In the week that National Theatre at Home added both Vanya (with Andrew Scott) and People Places and Things to their service, both filmed in the West End, it seems a good time to celebrate what’s going on in digital theatre.
Benefits
Cost – productions are often available at the fraction of the cost of watching on stage
Convenience – watch when you want, where you want
Location – not able to visit Broadway, the West End, or that little pub theatre? No problem
The best seat in the house – with a professionally streamed or proshot production, you always have the best seats
Want to watch again – on-demand options usually allow multiple plays of the same title
Missed it on stage – no problem, catch it on screen
Curiosity – you might not have been tempted out of the house for it, but it could be your new favourite
So, where to watch?
1-10
As well as the essential National Theatre at Home, which includes new productions as well as those shown in cinemas as NT Live, and archive productions not seen in this form before, you might try the following –
As it suggests, you will find both digital originals and captures of Broadway shows here, but also some UK titles. I resubscribe a couple of times a year to catch up, but rental options are also available.
Plays from television and stage, plus ballet and a dedicated Shakespeare section. There are often discounted plans or trials available.
Ballet and opera from the Royal Opera House can be found here. It isn’t as extensive a collection as I would like for the price, but good to access now and then.
Showing productions from Shakespeare’s Globe, this service captures most titles for home viewing.
One of the first to start, it changed its model significantly from the original ‘buy to keep’ and now has subscription and rental options. It has offered livestreams but mainly offers digital captures of shows on-demand.
During Covid this company put up two of their shows and then developed a regular programme of digital originals and captures.
Set up before Covid as a virtual reality digital capture service, this one continues with very little fanfare.
The home of filmed fringe productions continues to go from strength to strength. Available on a donation model, signing up is free to catch an eclectic range of small-scale shows.
Featuring hundreds of theatre shows, interactive events, and original programming, this rental platform is worth checking out.
11-20
You can watch a small range of plays and musicals on this subscription service. The additional channel ICON also carries some theatre content.
The home of many original musical films, plus the odd surprise.
Almost all the archive library of Disney classics, plus original films developed for the Disney Channel. Currently running a special discount for new customers.
This is where you’ll find the filmed capture of Come From Away, plus the lively pastiche series Schmigadoon.
An interesting range of musicals are accessible in the US version of this service.
This curated service offers a number of independent musical films well worth catching.
Sadly this collection is no longer being updated but the archive will remain live. The focus is more on the avant garde type of production, and the list is extensive.
Audio theatre productions are available online via The Internet Archive. The site appears to have stopped producing content as of 2022.
A wide collection of filmed plays. Available on subscription to schools, universities, and some public libraries.
Little Angel Theatre Digital Shows
Each production staged here is made available to stream for 48 hours during its run. There are also a number of free short films on their YouTube channel.
21-30
A selection of productions are available online on a rental basis.
The Liverpool theatre offers on-demand captures in package format.
Most productions at this tiny theatre in Richmond are available to rent on-demand once their live runs have finished.
Collating a number of shows from Soho Theatre’s stages, this is a very useful catch-up service, operating on a rental model.
A small fringe theatre in Limehouse, The Space films each show staged and makes them available as a livestream and on demand for 14 days.
Full productions available to watch from this leading UK theatre company.
A small collection of dance films, free to access.
A collection of dance films. Not that easy to navigate, but includes some real gems.
An American affiliate of PBS that makes selected full productions available for free. Also keep an eye on PBS for the Great Performances series.
Full operas, extracts, and behind the scenes content.
Happy viewing!