Well, I might have to rewrite the introduction for this post in a few years, but its a risk I will take. Here in the first half of 2020, we all find ourselves bound to stay inside for an indefinite amount of time. While it is a rather difficult proposition at the best of times, it is also hard to see arts and cultural organisations shuttering their doors everywhere. (Only for now!) So, in the meantime, I’m gathering all of the different cultural resources that are available online. As long as you have access to the internet, you should be able to enjoy these online cultural resources while you quarantine!
1. An Historian About Town… aka Me!
Starting off with my own posts! I can’t say that I wrote this post with a global pandemic in mind, but my post on “How to Find History and Culture When You Live Remotely” is a good place to start. When I wrote it, it was more for people who can’t get to major cultural capitals like London, New York, Toronto, and the like. However, none of us can get to any performances, theatres, or gatherings no matter where we live now.
I also will keep sharing my other posts that highlight cultural content available online! From my best recollection, everything should be free. (I don’t think I have focused on any paid options in the past.)
2. Royal Opera House (Royal Ballet and Royal Opera)
The Royal Opera House is Covent Garden is one of my favourite places on earth, and when I was in the UK in 2019, I was lucky enough to see the Royal Ballet perform Don Quixote and take a behind the scenes tour of the ROH. Well, they are coming through for all of us ballet and opera fantatics, with free streaming performances! They will be streaming on Facebook and Youtube, so most everyone should be able to watch them. Their current schedule is:
27 March @ 7pm GMT- Peter and the Wolf (Royal Ballet)
3 April @ 7pm BST- Acis and Galatea (Royal Opera)
10 April @ 7pm BST- Cosi fan tutte (Royal Opera)
17 April @ 7pm BST- The Metamorphosis (Royal Ballet)
If more streams are added, I will update this list/post! (Also, for anyone who doesn’t know, BST is the UK equivalent of Daylight Savings Time.)
3. Instagram/Twitter
All sorts of creative types are sharing their talents all over social media, and it has been wonderful to watch! Broadway performers were doing the #BWayHandwashChallenge where they would wash their hands for 30 seconds while singing their favourite songs. (Not from their own show, so they are singing things you may never have heard from them!)
Sam Pauly, the original Katherine Howard in the North American cast of Six, is performing 20-30 bars of a different song each day on her Instagram. She put out a call for requests, and so far, the list has been pretty varied. (Obviously she started with All You Wanna Do, she had to…)
Lin Manuel Miranda and Andrew Lloyd Weber are having a musical-off of sorts, which has been pretty entertaining to follow along on Twitter.
Many ballet dancers that I follow have been sharing their work outs, barres, warm ups, classes, and everything else they are doing at home to stay in shape. Some are just to watch, and some are for people to follow along, but I’m really enjoying getting more of a behind-the-scenes look for dancers. And I would keep an eye out on different company Instagram accounts- I would imagine they might start sharing, as well!
4. Streaming Services
Several different streaming services are offered free trials during this period. Some are offering the standard 7 day trial, while others are doing an extended 30-day trial. Most of these aren’t anything new (it would always be available), but this might be a good time to try them out now if you have free time. Make sure that you cancel the trial before it ends, or you will be charged! (And is now the best time for extra charges on your credit card?)
Marquee Tv is a streaming site where you can watch different ballet, opera, and theatre performances! The Royal Ballet, Royal Opera, the Bolshoi Ballet, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and more all have performances available to watch.
Broadway HD features, you guessed it, different Broadway and off-Broadway performances. There aren’t too many current productions available but if you enjoy classic/older musicals, it is the site for you!
5. The Metropolitan Opera
The Met Opera (based in New York) will be streaming different operas nightly! You can either watch them on the Met website or download the Met Opera on Demand app, whichever is easier for you! (And it does not appear to be limited by region, as I was able to watch it in Canada.) Each performance will be uploaded at 7:30pm EST, and will be available for 23 hours. If you have ever wanted to learn more about opera, this is your chance!
New! 6. The Globe Theatre
The Globe Theatre is one of London’s most popular theatres. It is a recreated Globe Theatre, a replica of William Shakespeare’s theatre. (It’s not too far from the spot of the original Globe.) Normally, you can see any number of Shakespearean productions being performed, as well as other playwrights from the period. And lucky for all of us, they are showing two different productions for free on Youtube each month. (You can watch more on Marquee TV if you want to subscribe.) On Youtube, you will be able to catch these Shakespeare plays:
20 April- 3 May- Romeo and Juliet
4 May- 17 May- The Two Noble Kinsmen
18 May- 31 May- The Winter’s Tale
1 June- 14 June- The Merry Wives of Windsor
15 June- 28 June- A Midsummer’s Night Dream
New! 7. The English National Ballet
The English National Ballet, led by Tamara Rojo, is an incredible company. They perform a wide repertoire of classical, contemporary, and everything in between. They are also going to be premiering different productions on Youtube and Facebook for everyone to enjoy at home! Their Wednesday Watch Party productions will be available on Wednesdays at 7pm BST (which is 1pm CST) for 48 hours to watch for free. Rojo is also teaching a full daily ballet class that you can do at home, which are all available on their Youtube channel.
22 April- 24 April- Broken Wings (based on Frida Kahlo’s life)
29 April- 1 May- Dust (exploring women’s role in war)
6 May- 8 May- TBD
13 May- 15 May- TBD
New! 8. National Theatre At Home
The National Theatre, also in London, has joined the crowd and made several productions available online for streaming from home. They have also decided to make their productions available for 7 days, with productions premiering on Youtube on Thursday evenings. They’ve already streamed Jane Eyre and One Man, Two Guvnors but there are more to come! I caught Jane Eyre, and the production value is fantastic. (And in a normal world, I would never be able to see these!)
16 April- 23 April- Treasure Island
23 April- 30 April- Twelfth Night
More productions to be announced!
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I will add to this list as I discover more resources and opportunities. Please feel free to comment below or message me on social media if you know of anything I’ve forgotten! And I will have a list of online history resources for all of your history needs.
What are your favourite online cultural resources? Have you discovered anything new?
Cheers,
The Historian
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