Kwame Kwei-Armah says theatre can never go back to being something that can only be experienced by physically being there

By Mark Brown

“The Young Vic plans to livestream all of its future productions, its artistic director has said, insisting theatre can never go back to being something that can only be experienced by physically being there.

Kwame Kwei-Armah told the Guardian the pandemic had changed theatre forever, with the livestreaming of plays becoming “hard baked” into how the industry operates

Kwei-Armah said that during lockdown he had resolved to “innovate, not just replicate” resulting in a project titled Best Seat in Your House which will use multiple cameras and allow online audiences to change what they are looking at…

The new livestreaming innovations were about playing with technology, he said. “I do want to emphasise it is not in any way a replacement for live theatre, not in any way something I think will compete with the live experience.

“It is about access. That family in Scunthorpe who may want to see James Graham’s play and can’t get down for the day. That family in Cincinnati who can’t get over. Access is our driver and this is a way that we make that access just a little more here and now. We won’t stop with that, we’ll keep on innovating.”

Source: The Guardian