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
