Silence replaced the overtures. Actors took their final bow. But theatres left a light on.
Theatres around the world are facing a devastating impact from the Coronavirus pandemic. In the UK, the west end closed its doors and the previously packed London streets lined with open ticket offices had to shut up shop. Tickets were refunded and shows were cancelled. Many people say there’s nothing like live theatre, so the industry had to find a way to engage audiences. To keep theatre alive they have moved online and are bringing the theatre into peoples homes.
The National Theatre have been leading the way in accessible theatre for over ten years with musicals and plays made available globally at local cinemas. Now, National Theatre At Home provides entertainment streamed live every Thursday at 7.00pm. The first to broadcast was One Man Two Guvners featuring James Cordon in which 200,000 people watched live on the streaming site. They’ve also teamed up with the Soho Theatre to bring the Phoebe Waller-Bridge hit Fleabag to stream on demand and on Amazon Prime throughout April for charity.
As many freelancing performers have lost work, ’Leave a light on’ was set up by Lambert Jackson Productions and The Theatre Cafe enabling actors to perform and receive financial support during the crisis. The live streamed home concerts provide light entertainment whilst keeping the west end in peoples minds throughout the lockdown. Looking forward, they hope to continue the live streams within the cafe. Nicky Sweetland, Marketing manager at The Theatre Cafe explains: “We’ve got followers all over the world and all over the country that follow our social media so I think it will be a really good way for fans to be able to see performers and not have to pay to get to London”.
It’s not just performers that have been affected, it’s also a really challenging time for the charity sector. Mousetrap Theatre Project is a charity that introduces young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to the magic of live theatre. In lockdown, Mousetrap came up with a weekly challenge to keep audiences engaged where everyone can create a piece of theatre from their home. Patrick O’Sullivan, Creative Learning Manager says: “It’s keeping the whole notion of what theatre is, which is people creating stories in order to share with others but on a virtual platform.”
Although Patrick says it’s good that people are able to access shows online at this time, he says the heart of theatre is a communal event and that’s why they strive to engage people in live theatre beyond coronavirus. He explains: “We are very much advocates of the live theatre event and Mousetrap was really set up to make theatre accessible to those who can’t afford it. So even though we’re very behind the initiative with keeping it alive in this way when people can’t go, I think it would be a danger for that to take over once theatres open up again.”
Expanding on that, fans are saying that they sometimes feel disconnected watching online due to the way the shows were filmed at the time and it doesn’t necessarily make you appreciate the cast and crew as much with the lack of a program which you usually purchase in the theatre.
However, support has grown on social media for theatres to make performances more accessible for audiences.
Most theatres will come out of this, but some may have to close for good. The Barn Theatre in Cirencester predict that they will lose upwards of £250,000 over the coming months which would ultimately see the theatre closed permanently. The Save Our Barn project launched after the lockdown allowing supporters to donate towards the award winning regional theatre and engaging audiences online. Artistic director Iwan Lewis said: “The Barn Theatre is doing everything we can to keep people connected and hopefully in some small way this initiative helps maintain that community spirit in its time of need.” Their latest launch is Bard From The Barn, a Shakespeare series which sees the Bard’s beloved monologues reimagined to fit into modern day lockdown. The series will be release a new monologue every weekday on social media beginning 20 April.
Theatre has had to adapt to the constantly changing situation. It’s uncertain when they can open the doors to audiences to embrace live theatre again. The silver lining is that theatre has possibly developed a new digital age audience which is continuing to grow with no sign of slowing down. So, will the industry have to adapt to an ever hungry millennial society online or will this create thousands more fans with a love for live theatre. We’ll have to wait and see… but for now theatre will keep a light on – in-house and online.
Jessica Sykes 