Jessica Walker and Joseph Atkins bring a touch of cabaret to English Touring Opera in this intimate show, co-produced by Royal & Derngate, captured on film and directed by James Dacre with animation by Thomas Hicks.
‘Dialogue whizzes back & forth like leather on willow’: STUMPED – Original Theatre (Online show)
When in 1964 Samuel Beckett (Stephen Tompkinson) and Harold Pinter (Andrew Lancel) play in the same cricket match in the Cotswolds, you might expect something out of the ordinary. Filmed live at Lord’s, the ‘home of cricket’, Original Theatre’s Stumped imagines what might have happened in such a meeting between two playwrights known for pauses and a sense of the absurd.
‘Exhilarating & frustrating’: MUSES – The Space (Online Show)
Both exhilarating and frustrating, Muses brings something new and innovative to the theatre space. It’s often just beautiful, and sometimes bizarre. I’m interested to see what Puro Caos have in store for us next.
‘Remarkable work’: JUST AN ORDINARY LAWYER – Edinburgh Festival Fringe (Online Show) ★★★★
Just An Ordinary Lawyer is one of two shows which Tayo Aluko and Friends have available both live and online on-demand at the Edinburgh Fringe this year, and this one focuses on Nigerian Tunji Sowande (1912-1996), concert singer, cricket fan and Britain’s first Black judge.
‘The state of the climate & mental health are core concerns’: BOILING FROG – Camden Fringe (Online Show)
Jo Emery Productions brings this show to the digital strand of Camden Fringe. Boiling Frog is a series of interconnecting monologues across 90 minutes.
‘Captures the heart’: FINDING MAGIC – Edinburgh Festival Fringe (Online Show)
A Zoom performance by Beverley Bishop, directed by Peter Beck, Finding Magic includes an audience recorded at the time of the livestream, to give a sense of interactivity.
‘Your choice, your experience’: TREE CONFESSIONS – Camden Fringe (Online Show)
Written by Jenny Lyn Bader and narrated by Kathleen Chalfant, Tree Confessions is a 34-minute audio show which most recently streamed as part of the Greater Manchester Fringe.
‘Quirky & complex piece’: THE FALL – Original Theatre (Online Show)
New play The Fall, by Drew Hewitt, forms part of the triple bill of readings staged at the Riverside Studios and now available via on-demand streaming.
‘Gets the audience involved at every turn’: Puncture the Screen: Keep The Lights On (Online Show)
Kill The Cat’s live-stream of Keep The Lights On comes to YouTube on-demand in a 40-minute work in progress piece as part of Puncture the Screen which is a matrix based game to “turn off the lights” of the performance space.
‘Taut but puzzling tale of revenge’: RETRIBUTION DAY (Online Show)
In advance of its appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe, this film version of Retribution Day, described to me by its creators as “a marmite piece” is a taut but puzzling tale of revenge.
‘Clever, sharp & heavily detailed’: THE END OF THE NIGHT (Online Show)
A tight 80-minute three-hander (two other minor characters appear briefly), Original Theatre’s The End of the Night is not an easy watch but it is quite brilliant, and lends itself perfectly to the digital format.
‘Lovely hybrid between audiobook & theatre experience’: KISSES ON A POSTCARD (Online Show)
Streaming in two versions, a concept album at two hours available for free, and a four hour one for purchase, Kisses on a Postcard is an episodic piece which can be enjoyed in short bursts between 20 and 40 minutes each.
‘A fingernail under the surface of a world which only exists online’: THE COLLAB – The Space (Online Show) ★★★★
In The Collab writer Lauren Morley has created a piece totally on the pulse of the young people who live by their likes and engagements. Ella seeks that million followers and the validation that comes with it.
‘Fluid, flowing & fierce’: PRACTICE OF ZEN – Brighton Fringe (Online Show)
Practice of Zen considers the traditions, practicality, sensuality and strength of swordplay and resilience. Performed in Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles, this piece by Theatre Ronin of Hong Kong brings back the spirit of Wuxia through folklore and emotional connection.
‘Chatty, open & brave’: SHATTERED – Brighton Fringe (Online Show) ★★★★
Diana Varco brings her own experiences to this one-woman show, now streaming at the Brighton Fringe. The topics of abuse and sexual assault may not be an obvious choice for comedy, but Varco delivers her story in the form of a stand-up routine across 54 minutes.
‘An important show deservedly being shared with a wider audience’: RIOT ACT – Stream Theatre (Online review) ★★★★
This is a piece of verbatim theatre, telling three stories of queer activism from the mid-20th century to the present day; Alexis Gregory conducted interviews with Michael-Anthony Nozzi (a survivor of the Stonewall riots), Lavinia Co-op (a 70s drag artist), and Paul Burston (a 90s AIDS activist).
‘Treats its characters & subjects with respect & dignity’: RIOT ACT – Stream Theatre (Online review)
Alexis Gregory’s one-man show is a passionate and engrossing piece of theatre, created and assembled from verbatim accounts from gay men who have encountered key points in queer history.
Year in review: My favourite digital shows 2021
Despite the fact that theatres were once again up and running for about half the year (varying from place to place), there was still a massive appetite for digital productions going into 2021.
‘Immerses us totally in a community facing indescribable loss’: INTO THE NIGHT (Online review)
We are in Cornwall, forty years ago, on the 19 December 1981. A lifeboat in Penlee Station answers a distress call, but never returned, with the loss of sixteen lives.
‘Focuses on the battle in the trenches & between the classes’: INTO BATTLE (Online review)
The scene is set at Balliol College, Oxford, in 1910. A group of exceptional young men finish their education as the shadow of war slowly approaches.