito (who expects his best friend not to want to kill him). Even in the lighter operas, the characters get themselves into serious trouble. But we like all these main characters and we hope for a happy ending for them.
By Megan
Link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/william-shakespeares-as-you-like-it-recording-tickets-163768011531
Available until: 26th July 2021
The first production I ever reviewed was a production of As You Like It and that was nearly a whole year ago! I hope I’m better at reviewing than I was then. I write a lot more on my own now. I was only nine when I wrote my first review and I will be eleven in seven weeks.
Worldwide Shakespeare’s production of As You Like It was originally livestreamed just once but now it has been made available for another week. It is not free but it is Pay What You Can and whatever you pay, it will be worth it because it is a great production.
By Louise
Link: https://www.guildford-shakespeare-company.co.uk/she-stoops-to-conquer
Available until: 18th July
She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith is a really enjoyable play. It is a lot of fun and nothing really bad happens, but even though it was written in 1773, it has quite a contemporary outlook in some ways and I think you can learn a lot about people from watching this play.
By Louise
Link: https://www.stream.theatre/season/168
Available until: Livestreams on Friday 16th, Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th July at 7.30pm.
It’s hard to believe Lee Mead is forty (though he was still thirty-nine when he recorded this). He looks so much younger. But he does have lots of experience as a performer and that is very obvious in this incredible concert.
By Cal
Link: https://lyric.co.uk/shows/out-west-online
Available until: Livestreams available until 17th July 2021. 24 hour access.
I read an article a short while ago that suggested monologues had run their course and could not be taken any further; that they were useful when it came to keeping actors away from other actors, but they had no long-term future.
By Louise
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R1S8pRoOwY
Available until: Unknown
Some people are a bit disappointed with Julius Caesar because there isn’t very much for the female characters to do. Shakespeare has written a lot of brilliant female characters, but there are only two females in Julius Caesar and they’re not always presented in a very positive way.
By Cal
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nH4CpSLsDc&t=1s
Available until: Saturday 18th July 2021
Glyndebourne have been very generous with their free offerings during lockdown and their latest is their 2017 production of La clemenza di Tito.
La clemenza di Tito is generally not considered to be ‘up there’ with some of Mozart’s better-known operas, but I think it has an absolutely beautiful score and perhaps even my favourite Mozart finale. It doesn’t have the sense of fun of Le nozze di Figaro, the raw sex of parts of Don Giovanni or the magic of Die Zauberflöte, but perhaps this is the one with the potential to play the biggest amount of havoc with your emotions. It shows what love can drive you to, whether that’s love for a person, power or a friend.
By Megan
Link: https://www.untanglingscience.com/episode-2-viruses
Available until: Unknown
Episode 2 of Untangling Science, presented by Darragh Ennis, is really good. It asks questions like what viruses are, how they get into our bodies and make us feel so completely horrible and what kind of research scientists are doing in order to prevent viruses from doing that.
By Louise
Link: https://www.stream.theatre/season/164
Available on demand until 14th July
New musicals tend to focus on young people including Six, & Juliet, Waitress and lots of the musicals we’ve watched during lockdown. The musicals are usually about young people and they usually fall in love.
By Megan
Link: https://www.patreon.com/TheShowMustGoOnline/posts
Available until: Unknown
Content warnings: This production contains noises and images that may be startling, sexual references and reference to suicide, along with depictions of self-harm and the occult.
Doctor Favstvs is the last full-length play in the Month of Marlowe and TSMGO give a brilliant performance just like they always do.
By Megan
Link: https://www.untanglingscience.com/episode-1-dna
Available until: Unknown
I'm not sure if we'll be doing any more reviews. One of the last reviews we posted (now deleted) really upset a theatre company a lot. That's the very last thing we wanted and we feel it's time to take a step back.
By Louise
Link: https://dundeerep.co.uk/whats-on/saturdays-doon-the-jm
Available until: One more livestream on Saturday 22nd May at 7pm.
Saturdays Doon the J.M. is sad and happy at the same time. It’s sad because of the underlying story and the reasons why the two characters, Eleanor and Andy, aren’t able to live together anymore. But it’s also really happy because now they are together, they’re mostly really enjoying themselves.
