Aliya Al-Hassan - Page 81

Polly Findlay's brilliant gender-bending production of Treasure Island for the National Theatre was a hit back in 2014 and now comes to a screen near you as part of their National Theatre At Home series.

After a hugely successful debut in 2018 at London's Old Vic Theatre and a subsequent UK tour, Emma Rice's highly theatrical adaptation of Angela Carter's Wise Children is a welcome and absurdist addition to the BBC's Culture in Quarantine series, filmed at York Theatre Royal in 2019.

Already in its third week, the Royal Opera House's streaming initiative #OurHouseToYourHouse, turned to Jonathan Miller's modern version of Mozart's Così fan tutte. The comedic plot surrounds two pairs of young lovers: Ferrando and Dorabella and Guglielmo and Fiordiligi whose affections are put to the test by an old 'philosopher', Don Alfonso. Women, he says, are never faithful; he therefore arranges for the two men to disguise themselves to test their partners, with the help of their maid Despina. What results is a poignant mix of comedy and tragedy as the women submit to each other's partners and the ruse is finally revealed.

After the riotous One Man Two Guvnors from the National Theatre At Home series, comes Sally Cookson's fervent adaptation of Jane Eyre. This intensely theatrical production is full of atmosphere and gothic chill. In these difficult times, it is three hours of escapism to a windy Yorkshire moor.

Wouldn't it be ironic that the time that the whole of the UK (and indeed the world) really fell in love with theatre was when no-one could actually go there? Millions of people who already love the performing arts are desperately missing their fixes. But now this virus is the great equaliser; everyone is at home, yet still want and need to be entertained.

The BBC is currently working on its Culture In Quarantine initiative, but the BBC's iPlayer and Sounds are already incredibly rich sources of drama, music, dance and comedy. Here are some of the highlights currently available.

Podcasts are a brilliant way of passing the time, while learning something new and being entertained at the same time. Here is our pick of some of the best to satisfy your cravings for theatre, dance and comedy.

As we all adjust to the new, strange reality, online entertainment and education has become even more vital. There are a wave of new initiatives and offers coming in all the time, but here is a short guide of where to start in your online theatre and entertainment fix.

Adapting a novel for the stage is fraught with difficulties; even more so when the novel is a literary sensation that has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide. Afghan-American Khaled Hosseini's devastating 2003 first novel, The Kite Runner, has added difficulties as a play, as it spans 30 years and crosses continents in the process. This quietly devastating play debuted in 2013 in the UK at the Nottingham Playhouse and now returns for a country-wide tour.

Founded in 1980, the multi-award-winning Finborough Theatre is small, but perfectly formed. Set above a pub in Earl's Court, it is best-known for producing new plays, as well as rediscovering works from the 19th and 20th centuries. Here is everything you need to know if you are travelling there.

Josh Azouz's play The Mikvah Project was a great success when it formed part of the Orange Tree's Directors' Festival last summer. It now returns in excellent form to explore the tentative and problematic relationship between two male characters in the setting of North London Judaism.

The Rose Youth Theatre has great form in developing new theatrical talent. With excellent performances by members in every Christmas production at the Rose, The Creature: Frankenstein Retold is an exciting opportunity to witness the professional debut for nine alumni of the group.

Covent Garden's iconic Royal Opera House is home to both The Royal Opera and The Royal Ballet. A theatre has been on the site since 1732, but since 1858 the current building has served as a central cultural site for London. During World War II, it was used as a dance hall, but then the decision was made to make it as home for both ballet and opera, opening in its current form in 1946. The beautiful venue has played host to opera legends such as Joan Sutherland and Maria Callas and also ballet greats such as Margot Fonteyn. Here is everything you need to know if you are travelling there.

Covent Garden's Royal Opera House continues its successful series of live screenings to over 1000 cinemas across the world. Dances at a Gathering / The Cellist is a chance to see two incredibly different ballets in one evening; both beautifully moving in their own ways.

With 22 Grammys and hundreds of millions in worldwide sales, the potentially fascinating story of Gloria Estefan, her husband Emilio and their journey to success with the Miami Sound Machine has the potential to be a fantastic jukebox musical. On Your Feet has plenty of material to draw upon; with an intricate journey through issues of immigration, racism and a life-threatening accident, it is a fun and frothy evening.

As part of the 243rd season of the iconic ballet company, several productions by the Bolshoi Ballet are again being broadcast on cinema screens across sixty countries. As one of seven of these ballets, Swan Lake is surely the most iconic, having debuted at the Bolshoi theatre in 1877. Tchaikovsky's incredibly evocative score wasn't enough to secure initial success, but for many people today, Swan Lake is ballet.

Martin Crimp's blisteringly raw version of Cyrano de Bergerac has been a great success so far during its run at The Playhouse Theatre in London's West End. After screening over 80 theatre productions in the last ten years, NT Live are now screening this theatrical masterpiece all over the world.

A world premiere of a play is always an exciting thing; a potential opportunity to witness one of the very first performances of a future classic. Unfortunately, Paul Minx's new play The Dog Walker, at the diminutive Jermyn Street Theatre, is an odd and uneven experience.

In yet another attempt to democratise opera, Opera Undone, the new strand of Islington's King's Head Theatre's celebrated opera offering, brings two radical interpretations of Puccini's Tosca and La bohème to the Trafalgar Studios. These are the first productions to debut in the West End.

First seen in the West End over 20 years ago, titled The Mysterious Mr Love, Karoline Leach's Tryst is the final show of the Chiswick Playhouse's inaugural season; a melodramatic mixture of psychological thriller and slightly awkward love story.