Claire Foy and Matt Smith to star in socially distanced live-streamed Lungs at empty Old Vic
© Helen Maybanks
Claire Foy and Matt Smith will reunite to present socially distanced live performances of Lungs on the Old Vic stage.
The production of Duncan Macmillan's play, rehearsed via webcam, will be presented live to audiences on a nightly basis. After Lungs, the venue will present socially distanced play readings from its empty auditorium, with a full line-up to be revealed.
Each performance of Lungs and each subsequent play reading will be available for up to 1000 people per night (with some matinees) replicating the usual audience capacity size. 'Tickets' will be available for between £10 and £65, and, though all audiences will have the same "view" for the live stream, the venue is asking for the financial contribution to be seen as a donation.
Lungs will be presented across a number of days in June and July. Update – two further performances have been added for 1 and 2 July at 8pm BST. Tickets go on sale at 12pm BST on 16 June.
Foy and Smith originally appeared in the Macmillan's piece together last autumn, with Foy going on to win the WhatsOnStage Award for Best Actress for her performance.
The theatre has described it as an "exciting creative experiment and also
crucial in igniting the box office now all our usual channels of revenue have been entirely wiped out".
