The COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the planet is (hopefully) a once in a lifetime experience, with members of the general public encouraged to stay at home except to seek out essential services such as medical assistance or grocery shopping. This has had a significant impact on the worldwide cultural industry, with both major and community arts and performing arts venues shut down indefinitely.
While it is practically impossible to now visit a theatre and watch a performance, some organisations have embraced online technology and taken the initiative to offer an extensive assortment of ways to enjoy a performance from the comfort of your home at no cost. These may not replace the full experience of sitting in a theatre with the performers/orchestra mere metres away from you, but is also an opportunity to sample something new and pass the time in as creative a way as possible.
With that in mind, here are five producers who are ensuring you can remain culturally active over the coming weeks.:
1Camerata: Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra
Camerata is a Chamber Orchestra ensemble which hosts many performances at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), Empire Theatre (Toowoomba) and Fish Lane (Brisbane) annually. In response to the shutdown imposed by COVID-19, they have commenced weeknightly performances as part of the 5@5 initiative. Striving to help people “Tune In, Tune Out”, for five minutes every night at 5.00 pm, you will be taken to the home of a different Camerata artist or friend and enjoy some beautiful music to tune out to.
Each of these performances are being streamed via the official Camerata: Queensland Chamber Orchestra Facebook Page Monday-Friday. Archives of each stream are available through their newsfeed, meaning you can potentially enjoy more than five minutes of chamber music today!
The latest stream, featuring Artistic Associate Elizabeth Lawrence, can be found below:
2Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
3The IsoLate Late Show
The Little Red Companyhas been active in the Brisbane cabaret scene for years, helmed by Adam Brunes and Naomi Price. If you are a fan of cabaret, musical theatre or just the performing arts industry in general, then their new livestream show The IsoLate Late Show are ones you will not want to miss during the lockdown. These weekly streams are hosted by Naomi Price, Luke Kennedy and Jason McGregor; and feature many weekly special guests. Tomorrow night’s show, for example, will feature ARIA award-winning band Sheppard, musical theatre star Mat Verevis and magician Chris Wayne.
These shows are also helping to support the Actors’ & Entertainers’ Benevolent Fund of Queensland, a charity of 45-years which is raising money to support performing arts professionals in Queensland who are in crisis as a result of COVID-19. If you would like to donate to this fund, click HERE.
You can watch the episodes check out their official Facebook page and event page!
4National Theatre
From Australia to the United Kingdom, the National Theatre is one of many UK-based artistic organisations impacted by COVID-19 and will remain closed until at least 30 June 2020. While they may not have new works appearing live on-stage, select productions from their back catalogue will be streamed via their official Youtube channel every Thursday at 7.00 pm UK Time from today. This is part of their National Theatre at Home initiative.
First up is the theatrical comedy One Man, Two Guvnors with James Corden, which will be available until 9 April 2020 when another production replaces it. Might be a good time to plan a National Theatre Evening with your family each week!
5Paris Opera Ballet
While COVID-19 may or may not impact the upcoming Brisbane QPAC International Series season by Paris Opera Ballet, Ballet aficionados will want to keep an eye on the company’s official Facebook Page to experience some of their marvellous productions from years past.
During the COVID-19 lockdown in Paris, a number of their recorded performances will be made available public to watch through their online channels. A new production will go live every Monday at 7.30pm Paris local time. The latest production to go live is the exquisite Swan Lake by Nureyev Gouvernance, which can be watched HERE.
