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Ten stage shows to watch on Marquee.TV

You can still catch a load of theatre online while venues are closed

Fiona Button as Cecily Cardew and Fehinti Balogun as Algernon
Fiona Button as Cecily Cardew and Fehinti Balogun as Algernon
© Marc Brenner

A number of streaming services are available right now, and one of them is Marquee.TV – which has a rich collection of premium theatre, dance, opera and more to watch online. We round up some of the best stage-y options on offer.

The company is offering a 14-day free trial and various offers while lockdown continues. Until 4 October, users can save 50 per cent on a year's subscription – plus receive a 14-day free trial!

The Feeling of Going

Music from Sigur Rós frontman Jónsi appears in this epic dance-theatre production, which see some of Sweden's most impressive performers spring to life in a mesmeric and novel experience.

RSC's history plays

David Tennant in Richard II
David Tennant in Richard II
© RSC, photo by Kwame Lestrade

David Tennant, Antony Sher and more bring Shakespeare's history plays, about the triumphs and woes of monarchs, to life in this expansive list of productions. Two parts of the Shakespeare Roman history season are there too.

Whatever, Heaven Allows

For those who likes their theatre avant-garde, why not try New York troupe Radiohole's manic melange of meta-melodrama, Milton's Paradise Lost and Douglas Sirk's 1950s films.

Donmar's Shakespeare Trilogy

Harriet Walter as Brutus in Julius Caesar
Harriet Walter as Brutus in Julius Caesar
© Helen Maybanks

Perhaps one of the most seismic stagings of Shakespeare's work in recent memory, the Donmar's trilogy has an ensemble cast of brilliant performers including Sheila Atim, Jade Anouka and Harriet Walter. It really is excellent.

RSC's tragedies

Macbeth, Othello, Romeo and Juliet – you want tragic, you've come to the right place. Paapa Essiedu's brilliant Hamlet is also on there, as are some of Shakespeare's lesser-known pieces like Cymbeline.

Shakespeare's Globe

Shakespeare's Globe
Shakespeare's Globe
© Tristan Surtel / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

Three Shakespeare's Globe productions – Love's Labour's Lost, Romeo and Juliet and As You Like It are all available to watch.

Acting for Freedom

Belarus Free Theatre has produced some of the best shows of century, consistently charged and politically poignant. You can sample their work on Marquee.TV, with the company's YouTube channel also having a lot of content on offer.

The Oscar Wilde Season

Fiona Button as Cecily Cardew and Fehinti Balogun as Algernon
Fiona Button as Cecily Cardew and Fehinti Balogun as Algernon
© Marc Brenner

Running in the West End and featuring the likes of Eve Best and Jennifer Saunders, if you want an evening's worth of belly laughs, here are four shows on offer.

Transition

Comedian/musician Reggie Watts and playwright/director Tommy Smith come together to provide an original and slightly absurd hour-long performance piece that may have to be seen to be believed.

RSC comedies

Dinita Gohil and Kara Tointon
Dinita Gohil and Kara Tointon
© RSC, photo by Manuel Harlan

Plays like Twelfth Night, As You Like It and Two Gentlemen of Verona are all available to be streamed after being captured live at the venue, with cast members including Dinita Gohil, Kara Tointon and Adrian Edmondson.