By Cal
Link: https://space.org.uk/event/lydia
Available until: One more performance on 23rd May at 7.30pm
Growing up is an interesting process. We all have to do it at some stage. We’re usually a bit too anxious to get there and when we finally do, we often change our minds and want to be a kid again. We tend to assume grown-ups know everything and then we’re either disappointed with them when we find out they don’t, or we’re thrown into chaos when we hit eighteen and realise we still don’t know everything. It’s not the easiest thing in the world to do, and yet we get very little choice in the matter.
By Dave
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG7hk-U9daY
Available until: Unknown
Organised Chaos is one of those plays you’d probably class as a comedy because it does make you laugh but underneath it has some very serious points to make.
By Louise
Link: https://playcanv.as/p/A5qC9ftM/?overlay=false
Available until: 30th May 2021
I really like the Royal Opera’s 8bit series. They have really pushed the boundaries and tried to do things which are different and not usually something you see on the opera stage, but the works they’re producing still feel like opera.
By Lottie and Ricky
Link: https://dundeerep.co.uk/whats-on/dundee-delight-dice
Available until: One more performance on 22nd May at 2pm. You’ll have access for 72 hours.
By Cal
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IEU6B_50fw
Available until: Unknown
Ribbons was performed as part of the Saplings series in early March 2020. It was filmed in a crowded auditorium with lots of close contact between the two actors.
By Megan
Link: https://www.forty-fivenorth.com/the-giant-pacific-octopus-maratime-school
Available until: Unknown
A lot of people wonder what might happen if it wasn’t possible to live on Earth anymore. The usual solution which people come up with is that we should all get into a spaceship and find another planet to live on but The Giant Pacific Octopus Maritime School has another idea. We should all go and live underwater.
By Sophie
Link: https://www.junction.co.uk/my-illness
Available until: It might end on 16th May 2021, at the end of Mental Health Awareness Week.
Warning: This short film has references to self-harm and suicide.
Recommended age guidance: 14+
My Illness is part of a project designed to raise awareness about mental health problems in young people. The video (which shows various images, but not the people speaking) features real young people talking about the feelings they’ve experienced, the help they received and their feelings of hope for the future.
By Emma
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sng2hPgYvE&t=4s
Available until: Unknown
I Just Called to Say is a really emotional monologue and it only gets more emotional as you slowly work out what the situation is and what it means.
By Dave
Link: https://nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk/events/shuck-on-demand
Available until: 28th May
A lot of theatres have used the pandemic as an opportunity to tell stories. One or two actors onstage, social distancing, sometimes reading aloud and sometimes from memory.
The Nottingham Playhouse also used this approach with Ghost Stories with Mark Gatiss and it’s a good idea. It helps to keep the performers safe, it reduces the need for props and as a sort of amalgamation between audiobooks and theatre – a sort of onstage, in this case acted out audiobook – it’s bound to appeal to a lot of theatregoers because we like to be told stories and if we can see the story being enacted in front of us, even better.
By Cal
Link: https://www.theplacebedford.org.uk/shows/sophia-2018-online-film
Available until: 23rd May 2021
Most films are there to tell a story and to entertain the audience. If there’s any education or awareness-raising aspect, that’s a bonus, but the primary purpose of a film is usually to entertain in some way (and to make money, though that’s more a necessity than a creative element).
By Emma
Link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwhWmWJPoEmHqEQek0JGlt2JEeD4eVPIX
Available until: Unknown
Aurora Theatre have been posting a lot of videos throughout lockdown and we’ve reviewed quite a lot of them. Their plays have been really international with cast and crew members in different continents.
Close Quarters is a bit different because the two characters are in the same place and they’re not social distancing but it’s still really good. It’s a sitcom about Greg and Samantha, a couple who are getting on quite well but they’re not ready to move in permanently.
By Cal
Link: https://brightonfestival.org/whats-on/house-mother-normal-online-3112
Available until: 31st May. You’ll be sent a link shortly before 8pm on the day of the booked performance. You’ll have access for 48 hours. Captioned version is available.
It is incredibly brave to produce a play such as this in current times, but it is a decision I completely support and, if anything, the production might be a little overdue.
By Dave
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJfbSr2XIvA
Available until: 30th May
Our Dark Side and the Moon is part of the Royal Opera’s 8bit series of newly-commissioned vocal and dance pieces that can be enjoyed for free online. The aim of the series is to push the boundaries of opera and ballet and this one is inspired by the Moon and Mars landings.
