By Tommy
Link: https://gsauk.org/whats/richard-iii
Available until: One more livestreamed performance on Thursday 8th April at 7.30pm.
Age rating: 15+
Richard III is the fifth play to be streamed by Guildford School of Acting which has been watched and reviewed by Mobile Theatre and it is an absolute privilege to watch these incredible young performers, still students but already giving performances at the very highest level.
By Tommy
Link: https://soundcloud.com/southwarkplayhouse/red-tide-by-justina-kehinde
Available until: Unknown
Southwark Playhouse’s Plays For Today series, which I believe is written and performed by members of the Southwark Elders Company, has encompassed a wide variety of subjects. Although there has been a strong focus on family relationships, the stories told have been very different.
By Tommy
Link for Billy & Me: https://originaltheatreonline.com/productions/15/barnes-people-billy-me-starring-jon-culshaw
Link for complete series: https://originaltheatreonline.com/productions/14/barnes-people-complete-series
Available until: 31st July 2021
The third monologue in the astounding inventive Barnes’ People is a conversation between a ventriloquist and his dummies.
The ventriloquist is feeling depressed, as he often does, and he has difficulty in believing a conversation with Billy – who is, after all, a character of his own creation – can be of any particular benefit to him. Billy is loquacious and has strong opinions, particularly when he is accused of being merely a ventriloquist’s dummy. Billy believes that he is considerably more than that.
By Tommy
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rO4kSAnNdU
Available until: Unknown
This Time Is Now begins with the three characters in separate screens. Jen appears very busy. Jamie is wandering around his home, half-dressed and uncertain. Marcus is having a drink, but there is no feeling of relaxation. He is drinking outside and drinking alone. We come to realise that the three characters work in the same establishment but are, due to lockdown, now working from home.
By Tommy
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqXded0y2Sk&feature=youtu.be
Available until: Sunday 14th February
It unfortunately isn’t possible to watch the first two
monologues in this series, but perhaps there is an advantage in watching and
evaluating this one on its own terms, without any comparisons or expectations
based on what has gone before.
Windows explores emotions experienced in lockdown – a
vast subject, considering it has been part of our lives every day for almost a
year. Even when not officially locked down, there are rules that must be
followed, yet also an understanding that not everybody will respect them.
Returning home from any outing can be something of a relief, but, as this
monologue shows so eloquently, it does not make every problem disappear.
By Tommy
Link: https://online.thespaceuk.com/show/the-same-rain-that-falls-on-me
Available until: 31st
January 2021 (according to The Stage)
The Same Rain
That Falls On Me is about a
situation which is always relevant and always one of deep sadness, but perhaps
it has a particular relevance in the time we live now. So many people have
tragically lost family members and friends to COVID-19. The situation is, of
course different: in the current climate, the long hospital bedside vigil is an
impossibility; only short visits via modern technology are permitted.
By Tommy
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwqy-ADZvj0&t=5s
Available until: Unknown
No doubt I will be forcibly (and
rightly) corrected if I am wrong again, but I believe this is the only
Shakespeare Happy Hours production I haven’t yet watched. Not all have been
reviewed as the idea of Mobile Theatre was not conceived until many of us had
already watched approximately half of the plays, and with the high volume of
online theatre currently still available, it would be impractical to attempt to
go back and review everything at this stage. But this seems to be our last of
an excellent series.
By Tommy
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sQeAw4PZ58
Available until: Tuesday 5th
January 2021
Captions: None at present, but they’re
working on adding them as soon as possible.
Christmas will be different this year.
We all know that, and have done for a while. There have been many enjoyable
Christmas concerts on offer online, but perhaps this one, more than any other,
really feels like Christmas (though, of course, this will vary according to
each individual’s view of Christmas). Although I don’t doubt that social
distancing was practised, it wasn’t something I was aware of. The distances
always seem natural and unforced. There is no slight awkwardness; no care taken
not to get too close. It seems to be set up so that getting close wouldn’t be
easy.
By Tommy
Link: https://ondemand.operanorth.co.uk/productions/fidelio-2020 £15
Available until: On demand till
Saturday 19th December at midnight.
Fidelio might seem like a surprising choice of opera
for the Christmas season, but it could be considered extremely apt for
the times in which we are currently living. A husband and wife, Leonore and
Florestan, are enduring a long separation. Florestan is in almost complete
isolation from the world, with limited contact with his jailers. Leonore,
disguised as a boy named Fidelio, is taking on another role which is completely
alien to her in order to survive a difficult time.
