Childen’s hospices and hospitals to see pantomime through live streaming
This
year’s home-grown pantomime at the Wilde Theatre in Bracknell’s South
Hill Park arts complex is Jack and the Beanstalk.
It’s written by Bart Lee, composed by Ron McAllister directed by
Julian Hirst}, choreographed by [Ann Ogden and designed by
Victoria Spearing (set) and Pamela Wiggin (costumes).
runs from 1 December to 5 January and the matinée performance on
Thursday 13 December will be live-streamed to children’s
hospices, hospital wards and respite care homes. Take-up so far includes
organisations as far from Berkshire as North Devon, Basingstoke and
Winchester. St Thomas’ Hospital in London has also expressed
interest.
The
broadcast, accessed through the internet, will be a television-style
production with multiple cameras crewed and directed by
professionals. This is a SHPLive project, set up earlier this year
when South Hill Park applied successfully to the National Lottery
through Arts Council England for funding support in connexion with
its programme exploring the world of digital broadcasting. Also in
the pipeline is Embedded, a series of late-night
free concerts, and Beyond the Stage, a laboratory
to create new performance work over two years.
McAllister,
who is chief executive for the complex, has written the music for the
past ten Christmas shows. About SHPLive he comments: “I
am delighted that our second major live streaming project, following
the success of From Up Here’ by Perfect Pitch
will take our panto into hospitals this year. We are one of the
first venues in the UK to do this, and we hope to lead the way for
other venues to do the same in future years. If other venues are
interested in live streaming their shows, then I ask them to get in
touch. We will be happy to share our experiences and help if we can”.
