David Farnor | On 06, Nov 2015

Big Clever Learning has acquired Digital Theatre.

Founded in 2009, the VOD service has established itself as a hub for streaming plays, operas, classical music and dance productions. Over the years, the catalogue has expanded to include such acclaimed and high-profile productions as Much Ado About Nothing starring David Tennant and The Old Vic’s The Crucible starring Richard Armitage.

As well as giving fans the chance to keep a recorded version of a favourite production – or catch up on a show that they missed – the site has also become a useful resource for teachers, students and pupils, with a premium subscription package available to provide access to behind-the-scenes and informative content.

Enter Big Clever Learning, a company that specialises in developing digital education.

“The team at Digital Theatre has transformed the performing arts through its high quality capture of live performance and its use of technology,” comments Chairman Justin Cooke. “British performing arts is a critical cultural export and Digital Theatre’s fantastic digital platform ensures it will continue to thrive by making the very best content accessible to millions more people around the world, as well as providing the arts industry with a new revenue stream.”

“We will continue to add the greatest international content to our existing library of world-class productions, whilst ensuring the best possible user experience by leveraging leading-edge technology,” says Robert Delamere, Co-Founder and Creative Director.

Delamere’s Co-Founder and Executive Producer, Tom Shaw, described the investment for an undisclosed sum “a major step forward”, but will leave the company to pursue his career as an independent producer.

The new funds will partly be used to further Digital Theatre’s teaching and learning resources.

“We will continue to explore the relationship between theory and practice. Our provision of curriculum-mapped resources, created in collaboration with renowned arts organisations, practitioners and scholars, including Fin Kennedy, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and Professor Carol Chillington Rutter, has made Digital Theatre an essential resource for academics, teachers and students of English and the Performing Arts,” adds Fiona Lindsay, Digital Theatre’s Product Director.

Along with Big Clever Learning’s team of entrepreneurs and education and technology specialists, a number of further key hires will be announced in the coming weeks.

To read our reviews of a selection of Digital Theatre productions available to buy and rent online, click here.

Photo: Johan Persson / Digital Theatre

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