By Tommy
Link: https://stream.roh.org.uk/products/ariodante-in-concert £10
Available until:
Sunday 20th December 2020
How wonderful to see a full live opera at the Royal Opera
House once more! Of course, it was not possible to see this opera in person and
might not have been as fully satisfying experience for them as it was for their
online audience, but I really hope they were able to find some enjoyment in
their excellent performances of this beautiful opera and to know that it was
very much appreciated by those of us who are missing opera.
By Tommy
Link: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/theatre4all-online
£12
Available until: Access is for 24 hours, beginning at 10am
on the day of the ‘performance’. It will be available every day until 3rd
December 2020.
Trigger warnings: Violence, rape, anti-Semitism, abortion
Little Wars is the fascinating story of seven women and
the ways in which their lives change as a result of one single evening spent at
the house of two of the women, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. If you are
fortunate enough to be considerably more well-read than I am, you might find
those names familiar – and if not, you are almost certain to recognise the name
of at least one of the other guests. The two writers, involved in a romantic
relationship for many years, are joined by three other members of their
profession: Dorothy Parker, Lillian Hellman and Agatha Christie. Also among
them are psychiatrist Mary, who has arrived on the wrong day, and servant
Bernadette.
Link: https://stream.roh.org.uk/packages/jukebox-2/videos/jukebox-2
Available until: Sunday 29th December 2020
Earlier in the week, the Jette Parker Young Artists (plus
one former member of the Programme) performed in Juke Box 1. Each Young Artist
sang the opening of three different arias or songs and audience voted on
youtube and facebook for their favourite. The winning songs were all performed
in full in the Jukebox 2 concert.
By Tommy
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7rVv-LjlkM
Available until: Unknown
This is an absolutely charming play about a young lady who
is trying to persuade her baby that now really would be a good time to go to
sleep. I remember those late nights well and I had double the fun, with twins!
They both seemed to have the ability to sleep through their twin’s crying, but
the moment of their falling back asleep again, although completely silent to my
insensitive ears, was somehow exceptionally noisy to the other twin and so
often resulted in their distressed awakening.
By Tommy (and some of
the younger bloggers)
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04nppOsfdig
Available until: The video will be available for about a
month. However, if you wish to vote, you’ll need to do that before midday on Thursday
29th October.
The Royal Opera has had a Young Artist programme for most of
the current century. A small group of talented young singers spend two years
working at the Royal Opera House, singing small roles (and occasionally leading
roles) and understudying others. They also have a concert at the end of each
year and certainly, in the past, they have been given the opportunities to
perform recitals at the opera house too.
By Tommy
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zaTqbxPvVg
Available until: Unknow
Sofa Shakespeare is an online theatre company which produces
fascinating and innovative productions involving anyone who wishes to be
involved. Cast members are assigned a short section of the text and are then
able to present it in whatever manner they wish. They can speak the lines as
they would in a conventional production; they can use props and costumes; they
can allow their pets and toys to ‘speak’ the lines – it seems there are no
limitations, except, one would imagine, a few rules about common decency.
By Tommy
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p08ftkkx/alan-bennetts-talking-heads
Available until: June 2021
Talking Heads is a fascinating collection of
monologues written by Alan Bennett. They first came into being as two
television series, one in 1988 and one in 1998, each with six episodes. Six of
these monologues additionally formed the basis of a play, also written by Alan
Bennett, which was first performed in 2003.
By Tommy
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000m4dc
Available until: 28th September 2020
The Lie is a radio play rather than a staged drama, but
I believe it may be of interest to theatre fans. The considerable success of The
Mousetrap, which ran for almost seventy years until the COVID-19 pandemic
forced the closure of all theatres, and also of the much more recent production
of Witness for the Prosecution, which had been playing at London’s
County Hall for almost three years, suggest there are many fans of Agatha
Christie amongst the theatregoing public –but some will be unfamiliar with this
play.
By Tommy
Link: https://page.inplayer.com/Intermissions/
Available until: 1st September 2020
First of all, I would like to extend my appreciation to the
young people who created this blog for allowing me to become part of this
enterprise and particularly for giving me the opportunity to write the final
review of what has been an extremely successful and enjoyable series. As
someone who is undeniably better-advised to keep his mouth shut when it comes
to singing (though I can lay claim to being a very poor violinist), I can’t
promise a very technical review, but I believe that the Arts are for everybody and
that everybody’s views are relevant, even those of a parent.