By Jack
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emHS99RaRlg
Available until: Unknown
The Statement is a bit dark but I like it!
A student has died and the Head has to prepare a statement to say how sad she and the whole school are to learn of this girl’s untimely passing.
By Louise
Link: https://kingsheadtheatre.com/whats-on/sacrament
Available until: 12th May
Trigger Warning: This production contains scenes of sexual violence.
Sacrament is quite a grown-up play in some ways. I hope it wasn’t wrong for me to watch it. I couldn’t find an age rating, but I’m fifteen so I’m old enough to watch some grown-up things. I think this is a really lovely play about finding out who you are.
Link: https://www.stream.theatre/season/102
Available until: 16th May
There are some things in life which don’t really belong in the medium of comedy. These include, but are not restricted to, bombs, guns and childbirth. Bombs and guns can intentionally cause death; in childbirth, death is unintentional but no less tragic. In order to make these things funny, you would need an extraordinarily gifted writer and performer who can find the humour in these situations but deliver it with compassion and respect.
By Cal
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9qZXxsGi3M
Available until: Unknown
Night Work is another incredibly creepy original story from Moth Sanctuary Productions in their Penny Dreadfuls series. As always, the standard is very high and each story introduces us to a completely different world with new characters, situations and horrors.
Link: https://www.theplacebedford.org.uk/shows/selfie_onlinefilm
Available until: 15th May 2021. You can start watching it anytime between now and 15th May, but once you’ve started it, you have to finish watching it within 48 hours.
I think we all know really that social media isn’t necessarily the best idea. It can get you into all sorts of trouble and so many things can go wrong. But sometimes it feels as though there’s no other option than to use social media and when you do finally give in and try it, you realise how addictive it can be.
By Dave
Link: https://www.coliseum.org.uk/shows/an-acorn-recorded-6401ag
Available until: 17th May 2021
The thing about audiences is we can be very lazy. We’re usually happy to put in the psychological work to find out what it’s all about. We’re usually happy to put in the emotional work so we can engage with the story and the character. We’re usually happy to put in the physical effort involved in getting to the performance. But we do have limits.
By Dave
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRfptpSM5Iw
Available until: Unknown
Main-Main is a word from the Malay language and it means ‘playing’. The idea behind it is to encourage the artists to play in whatever way they want to. To explore their creativity and share it with us. The result is very interesting, original and thought-provoking.
By Emma
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydBtniuBniA
Available until: Unknown
School’s Out is such a clever monologue. I really like plays that surprise me and don’t go where I’m expecting it to go. “School’s out” is a really well known phrase so I went into this with expectations of what it would be about and I was wrong. I love being wrong about things like this!
By Megan
Link to Episode 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vej2H3bvpg8
Link to Episode 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVeVMYuvDs0
Link to Episode 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whpD5itVWlM
Available until: Unknown
Dinosaurs and All That Rubbish is a play in three parts, based on a picture book by Michael Foreman which was published fifty years ago. It is an adventure story for children and it’s a lot of fun but it also teaches children about the importance of science and caring about the environment.
By Dave
Link: https://www.rwcmd.ac.uk/events/feral
Available until: 9th May 2021
Feral is a stunning and inventive opera. At just under ten minutes, it’s probably not quite the shortest opera I’ve seen or heard (I think Samuel Barber’s A Hand of Bridge just about has the edge there) but the ideas in it are so interesting, I could easily see it becoming a full-length work.
By Sophie
Link: https://play.wiener-staatsoper.at/event/ee614b25-8435-479b-baab-21b887943915/play
Available until: 10th May at about 6pm
It is often said that the modern world is cruel and there is certainly a great deal of truth in that. But the world has always been cruel to people who are perceived as being unlike everyone else.
The difference now is that our lives are so public, it is harder even for the so-called normal people to hide the moments when they are less than perfect. Anyone can become the butt of the very next joke and many people seek out the relative safety of laughing along with the crowd.
By Cal
Link: https://www.rwcmd.ac.uk/events/coram-boy
Available until: 9th May 2021
Coram Boy appears to be incomplete, with only Part 1 featuring as part of this performance. But it’s a great opera and it’s free to watch so if you listen to it now, you’ll know if you like it and if you ever do get the opportunity to watch the full opera, you’ll know it’s worth paying for.
