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).
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 Cal
Link: https://vimeo.com/326145983
Available until: Unknown
Toll Booth is an award-winning film which isn’t strictly theatre, but I found it through a streaming site so that’s good enough for me. More than good enough.
Terry has a new job working in a toll booth. He’s worked in a toll booth before so he knows what it’s all about. He’s never worked in a toll booth with scary rumours before, but as long as they are just rumours, there’s really no need to worry… is there?
By Louise
Link to full film version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjn2czM5xow
Link to playlist of individual episodes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gwv0Lhba5s&list=PLTefCSIo0OJcnXHichpkIUbeHdbu9__ft
Available until: Unknown
Cells was originally shown in a series of seven episodes. The longest is six minutes and twenty-three seconds and the shortest is three minutes and thirty-nine seconds. One episode was uploaded every day for a week.
By Emma
Link: https://www.oxfordplayhouse.com/whats-on/all-shows/anthropocene-the-human-era/13828
Available until: 10th May 10am
Anthropocene: The Human Era is mostly very pretty to watch but I don’t really understand it.
It’s partly a choose your own adventure game. You choose between different options and you learn something about the environment. This is framed by an outer story of a woman called Megan who says goodbye to her partner Max, then her friend Giulia comes rushing round with magazines, chocolate, wine… and a pregnancy test. So I don’t know what the wine’s doing there really. Wine seems a bit tactless when there might be nothing to celebrate and if there is something to celebrate, you can’t drink!
By Cal
Link: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/movie/the-bee-eaters/id1548549255
Available until: Rent for 48 hours or buy
Age rating: 15
Content warning: Mentions of grooming, a rather upsetting death, violence
Bee-eaters are brightly-coloured birds related to kingfishers. The ones that (occasionally) visit the UK are red, green, yellow, blue and brown. No bee-eaters actually appear in this film, but there are characters who hope to see bee-eaters and they do become symbolic. There are a lot of things in this play which are possible but most likely just out of reach.
By Cal
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvzQ2zGhCUg
Available until: 10th April 2021
It’s 2050 and the world is all about social media. A lot of people can handle being a social media star, but put them into a real social situation and they doesn’t really know what to do.
Then a social media star dies. It’s an accident… isn’t it? Or is it murder?
By Cal
Link: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/chronicinsanity
Available until: Friday 31st December
Chronic Insanity have not only embraced the concept of digital theatre, they have redefined it. In order to watch 24, 23, 22, you really need two devices – a laptop and a phone are recommended, though they can produce a version with two videos playing in unison, side by side, for anyone who has only one device.
By Aashiq
Link: https://homemcr.org/production/abc-anything-but-covid
Available until: 1st August 2021
ABC: Anything But COVID is a fascinating and slightly scary look at what lockdown is like for normal people. I kind of missed out on the whole ‘not knowing what to do with myself’ thing. I was actually really looking forward to it but I kept finding things to do. Not so many things that I could actually get out of doing chores but enough to fill my time. And I didn’t even make any banana bread. Am I the only person in the world who’s never made banana bread? That would actually be quite iconic.
By Megan
Link: https://shoreditchtownhall.com/whats-on/dare-festival-2021
Available until: Livestreams at 5pm on Friday 26th and 3pm on Saturday 27th,
I think this is a very good play but it is very technical! You have to make an avatar and go on a virtual walk through the festival to the theatre and I didn’t understand what to do at first. You will need to use Zoom too. It might be better to go to the website early. Then you will have time to work everything out and you can enjoy it if you’re not worried about missing the play.
By Louise
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00789db/on-the-town
Available until: 31st
January, 10.15am
A lot of people want to see more new
musicals in the West End and I want that too. It’s important to give new
musicals a chance. But I also think it’s important to revive the old musicals.
Some of them are really good and a lot of fun to watch, like On the Town.
By Sophie
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdG5pO1d4TI&feature=emb_logo
Available until: Unknown
A tragedy can affect a whole community
and it can be difficult for that community to move on and recover.
But Paradise Cove has not only
recovered. It is thriving.
By Sophie
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCLfWruaEVU
Available until: Unknown
This fascinating short film was
written and directed by a third year student at the University of the West of
Scotland. It is one of many pieces that has appeared unexpectedly on the Mobile
Theatre twitter feed. Although Mobile Theatre is primarily a theatre blog, work
in many other media have caught our eyes and the fact it was not made on a
stage seems no reason to ignore something this interesting.
