Theatre hasn’t gone, it’s just in Quarantine! Here you can find a weekly round-up of fabulous theatre available online, from Cambridge and beyond, to quench your thirst for culture...

Stage Shows Always Available Online:

Amazon Video:

There is a plethora of filmed productions available to rent for a small cost on Amazon Prime Video, including Cats, Miss Saigon and even Fleabag!

Globe Player:

The Globe Theatre’s official website where you can purchase or rent all of their filmed productions from the last decade. They have also released 40 productions for free including Hamlet starring Michelle Terry, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and many more.

Digital Theatre:

Netflix style streaming platform available for free through a Cambridge University Raven login. Lots of variety, from fringe shows to Frantic Assembly to West End Musicals such as Sheridan Smith’s Funny Girl.

BroadwayHD:

With a free trial followed by a $8.99 per month subscription you can have access to several filmed Broadway classics such as 42nd Street, An American in Paris and Kinky Boots.

Southwark Stayhouse:

The Southwark Playhouse in London has set up its own online streaming service! So far, they have uploaded 4 of their past shows (including the acclaimed Wasted) and they are available to watch at any time!

Gecko:

Gecko is a spellbinding internationally and critically acclaimed physical theatre company who have made their past shows available to watch on their YouTube channel!

Don't Miss: Shows From Cambridge Students This Week...

Available on the ADC Youtube Channel or CamFM

Sunday 17th - Saturday 30th May 2pm, Museings

You’ve heard of the Muses, right? Those nine ancient deities of the arts and proclaimers of heroes like Hercules. Well, they’ve just launched three YouTube channels to keep up-to-date with each other and produce top-notch content for your viewing pleasure. Think of it as the Iliad meets Vlog Brothers. Join the Muses as they navigate their way through the internet to bring you daily song covers, beauty tutorials, reaction videos to historically inaccurate animated films, and so much more in this brand-new student-written vlog series. There’s sure to be drama of epic proportions and you don’t want to miss it! (Not that you’ll totally miss it because it will still be available to watch on YouTube! 

Tuesday 19th May 9pm, The Footlights’ Stand Up Showcase

The Footlights Stand-up Showcase brings you the freshest stand-up comedy from one of the oldest and most famous comedy groups in the UK - but this time it’s going digital! After a ‘decided success’ (Varsity) in 2019, it is sure to be an unmissable show that will have you bent double with laughter. Featuring recorded sets from graduating and post-grad students, the Cambridge Footlights are bringing your favourite student stand-ups straight to your screen! Don’t miss your chance to see the show from the group that launched many of the greatest names in comedy, including Peter Cook, Emma Thompson, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Sandi Toksvig, David Mitchell, Robert Webb, Sue Perkins and Richard Ayoade

Thursday 21tst May 7pm, CUMTS ‘Stuck Inside’ Bar Night

No pandemic can prevent the supportive fun of a night of musical theatre, and we are here to provide. Come and listen to some of Cambridge’s finest voices (made up of both MT veterans and some fresh faces) belt their favourite musical songs from isolation! (only available on CamFM)

Friday 22nd May 7pm, The Adventures of Sharkman

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No - it’s Sharkman! When genius scientist Bob Blake creates a serum to merge different organisms together, he could never have expected a freak marine biology accident to render his human body merged with a Great White Shark! Now a celebrity superhero, Bob fights evil all over the globe as Sharkman, accompanied by his robot sidekick G-REG and his daughter, Zoey. But disaster strikes when Sharkman’s merchandising deals begin to go awry, and a slippery new enemy, Seaweed Man, rises from the ocean depths...

Friday 22nd May 9pm, Piece by Piece

Tune into listen to Piece By Piece where each Writer/ Performer is given a starting line and a finishing line to a sketch (a piece) they have to write! The sketches will then be taken and the show will be put together ‘piece by piece’ (see what we did there!) to form a coherent(ish) sketch show covering a variety of topics and genres by our Associate Writers. Who knows what will happen? Come Listen!

Saturday 23rd May 7pm, paused.

A single parent, a dried-up vlogger, a couple in crisis, a pair of home-alone siblings, a retired lady and a climate scientist are thrown into uncertainty when the world around them seems to stop. Family members disappear, they cannot leave the rooms they are in, and they can only communicate through an online network. Is this Gaia, attempting to save the planet? A government experiment gone wrong? Or something more sinister? The group must figure out how to unpause the world, or if it is even worth trying at all...

More Free Streamed Theatre Available This Week:

Monday 18th May 7pm: Shakespeare’s Globe - The Winter’s Tale

As part of the Globe’s ‘YouTube Premieres’ initiative where they upload a past show every two weeks, The Winter’s Tale will be available from the 18th-31st of May. Blanche McIntyre directs a new version of Shakespeare’s great play of the irrational and inexplIcable. Set in a world of monsters, gods and natural disasters, travel from the stifling atmosphere of the Sicilian court, to the unbuttoned joy of a Bohemian festival. Watch it here!

Wednesday 20th May: A Doll’s House - Lyric Hammersmith

Tanika Gupta’s new take on Ibsen’s classic text explores gender politics, ownership and race in 1879, Calcutta. It will be available for one day only from 2:30pm to midnight on the 20th of May on the Lyric’s YouTube channel. Watch it here!

Thursday 21st May, 7pm: National Theatre At Home: A Streetcar Named Desire

This week, the National Theatre is streaming the 2014 Young Vic production of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire starring Gillian Anderson, Ben Foster and Vanessa Kirby. As Blanche’s fragile world crumbles, she turns to her sister Stella for solace – but her downward spiral brings her face to face with the brutal, unforgiving Stanley Kowalski. It will be available from Thursday 21st of May at 7pm to Thursday 28nd of May at 6:59pm. Watch it here!

Our House to Your House - Royal Opera House

Over this week, the ROH productions available on their YouTube channel will be:

La Traviata (Opera) until the 21st of May

Anastasia (Royal Ballet) until the 28th of May

Cendrillon (Opera) from the 22nd of May to the 4th of June

Watch them here!

15th - 22nd May: Complicite’s The Encounter

Devised by the critically acclaimed physical theatre company Complicite and inspired by the book Amazon Beaming by Petru Popescu. In 1969 Loren McIntyre, a National Geographic photographer, found himself lost among the people of the remote Javari Valley in Brazil. It was an encounter that was to change his life, bringing the limits of human consciousness into startling focus. Simon McBurney traces McIntyre’s journey into the depths of the Amazon rainforest, incorporating innovative technology into his solo performance to build a shifting world of sound. This production will be available on Complicite’s YouTube channel from the 15th to the 22nd of May. Watch it here!