James R | On 05, Sep 2015

BBC iPlayer and BBC Four are teaming up to bring theatre Live from Television Centre to your living room.

The collaboration between the Beeb and Battersea Arts Centre and Arts Council England will bring together independent theatre-makers not just from London but across England for five pieces of theatre.

They will be broadcast across a two-hour live programme on BBC Four on Sunday 15 November 2015, with performances from Gecko, Richard Dedomenici, Touretteshero and Common Wealth. Islington Community Theatre will create a fifth performance, which will be released exclusively on BBC iPlayer on the same day.

All of them will be filmed in the former headquarters of the BBC, marking the first live broadcast there since the building was decommissioned in 2013. The show will mix brand new performances and adaptations of existing pieces with short, pre-recorded segments.

David Jubb, Artistic Director and CEO of Battersea Arts Centre, says: “For a long time, theatre created by independent artists has been perceived as fringe or experimental, as opposed to that created by big-building-based theatres. This has always seemed odd to me because much of the theatre by independent artists is deeply accessible. In the music business, independent bands and musicians have mass followings and there is wide appreciation of the value they contribute to the scene. So I am excited by this first step in UK theatre and for these five independent theatre makers to present their work to a larger audience on television.”

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