This summer, an imaginary theatre company is inviting you to watch an online video series that has been uniting performers across the country.
The theatre company, founded by author and Edinburgh Fringe performer Rohan Candappa, supports, nurtures and pays actors left struggling during the pandemic.
The online series features 20 episodes, covering everything from the complexities of running during lockdown, to a forgotten British death during the Korean War. The finale, London Calling, will air in September.
London Calling is a 17 minute monologue in which the city of London itself draws a parallel between the virus it’s lived through in 2020, and the Blitz it suffered in 1940. The piece was inspired by news reports that the weekly fatalities caused by Covid-19 at one point outstripped those in the Blitz at its peak.
London Calling will be released on 7th September, the 80th anniversary of the start of the Blitz. The monologue is performed by Guy Hughes and contains previously unheard lyrics written by an ARP warden at Strand Station in 1940.
The Lockdown Theatre Company was created in response to both the lockdown and the cancellation of this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which Candappa has attended and performed at for the last four years.
All the films have been self-taped by performers under socially distanced measures and rehearsed on WhatsApp. They feature performers from across the UK and as far afield as New Zealand.
When: Available now. The finale, London Calling, airs on 7th September 2020.
Where: Watch online
£: Free
More info: www.youtube.com