STREAMED SHAKESPEARE Steps Up A Level With New Offerings

After a rewarding run bringing eleven of Shakespeare's best-loved plays to 50,000 viewers over just fourteen weeks, the online theatre company is set to reach the next stage of free online streamed performances of the Bard's work!

It's been just over three months of COVID-19 lockdown, and in that time, Streamed Shakespeare has staged eleven of The Bard's plays, and have also produced a Sonnets show, two promotional videos and a rollicking round of trivia.

With music videos, virtual sets, costumes, props, special effects, original music - often played live by cast members - and a dazzling command of multiple broadcasting software applications, Streamed Shakespeare has been a hugely innovative, bright light amid the potential gloom of COVID-19 Arts lockdown.

The latest viewership numbers show continued audience growth, proving there is an ongoing appetite for this type of streamed content. While most of the viewership comes from Australia, there is a sustained increase of international spectators, most notably from Germany, the US, the Netherlands, and Mexico.

Recent productions have continued to innovate: Streamed Shakespeare regular and Pop-up Globe veteran Charles Mayer treated audiences to a post-apocalyptic neo-noir Hamlet that pared back the text and the medium to explore themes of isolation and emptiness; rising star director Victor Kalka contrasted melancholy with absurdity and playfulness in Twelfth Night.

And the company's most recent production, The Two Noble Kinsmen, was emerging talent Eleni Cassimatis' joyful exploration of her Greek heritage, with beautiful original music by Cologne-based composer Paul Bremen.

In all, audiences have viewed Streamed Shakespeare productions over 50,000 times!

You'd forgive the company for resting on its laurels for a month or two after this mammoth effort - but Artistic Director Holly Champion is keen to continue to build on their success!

"We never stop! This Sunday 28 Jun we have our "Roundtable: Shakespeare, Race and Performance" which will stream from 2.45 pm. Then we are back in the thick of it with our Best of The Bard special video and our next run of innovative staged. Awareness of our work is becoming steadily broader and more and more enthusiastic as our audiences continue to build."

The next plays include some of The Bard's more challenging work, including Julius Caesar (Sunday 5 July 2pm) and The Tempest (12 July), directed by company veterans Jamie Collette and Alex Perritt respectively.

And to celebrate the 50K figure, Chiara Charlotte Osborn will direct a gala episode of Streamed Shakespeare: The Best of the Bard (28 June) will feature actors performing their favourite scenes and monologues - with a personal and creative twist. Then follow Titus Andronicus (19 July, dir Haki Pepo Olu Crisden) and The Merchant of Venice (26 July, dir Roslyn Hicks).

With these exciting initiatives already planned, it will be fascinating to see what the future will bring to the Streamed Shakespeare thespians once the world of theatre slowly reopens its doors again. Until then, they will be streaming - creatively, joyfully - to an appreciative and growing audience.

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