Claire Foy and Matt Smith to stream socially distanced Lungs from Old Vic Theatre
David Farnor | On 30, May 2020
Claire Foy and Matt Smith will perform a socially distanced version of Lungs that will be streamed live from the Old Vic Theatre.
The two-hander play was first performed at the theatre back in 2019, but while it played then to a packed-out hour, this June and July will see The Crown co-stars perform inside an empty auditorium to an audience watching at home.
The ice caps are melting, there’s overpopulation, political unrest; everything’s going to hell in a handcart – why on earth would someone bring a baby into this world? That’s the starting point for Duncan Macmillan’s play. Directed by Matthew Warchus, the production will kick start a new series of productions from the Old Vic Theatre, at a time when the venue (which is a charity and receives no government funding) is in serious financial peril due to the coronavirus lockdown.
Called Old Vic: In Camera, the new initiative will bringing together the socially distanced performance of Lungs with a string of streamed play-readings.
The series is described by the Old Vic as a “an exciting creative experiment and also crucial in igniting the box office now all our usual channels of revenue have been entirely wiped out”.
Each performance will be performed by Foy and Smith and streamed live via Zoom. Only one ticket is required per household and tickets will be available for up to 1,000 people to watch per night, replicating the capacity of the usual theatre audience. Prices range from the Old Vic’s usual £10 to £65 to allow for a range of contributions from viewers – although each “seat” will have the same view.
Performances begin on 27th June and will run until 4th July. Tickets go on sale at 12pm on Wednesday 10th June. Ticket holders will then receive a Zoom link 48 hours before their chosen performance with instructions on how to watch.
The initiative follows the National Theatre’s weekly streaming of old NT Live recordings for free on Thursdays – you can see the full line-up of shows here, or read our full digital theatre guide here.
Here are the list of performance dates and times:
Fri 26 Jun
8pm BST
Sat 27 Jun
2pm BST – captioned
Sat 27 Jun
8pm BST
Fri 03 Jul
8pm BST
Sat 04 Jul
2pm BST
Sat 04 Jul
8pm BST
