The arrival of mass media in the 20th century and the evolution of digital technologies have transformed the way of creating theatrical space in this century. Many theatres in the UK have started to use broadcast technology in the past decade to transmit their live performance online or to the cinemas since the National Theatre in London launched the NTLive in 2009, such as the Royal Shakespeare Company 2013 and Shakespeare's Globe's Globe Player since 2014, relaunched in 2021. Broadcast theatre provides an opportunity for the cinema and online audience to "look through" the screen to the live performance, which creates another way of experiencing the theatrical space via virtual elements and offers new opportunities for contemporary commercial theatres to operate, especially at the post-pandemic time. This paper will take Bridge Theatre as an example as it is a relatively new commercial theatre built in 2017 and produced filmed immersive Shakespeare productions, which many critics and scholars think is an innovative way to adapt Shakespeare. It will use the 2019 production, A Midsummer Night’s Dream as an example, to analyse its impact on how London's commercial venues produce new productions and how broadcast technology facilitates the flexible theatrical space to present immersive experiences for cinema and online audiences. 

Authors:
Shuyu Liu, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom

About the Presenter(s)
Shuyu Liu is a PhD student from University of Nottingham. Her research area specialises in digital and broadcast theatre and explores the institutional change of broadcasting theatre productions within both subsidised and commercial venues.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/matilda-liu

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