Learning on ScreenDigital Theatre Plus
Q. Do you follow set texts?
As time goes on and our production library grows I’m confident that we’ll have an increasing amount of work that is directly connected to the teaching curriculum. The essential thing though is that we always offer work that shares best practice, connects with students and provides a true reflection of play writing, performance and lifting a play of the page and preparing it for the stage. Young people and teachers are the most important audience and deserve the best.
We capture every production live and it’s really important to us that the viewers feel that they are part of a live occasion
Q. How are the performances filmed?
We capture every production live and it’s really important to us that the viewers feel that they are part of a live occasion, that they are sitting in that audience – we don’t try and pretend the audience isn’t there. We shoot two full productions and we edit in consultation with the artistic director. Everything is captured in High Definition with cameras absolutely everywhere. This means that the viewer gets a very rounded experience of each character and their different points of view.
Into the Woods
Q. Tell us about some of the productions filmed so far.
I’m particularly proud of the full learning resource we have to support the RSC’s A Comedy of Errors. The production was created as part of their ‘Young Peoples Project’ with the ambition of getting as many young people as possible to see the show –both live and online. Supporting the film of the show we have two full forty-five-minute documentaries and lively written material as well … I’m also very proud of the work we have done on All My Sons, the recent West End hit with David Suchet and Zoe Wanamaker, which has been beautifully filmed. Supporting that we have a really comprehensive learning resource that journeys through the American dream and what was going on politically at the time when Arthur Miller wrote the piece as well as detail on his quite turbulent personal history that spills over into his creative work. We currently have ten productions in the library and twenty documentaries and interviews and four learning resources. We are adding to these over the Summer and will be announcing a new film in the Autumn.
Q. What has the response to Digital Theatre Plus been like so far?
The response from the general public all over the world to being able to download British theatre productions has been extremely positive and teachers absolutely love the fact that what it does is democratise the theatre-going experience.
