What are theatres doing online during the current pandemic? UpStage artist and performance academic Christina Papagiannouli (University of South Wales) writes:

“With more than a fifth of the world’s population been under lockdown, theatre makers and educators, either by choice or force, have turned towards the internet to communicate with their audiences and students. Although the main norm seems to be streaming pre-recorded performances via the Internet, with goliaths of UK and European theatre closing the one after the other their physical buildings and opening their online performance archives for free to the public (a norm that has been met with criticism by theatre circles questioning what such a movement holds for the future of theatre), there is still a huge interest in real-time performance by individual artists, educators and students.”

She lists a number of performances using a variety of different tools and methods and identifies four types of platforms for online collaboration: virtual worlds, streaming, social media, and purpose-built platforms – UpStage being her example for the latter.

Read the full article here: Online Theatre and Performance: Making social-distancing live theatre and performance during the COVID-19 lockdown.