Shakespeare’s Globe has become the latest London venue to expand its programming to the cinema screen, joining the Royal Opera and Royal Ballet in Opus Arte’s screening programme.
The move will see this season’s productions of Romeo And Juliet, Love’s Labour’s Lost and As You Like It recorded during performances at Shakespeare’s Globe and subsequently screened at around 80 UK cinemas and 500 cinemas worldwide.
Speaking about the move, which will make the work of Shakespeare’s Globe available to those who may never have had a chance to enjoy a live performance at the Bankside venue, Dominic Dromgoole, Shakespeare’s Globe’s Artistic Director said: “The relationship between live performance, new recording technology and new modes of distribution is going to be the big story for theatre, dance and opera over the next few years. We are delighted to be in partnership with the good people of Opus Arte and in the vanguard of that new movement.” He added, referring to the use of new technology, “I’m sure [Shakespeare] would have been absolutely delighted with it.”
The Royal Opera productions of La Traviata, Don Carlo, La Bohème and The Tsarina’s Slippers, and the Royal Ballet productions of La Bayadère, The Nutcracker and Mayerling will also be screened by participating cinemas in the coming year, along with productions from Teatro Real Madrid, Glyndebourne, Gran Teatre Del Liceu and King’s College, Cambridge.
Opus Arte is the multi-platform arts production and distribution company owned by the Royal Opera House, which has grown in scale and profit since it was bought by the organisation two years ago. In addition to its cinema programming, it also releases productions on DVD and Blu-ray, while in the future it could expand into on demand broadcasting and 3D cinema, a project which, according to Tony Hall, Chairman of Opus Arte and Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House, is “technically on the edge of what is possible”.
Hall added: “Bringing Shakespeare’s Globe really excites me in that we truly have a very diverse range of art forms. The Globe is a genuinely unique organisation, internationally recognised for bringing Shakespeare’s work alive in the venue for which it was written.”
More information about screening dates, productions and participating cinemas can be found at www.roh.org.uk/cinemas
MA