Age of Rage
“I never think about the audience until the last days before we perform,” said director Ivo van Hove earlier this year. “You cannot be creative because you censor yourself … I never would have made Age of Rage if I’d thought of the audience.” The result was an enthralling epic, pushing four hours, welding together stories from Euripides and Aeschylus, and performed with blistering power by his ITA ensemble. Here’s an unmissable chance to watch it live on 11 December.
A Scary Little Tempest
This first ever livestreamed production from Cornwall’s windswept Minack theatre means you can now enjoy its family Christmas show without packing scarves and woollies. A co-production by Scary Little Girls and Creation Theatre, it combines Cornish mythology with The Tempest. Watch live on 20 December.
Dick Whittington
Nottingham Playhouse puts on one of the most raucous pantos in the land. This year it turns to Mr Richard Whittington Esq, his faithful feline and the dastardly King Rat. Panto dame John Elkington leads the fun. On demand from 12 December, with a special Christmas Eve edition also available.
Grey Man
You can still find high-quality new theatre online for free: take this 30-minute “stage and screen experiment” written by Lulu Raczka and released by Liminal Stage Productions. Kate O’Flynn and Kristin Hutchinson star in an elliptical chiller about a missing sister and a bogeyman. Available on YouTube until 17 December.
Into the Night
Filmed in a single take, Frazer Flintham’s play is a retelling of the 1981 Penlee disaster when an entire Cornish crew died attempting to rescue a coaster that was on its maiden voyage. One of more than a dozen productions available on demand from Original Theatre Company.
The Bolds
The Unicorn in London has a full festive season, with Pinocchio on the main stage and Christmas in the Sunshine in the smaller theatre. Online, there’s another chance to watch its 2021 musical production for over-sixes, based on Julian Clary’s story about a suburban family of hyenas. Available for free until 31 December.
A Fight Against …
The Royal Court’s admired 2021 production of Pablo Manzi’s political play is now streaming until 14 December. The drama hops between Chile, Peru and the US from 1998 to 2019 and explores “whether violence brings us closer together and what it takes to make a community”. Sam Pritchard directs.
Sherlock Holmes: The Valley of Fear
Blackeyed Theatre’s adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s final novel about the Baker Street sleuth is touring until the spring but an elegantly filmed version is already available online until 22 January. The tale proceeds from a manor house murder outside Tunbridge Wells to a secret society in Pennsylvania.
The Little Match Girl
Hans Christian Andersen’s 1845 story, about a destitute child’s dark night of the soul on Christmas Eve, is given an imaginative makeover by Arthur Pita that includes a duet on the moon in 1969. A family fable to spark warmth, it’s available to rent on Sadler’s Wells Digital Stage until 15 January.
He Who Opens the Door
The ever-enterprising Finborough continues its commitment to Ukrainian theatre with a half-hour digital production written by Neda Nezhdana whose play Pussycat in Memory of Darkness was staged at the London theatre this summer. A black comedy set in present-day Ukraine, it is available on YouTube.
