Livestreaming and Recorded Performances in the Age of Coronavirus


Hello and welcome back to the Staged Stigma of Disability. Today I want to write about something a little different. With the current state of everything going on in the world, and with theatres having to close their doors for the time being, many people are stuck in quarantine craving the live entertainment and shows they would have seen prior to the pandemic.

Theatres are looking for ways to change that though, through use of recorded productions and also livestreaming capabilities. Livestreaming and also recorded performances can help people with disabilities as well enjoy the theatre they love so much, with options such as closed captioning so people who are deaf can understand what the actors are saying. I thought I would take this opportunity to give a shout out to those theatre companies and websites that are helping theatre lovers get their fix during this unpredictable time in our history.

On April 2, London's National Theatre launched for the first time "National Theatre at Home", which has made available on its YouTube channel free recordings of several of it's productions. Other sites such as Broadway HD allow viewers to watch musicals and plays from Broadway and the West End, including shows such as "Sweeney Todd" and "Kinky Boots" with the streaming service offering a free week-long trial. Other examples of companies beginning this trend include WatchStage.com, which is also offering a week-long free trial much like BroadwayHD and includes shows like "The Pirates of Penzance", and Digital Theatre, a British site, is offering access to recordings of productions of Shakespeare and from the West End, including productions like "All My Sons", "Julius Caeser", and "Into The Woods".

These are just a few of the examples. Though we may all be in this horrendous situation, we are not alone during this time. Theatre is one of the many things that has the beautiful ability of bringing people together in times of trouble. And livestreaming/recorded performances are not the only way to do theatre right now! Options like Zoom Meeting and Google Hangouts give people and theatre companies the ability to do things like staged readings from the comfort of actors own homes. 

One final thing - though we are in a scary time right now, we are not defeated. We will get through this. Stay safe and respect social distancing/stay-at-home orders, but also realize that this is a time that we can take advantage of. Take this time of quarantine to work on your craft - memorize some monologues for future auditions, do character work on characters and shows you dream to be in. We will make it to the other side of this, and we will get back to doing what we love so much.

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