Pull up a chair and get comfortable as this week’s Cultural Picks has lots of new ways to enjoy theatre at home. Alongside our weekly instalment from The National Theatre, who are treating us to A Midsummer Night’s Dream this week, we also have The Last Five Years – from Digital Venue The Other Place – filmed in isolation and The Old Vic presenting  social distanced performances of LUNGS, starring Claire Foy and Matt Smith.

Falsettos

The Tony Award-nominated Broadway revival of Falsettos will be streamed online to raise funds for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and Its Emergency Grants.

The show, which stars Christian Borle, Stephanie J Block, Andrew Rannells and Brandon Uranowitz (all of whom received Tony Award nominations) will be available for 48 hours from 25 June at 8pm ET (just after midnight). Anthony Rosenthal, Tracie Thoms, and Betsy Wolfe round out the cast. The production was filmed live at the Walter Kerr Theatre in New York City in January 2017.

It will be available internationally via the BroadwayHD website. While free, the site is actively encouraging donations.

Watch from June 25 here.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

This week’s instalment from the National Theatre is the magical A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

A feuding fairy King and Queen cross paths with four runaway lovers and a troupe of actors trying to rehearse a play. As their dispute grows, the magical royal couple meddle with mortal lives in the forest, to hilarious, but dark, consequences.

The Bridge Theatre’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is streaming from 7pm on Thursday 25 June here.

Catch up with the National Theatre at Home’s stream of Small Island until Thursday here.

LUNGS

Old Vic: In Camera is a new artistic initiative combining a run of socially distanced performances of LUNGS followed by a major series of rehearsed play-readings, all streamed live from the iconic Old Vic stage with the empty auditorium as a backdrop.

From 26 June – 4 July, watch Claire Foy and Matt Smith perform a socially distanced version of Duncan Macmillan’s hilarious emotional rollercoaster of a play about a couple wrestling with life’s biggest dilemmas live from The Old Vic.

Each performance of LUNGS will be available for up to 1,000 people per night (with some matinees) replicating usual audience capacity size.

Tickets priced from £10 can be purchased online here.

The Grinning Man

Bristol Old Vic At Home presents The Grinning Man, a rare bootleg capture of the original Bristol version. The Grinning Man is an epic tale of an abandoned child with a terrible secret.

Based on The Man Who Laughs by Victor Hugo and brought to life by director Tom Morris (Touching the Void) and writer Carl Grose (Dead Dog in a Suitcase), don’t miss this digital revival, captured during its original Bristol run by TVPP, and featuring a sensational original score by Tim Phillips and Marc Teitler and puppetry from Gyre & Gimble – the original puppeteers.

Watch The Grinning Man from June 26 here.

The Last Five Years

Digital Venue, The Other Place, will be streaming The Last Five Years from 25-27 June.

Written by Tony Award-winning composer Jason Robert Brown, the musical’s unconventional structure has allowed this brand-new, highly innovative form of streamed theatre to be created. Jamie (Danny Becker) tells his story chronologically from their love-at-first-site meeting, whilst Cathy (Lauren Samuels) tells her story in reverse, from the end of their turbulent relationship to the start. Filmed in isolation, it is an emotionally powerful musical about two New Yorkers who fall in and out of love over the course of five years.

Book Tickets to watch online here.