Theatre Like Never Before: National Theatre at Home
Whatever your country calls it -- quarantine, lockdown -- times are tough for everyone as the current pandemic reaches nth waves across the globe.
What doesn't seem to change though is that -- change. People are adapting to what they have at their disposals and the human race is once again learning to rely on different things. Things that were never really given much though off until the hand of humanity was forced and everything must now be done via a good internet connection and a laptop.
I for one have spent the past two months working from home -- glued to my laptop during most hours of the week and not signing out even though my shift has ended. [Because let's face it, what else is there to do? One can hardly go out if not for anything essential -- and everyone is really encouraged to refrain from stepping out.]
In the Philippines, roughly a week after I had posted my review of Matilda -- the country's capital was placed under Quarantine. After a couple of days, the scope of the Quarantine was expanded to include the entire island of Luzon. With that, the production of Matilda had to cancel and the cast and crew boarding the soonest available flight out of the country.
A lot of industries have been hit hard -- Theatre being one of the hardest.
But Human Resiliency is a powerful thing and in tough times like this, people still find a way to brighten up the dark days so to speak. Theatre being at the front of all this.
As soon as quarantines and lockdowns were being implemented worldwide -- many have started to stream productions via YouTube or their own websites. Andrew Lloyd Webber has been streaming his productions during the weekends. Broadway stars have been giving the Internet many concerts from their living rooms and just recently, the 90th Birthday Concert of Stephen Sondheim destroyed Theatre lovers sanity by giving us an All Star performances of 'Ladies Who Lunch'.
Which brings me to National Theatre's NT at home. Given the closures of non-essential establishments. Many are now home based and longing to return to their usual routines. For theatre goes -- the time they can go back to watching all the masterful creativity that there is on stage.
National Theatre, through its initiative National Theatre Live, fueled my love for theatre in the first place. As someone who lives in the Philippines, it's not everyday I am given the chance to see amazing plays or musicals at affordable prices. When productions were suddenly broadcasted to different art centers around the world, I--along with any theatre fan-- found themselves grateful for the opportunity to witness creative geniuses at work.
Now, National Theatre took it one step further. During the time of quarantines and lockdowns -- the National Theatre has a new initiative. As they put it, "Enjoy world-class theatre online, while we're closed. National Theatre at Home."
Productions that have been filmed live on stage for National Theatre Live are available on a weekly basis via NT's YouTube channel. National Theatre at Home started last April and is continuing now with Danny Boyle's Frankenstein -- with both version (as Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller switched roles during its run) available to stream now.
Sadly, only those productions that have been broadcasted are going to be made available. No word yet on productions that have been recorded for archived purposes might see the light of day (fingers crossed for Three Days In The Country) -- but with so many amazing performances, everyone will surely be in for a treat.
If you're not a theatre person, why not give it a try? I've had many people ask me before why I bother given how expensive theatre is. Not mere words can describe the feeling of sitting in the audience and watching something happen on stage. Yes, it's expensive but it's worth every expense.
But why bother going at all if things like this can easily be arranged. Recorded performances beamed repeatedly (Frankenstein alone had so many re-broadcasts since 2011.)
Well, there is a difference between seeing it live and reliving the moment.
I've always been a firm supporter of making professional recorded theatre productions being made available -- like I said, there is a difference between seeing it play out right in front of your eyes and just reliving the story.
Many people who bought tickets to Boyle's production in 2011 would give anything to see it again. (That's a fact, just look at the comments in all the Social Media sites advertising this week's run.) This new trend isn't going to kill theatre -- it's going to give it a wider audience.
This is theatre like never before.
National Theatre at Home is accessible through their YouTube channel. A new play is uploaded every Thursday. You may set a reminder/alarm using your Google account, upon signing into YouTube. They also release interviews with the cast and crew and some tidbits with regards to the play of the week. Even some video reunion chats from the cast and crew of past productions they've already feature for National Theatre at Home.
What doesn't seem to change though is that -- change. People are adapting to what they have at their disposals and the human race is once again learning to rely on different things. Things that were never really given much though off until the hand of humanity was forced and everything must now be done via a good internet connection and a laptop.
I for one have spent the past two months working from home -- glued to my laptop during most hours of the week and not signing out even though my shift has ended. [Because let's face it, what else is there to do? One can hardly go out if not for anything essential -- and everyone is really encouraged to refrain from stepping out.]
In the Philippines, roughly a week after I had posted my review of Matilda -- the country's capital was placed under Quarantine. After a couple of days, the scope of the Quarantine was expanded to include the entire island of Luzon. With that, the production of Matilda had to cancel and the cast and crew boarding the soonest available flight out of the country.
A lot of industries have been hit hard -- Theatre being one of the hardest.
But Human Resiliency is a powerful thing and in tough times like this, people still find a way to brighten up the dark days so to speak. Theatre being at the front of all this.
As soon as quarantines and lockdowns were being implemented worldwide -- many have started to stream productions via YouTube or their own websites. Andrew Lloyd Webber has been streaming his productions during the weekends. Broadway stars have been giving the Internet many concerts from their living rooms and just recently, the 90th Birthday Concert of Stephen Sondheim destroyed Theatre lovers sanity by giving us an All Star performances of 'Ladies Who Lunch'.
Which brings me to National Theatre's NT at home. Given the closures of non-essential establishments. Many are now home based and longing to return to their usual routines. For theatre goes -- the time they can go back to watching all the masterful creativity that there is on stage.
National Theatre, through its initiative National Theatre Live, fueled my love for theatre in the first place. As someone who lives in the Philippines, it's not everyday I am given the chance to see amazing plays or musicals at affordable prices. When productions were suddenly broadcasted to different art centers around the world, I--along with any theatre fan-- found themselves grateful for the opportunity to witness creative geniuses at work.
Now, National Theatre took it one step further. During the time of quarantines and lockdowns -- the National Theatre has a new initiative. As they put it, "Enjoy world-class theatre online, while we're closed. National Theatre at Home."
Productions that have been filmed live on stage for National Theatre Live are available on a weekly basis via NT's YouTube channel. National Theatre at Home started last April and is continuing now with Danny Boyle's Frankenstein -- with both version (as Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller switched roles during its run) available to stream now.
Sadly, only those productions that have been broadcasted are going to be made available. No word yet on productions that have been recorded for archived purposes might see the light of day (fingers crossed for Three Days In The Country) -- but with so many amazing performances, everyone will surely be in for a treat.
If you're not a theatre person, why not give it a try? I've had many people ask me before why I bother given how expensive theatre is. Not mere words can describe the feeling of sitting in the audience and watching something happen on stage. Yes, it's expensive but it's worth every expense.
But why bother going at all if things like this can easily be arranged. Recorded performances beamed repeatedly (Frankenstein alone had so many re-broadcasts since 2011.)
Well, there is a difference between seeing it live and reliving the moment.
I've always been a firm supporter of making professional recorded theatre productions being made available -- like I said, there is a difference between seeing it play out right in front of your eyes and just reliving the story.
Many people who bought tickets to Boyle's production in 2011 would give anything to see it again. (That's a fact, just look at the comments in all the Social Media sites advertising this week's run.) This new trend isn't going to kill theatre -- it's going to give it a wider audience.
This is theatre like never before.
National Theatre at Home is accessible through their YouTube channel. A new play is uploaded every Thursday. You may set a reminder/alarm using your Google account, upon signing into YouTube. They also release interviews with the cast and crew and some tidbits with regards to the play of the week. Even some video reunion chats from the cast and crew of past productions they've already feature for National Theatre at Home.
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