The National Theatre has announced that they will be launching live screenings of performances at national cinemas up and down the country. These HD broadcasts will begin in June with Helen Mirren in Phedre, with 3 more performances to follow.
Tickets for these screenings will cost £10, which is considerably less even than the train ticket to London. As such it is pretty good value, and should be an interesting experience. It may even lead to regional theatres reciprocating with screenings of productions in London cinemas (although at a cost of £50,000 per broadcast maybe not!) It is a nice example of how arts organisations shouldn’t be afraid to present their output across different platforms, as this can only widen the reach of their performances.
My only concern is whether the screenings will encourage people who attend cinema but not theatre to try something new (which is clearly Nick Hytner’s plan), or whether all the tickets will be snapped up by discerning theatre audiences who are based outside of London. Either way it is definitely a step in the right direction.
19/01/2009 at 8:05 pm Permalink
Although if this catches on as a business model, and I think it will, A/V companies will be chomping at the bit to offer permanent installations of all the camera equipment needed to theatres, at competitive rates.
I can easily imagine a time where a little TV mixing gallery is as much a part of a theatre control room as the usual lighting and sound desks.
To give an idea of the falling cost, these [http://is.gd/gu4S] Sony cameras are high definition, operated remotely so you don’t need an operator per camera (which makes them very space efficient), and cost £7,500 each. Wasn’t long ago an equivalent set up would have cost over £150,000 per camera, with the operator on top.