By Cal
Link: https://originaltheatreonline.com/productions/8/the-haunting-of-alice-bowles
Available until: 28th
February 2021
The Haunting of
Alice Bowles is based on The
Experiment, a short story by M. R. James. Not to be confused with P. D.
James or E. L. James. M. R. James was an author of classic ghost stories which
were published in the early twentieth century. P. D. James wrote modern
detective stories in the second half of the twentieth century and early
twenty-first. E. L. James… we don’t need to go into that now.
By Cal
Link: https://vimeo.com/482609041
Available until: Unknown
I first read about this film a while
ago and wondered if there would be an opportunity to see it so I was very happy
when it was posted on Vimeo.
It tells the story of Jason, who has
arrived at a police station following arrest. At first, we don’t know what’s
happened. The story moves between the present and the past. Jason and his
partner Emma are holding a gender reveal party and they want to share the
moment with the people who matter to them most. Unfortunately, this means the
guest list includes two people who really don’t get on. These two men have
caused trouble in the past and Emma is concerned there might be further
problems between them at the party.
By Alan
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dalKG4ZiYg
Available until: 23rd November
Content warnings: Blood, guts, gore, violence, gunfire
Macbeth is fiction but it is based on real people.
There was a Macbeth who became King of Scotland circa 1005. Unlike in the play,
he was king for over 17 years. Macbeth’s grandfather was king so Macbeth was
part of the Royal Family and King Duncan was his cousin- so Macbeth was technically
next in line after Duncan’s sons. (The rules of succession weren’t always
followed, part of the plot of King John is based on the fact John was
actually 3rd in line after his deceased brother Geoffrey’s two surviving
children but the previous king, his brother Richard I, wanted John to be king after
him so that’s what happened. Macbeth was at least 4th in line and
probably wasn’t Duncan’s first choice but he had a lot of support from others.)
By Emma
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Tzf3FZYqKM&t=1s
Available until: 16th November 2020
I think it must be really difficult to be a man sometimes.
We say men have it easy but they don’t always because there’s so much pressure
on them. If a man said he didn’t think Fiona Shaw was very good as Richard II
in her 1997 film, you’d probably get loads of women calling him sexist. But he
might not have a problem with women playing Richard II – just with one specific
woman.
By Cal
Link: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/fast-feed-feature-film--2/x/25148831#/
From €6
Available until: Unknown but you get 48 hours’ access after
using VIP code.
Fast Feed is depressing and uplifting at the same
time. Depressing because the events referred to really happened and are still
happening. Yet also uplifting because it makes you feel things can be better
than that because there are people who care. There are some terrible things
going on in the world, but most of us know they’re terrible and that means we
can try to make things better. But, as this film shows, it’s important that we
don’t try to take on too much.
By Cal
Link: This production
premieres on 12th November at 7.15pm
Available until:
This film is about a single gay man who wants to be a dad. I
am a (non-single) gay man who wants to be a dad, but I think it’s very
important to make it clear that this film isn’t just for gay men who want to
start a family – any more than American Moor was just for BAME viewers,
or the A Light in Dark Places series was just for people who have
experienced mental health problems. Those plays are for everyone and I believe From
Me to Us is too – it is a very good film on a very important subject which
I believe everyone needs to know about.
By Cal
Link: https://www.whatacarveup.com
£12 or £16 with goody bag (programme plus a selection of recipes)
Available until: The performance you book becomes available
at 7.30pm on the day of the performance and can be accessed for 48 hours. The
final performance is on 29th November 2020.
Warning: 16+ - features strong language and graphic
descriptions of murder
What a Carve Up!
is based on a novel by Jonathan Coe from 1991, though Henry Filloux-Bennett’s
adaption includes scenes set in the present and addresses some of the issues
we’re facing now. I would say What a
Carve Up! is a film rather than a play as it is filmed on location - with
social-distancing, from what I remember (I was too focused on the story to take
note of this properly) though it seems very much a play about the distance
between people, whether that’s physical or emotional or a time distance or
separation due to death. The title might suggest a comedy and it has been
described as a satire, but it didn’t really seem that way to me – though
perhaps it might have done if I was old enough to remember Margaret Thatcher (I
don’t even really remember Tony Blair but I’ve been told that’s probably for
the best) or if I’d seen the comedy film from which the play takes his name.
The political situation of the present seems more a tragedy than anything else
and I can’t really imagine seeing the humour in it.