By Sophie
Link: https://www.southwarkplayhouse.co.uk/show-homepage/preludes-in-concert
Available until: Livestreams on Saturday 8th May at 3.15pm and 7.45pm. The show remains available for a couple of hours after broadcast.
Plays about composers have a habit of being exceptional. The first I recall was a production of the play Beethoven’s Tenth at the Watford Palace, at a time when I was much too young to appreciate the nuances of the work but old enough to believe the leading actor was the real Beethoven. Later, I saw brilliant productions of Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus at the Old Vic and National Theatres, with two very different but excellent Mozarts in Michael Sheen and Adam Gillen, joined by two equally brilliant Salieris in David Suchet and Lucian Msamati. (I probably had entirely the opposite experience to most people in my delight at discovering that “Hercule Poirot is played by Salieri!” and am now very excited by Google’s suggestion that ‘the real Beethoven’ was played by another Poirot, Peter Ustinov, who also wrote Beethoven’s Tenth.)
By Louise
Link: https://events.umich.edu/event/83221
Available until: Shows on 8th and 9th May at 5pm in the UK (2pm in Michigan).
The writing team of W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan are probably best-known for their longer operettas like The Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado and HMS Pinafore, but they also wrote some shorter works and Cox and Box and Trial by Jury work really well together.
By Cal
Link: https://lyceum.org.uk/whats-on/production/tennis-elbow
Available until: Livestream on Saturday 8th May at 7pm.
Tennis Elbow was written by the acclaimed Scottish playwright John Byrne, some thirteen years after what many probably believed to be his last play. It is a sort of sequel or companion piece to another play what he wrote (bad grammar intentional), Writer’s Cramp.
By Cal
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddOcAMgO8TY
Available until: Unknown
Oh By the Way, I Hate Myself is a really brave monologue. Brave for the writer and the actor. It goes against social conventions and I can imagine that some people might be upset by it. But I’m not. Although I’ll never be in this situation myself, I think it’s very real and honest – more real and honest than many people are in this character’s situation – and I think quite a lot of people would identify with it, even if they don’t feel able to admit to it.
By Aashiq
Link: https://www.thecockpit.org.uk/show/one_half_of_two
Available until: 8th May
Age recommendation: 12+
One Half of Two is about three young women whose boyfriends have all turned out to be complete and utter FAECES. I might not know how it feels to be a woman, but I do know about horrible boyfriends. Even my husband has been known to be… mildly irritating on occasion. And don’t even get me started on how annoying my husband’s husband can be (just to be clear, that is me, there is no bigamist ménage à trois, except in my imagination sometimes. But let’s not go into that).
Link: https://www.livetickets.org/whats-on/blonde-the-musical
Available until: 16th May 2021 on demand
I feel really mean about the two stars. I think this musical could be really good but it feels like a work in progress. I feel like I can see what the musical is trying to achieve but it’s not quite achieving it? But I think it could achieve it. It’s only an hour and a half including the interval so there’s lots of space to develop it further and show the characters and the story in more detail and make it really good.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vR_sDH2QaZw
Available until: Unknown
Another great monologue from Philip Pugh in his Actor Monologues series. Very different in style and character from the first one but that just shows how versatile a writer he is.
Patrick has had some bad news at the worst possible time. I won’t go into details, he can tell you that much better himself but he has good reason not to be thrilled about it.
By Louise
Link: https://www.stream.theatre/season/105
Available until: This cast, the ‘Spring’ cast, will also appear in the performance on Friday 7th May at 7pm. The ‘Summer’ cast will perform on Thursday 8th and Saturday 10th May at 7pm.
Trigger Warnings: Sexual content, sexual violence,
domestic abuse, topics of abortion, death and suicide. There is no age
recommendation, but I am 15 and I would say I’m only just old enough, but I am
quite innocent so maybe it is a 12A. If you are wondering if your child should
watch this musical, or if you’re wondering yourself it might be too upsetting
to be enjoyable, there is a very good synopsis on Wikipedia.
Spring Awakening is a sad and devastating but beautiful story about a group of young people who are growing up. It is based on a German play, Frühlings Erwachen, which was written in 1891 by Frank Wedekind.
