Emma Rice’s acclaimed musical Romantics Anonymous will be performed live at the Bristol Old Vic and broadcast live direct to homes across the world next month.
The new production of the critic and crowd-pleasing show which had been due to tour the US this year will now reach audiences across the world with partner theatres in the UK and overseas selling tickets for different nights of the week.
Presented by Wise Children, Bristol Old Vic and Plush Theatricals, the show will be available to stream as a ‘digital tour’ between 22 and 26 September.
Announcing the inventive touring arrangement, Wise Children’s award-winning artistic director Rice said: “I have devoted my life to the live experience and the collective imagination – things that have proved impossible over the last few months. Whilst nothing will be able to replace the thrill of a night out at the theatre, this live broadcast is going to be as close to that delicious experience as we can possibly make it!
“Live, fresh, fun and intimate, this will remind us of what it is to share stories, hear music and, if true love has its way, even kiss. Imagine that! We are taking the utmost care to protect all of our valued team and, for one week only, we can all experience a live performance again, get lost in a wonderful love story and remember what it was to be socially intimate!”
On behalf of the Bristol Old Vic, artistic director Tom Morris added: “Theatre has to reinvent itself in order to survive. That’s always true, of course, and one of the great pioneers of theatrical reinvention over the last 20 years has been Emma Rice. And now she’s at it again.
“A purely live fully streamed full scale musical for a live audience sitting at home all over the world. It’s so bold it turns your mind into a honeycomb. We are absolutely thrilled and honoured to be hosting the experiment in our beautiful theatre, and there is no company more suited to rekindle the fire of live performance that inspires us all than Wise Children.”
Each night will be tailored-made for audiences in different parts of the world with local flavour added before each live-stream begins and partner venues will be grouped together by region or country. The ‘opening night’ on 22 September will be streamed live to eight theatres in Scotland, the North of England and Wales from 7.30pm.
Partner theatres include: Belgrade Theatre, Berkeley Rep, Brighton Dome and Brighton Festival, Bristol Old Vic, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Curve Theatre Leicester, Derby Theatre, Eden Court Highlands, Exeter Northcott, HOME, Lighthouse Poole, Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse, Marlowe Theatre, New Zealand Festival, Norwich Theatre Royal, Oxford Playhouse, Royal & Derngate, Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Singapore Repertory Theatre, Spoleto Festival USA, St. Ann’s Warehouse, Storyhouse, The Festival Theatre, The Lowry, The Old Vic (where Wise Children is a company in residence), Theatr Clwyd, Theatre Royal Bath, Theatre Royal Nottingham, Theatre Royal Plymouth, Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts and York Theatre Royal.
Full casting and creative details will be unveiled soon with many of the cast who featured in the production which opened at the Bristol Old Vic in January expected to return.
Following government safety guidelines, members of the company will each have a Coronavirus test before forming a ‘bubble’ in Bristol. The measures which will remain in place for the entire run will allow performances to go ahead without the need for social distancing. Captioned and audio-described versions of the production will be available.
Adapted and directed by Rice, the 2017 world premiere of Romantics Anonymous was originally produced by Shakespeare’s Globe for the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse by special arrangement with Radio Mouse Entertainment.
Based on the film Les Émotifs Anonymes written by Jean-Pierre Améris and Phillippe Blasband, Romantics Anonymous features a book by Rice with lyrics by Christopher Dimond and music by Michael Kooman.
Angela Thomas
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