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The platform will help to recoup revenue lost as a result of the ongoing pandemic
Lauren Heath-Jones | Planet Attractions | 29 Jan 2021
Viewers can experience the 2009 production of Phédre, starring Dame Helen Mirren, in their own homes Credit: Catherine Ashmore/The National Theatre
London’s National Theatre (NT) has launched a new streaming service that will enable users to enjoy professionally filmed NT productions in their own home.
NT first started offering digital versions of its productions during the first UK lockdown. For 16 weeks free streams were uploaded to the organisation’s YouTube channel on Thursday nights.
Thanks to the popularity of these streams, which garnered more than 15 million views from 173 countries, theatre officials decided to create a permanent digital offering in the form of a streaming service.
“We had extraordinary figures which showed there was an appetite for this work,” said National Theatre director Rufus Norris.
Called ‘National Theatre at Home’, the platform is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies and will offer NT Live performances, previously broadcast in cinemas, as well as productions from the NT Archive.
Productions currently on offer include War House, Coriolanus starring Tom Hiddleston, Phédre with Dame Helen Mirren and Dominic Cooper, and Yerma starring Billie Piper. New productions will also be added every month.
Devastating losses
The service aims to help the theatre to recoup some of its revenue, after suffering devastating losses in 2020 due to the ongoing pandemic.
“It’s been an extraordinarily difficult time for this theatre and for all theatres and we’ve had to make some very painful financial decisions. If there is a way of serving an audience while also bringing some income into the theatre, that is a sensible thing to do,” said Norris.
Lisa Burger, executive director and joint chief executive of the National Theatre, said: “Since the last stream finished in July, we’ve been determined to find a way to give our audiences access to these stunning filmed productions online once again.
This is a really exciting day for the National Theatre as we launch a major, online streaming destination for our filmed theatre productions which we hope will continue to provide audiences with the power and joy of theatre for as long as it is needed.”
Jemma Read, global head of Corporate Philanthropy at Bloomberg LP said: “We believe in the transformative power of art and performance to inspire societal change and economic growth. The pandemic continues to impact creative communities and those with fewer resources disproportionately; as we adjust to a new normal, National Theatre at Home will generate artistic opportunity and will offer a safe way for an audience of unprecedented size and diversity to enjoy world-leading performances.”
Users will be able to subscribe on a yearly or monthly basis - with a yearly subscription costing £99.98 (€113.18, US$137.21) and a monthly subscription costing £9.98 (€11.30, US$13.70) - or can pay-per-play, with NT Live productions costing £7.99 (€9.05, US$10.96) and NT Archive productions costing £5.99 (€9.05, US$8.22).
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