OUR STORY

The Show Must Go Online was one of the first, most consistent, and most prolific producers of digital theatre throughout 2020/21. Their first show went live on March 19th 2020, just two days after the West End shut down due to Covid19.

TSMGO went on to produce, rehearse, direct and perform 40 shows in nine months, producing both Shakespeare’s entire First Folio plays in chronological order, and four Ian Doescher pop-Shakespeare plays. These attracted a quarter of a million views with more in legacy, utilising a cast and crew of more than 500 creatives from 60 countries, resulting in a connected and creative global community.

Volunteer- and values-led, TSMGO created and held space for underrepresented artists, as well as participants of all levels of experience, with amateurs and training actors sharing the stage with veterans of the Globe, RSC, and Broadway.

TSMGO created an opt-in hardship fund for actors, so those experiencing difficulties in the pandemic could receive financial support from the enthusiastic audience, raising over £23,000 for those in need.

The shows welcomed early-career and under-represented scholars onto the platform to share their work and offer new and novel interpretive lenses for our “digital groundlings”, creating a dialogic relationship in which the play could be viewed from multiple perspectives.

The audience deeply affecting stories: of neurodivergent audiences able to access theatre when traditional spaces proved overwhelming; of those in hospice and palliative care, who chose to spend some of their final days engaging in theatre on the same terms as the rest of the audience, as part of a community.

The shows attracted four- and five-star reviews, coverage in The Guardian, New York Times, Playbill and other major global news outlets, as was featured on the flagship current affairs show BBC Newsnight twice.

As well as being a model for other companies, TSMGO actively supported over 15 different companies, groups, and institutions to set up their own digital theatre offers.

Upon completion of the First Folio, TSMGO championed early-career and underrepresented directors, using a franchise model of formula-as-a-friend and iterative innovation to support Global Majority-, Disabled- and Queer-led productions of Pericles, Gallathea, Dr. Faustus and more. Throughout, TSMGO doubled down its commitment to accessibility, with open captions, BSL and ASL in multiple performances.

The endeavour was designed to provide a progressive vision for the future of theatre in a time of crisis, and the entire catalogue remains free for everyone, forever.