Australians might not be able to go to the theatre at the moment, so the theatre will have to come to them. Australian Live Theatre has just launched a three-week online festival of Australian theatre, streaming live-recorded Australian plays for free.
Yep, from March 27 until April 11 you can see up to three Australian plays for zip, zero, zilch. Grant Dodwell, the creative director for Australian Live Theatre, says: "Our aim of this online streaming festival is to bring people together and reflect on the world-class quality and creativity of the Australian Theatre community."
The festival starts with two streamed performances of Sydney Theatre Company’s satirical Wharf Revue – Celebrating 15 years (March 27 and 28). On April 2 and 3, at-home audiences can see Griffin Theatre Company’s production of David Williamson’s Emerald City (which just had its season at MTC cut short due to Covid-19). Finally, the online festival will be closed by Mary Rachel Brown’s warts-and-all comedy The Dapto Chaser on April 10 and 11.
All streamed performances start at 8pm and can be watched by heading along to the Australian Theatre Live Facebook page (the live videos will be posted shortly before start time on each performance date). The organisation also has additional Australian plays like Liberty, Equality, Fraternity and Away that you can watch on-demand or rent for a small fee (usually between $2 and $5). Check out the group’s Vimeo page for details.
Standing ovations from your sofa are not mandatory, but we certainly encourage it.