Last modified on Thu 6 May 2021 14.32 EDT
Some of the finest lockdown digital theatre has addressed the absence of its real-world counterpart. Iâm thinking of the National Theatre of Scotlandâs Ghost Light, which invoked the spirits of performances past and postponed. Alphabetti in Newcastle upon Tyne is up to something similar with this trio of audio plays, written âin reaction to a lonely theatreâ. Three writers conjure with the associations of an empty stage, an unpopulated auditorium, an interval bar
sans drinkers. Footage from inside the abandoned Alphabetti, a Mary Celeste adrift on Covidâs waves, accompanies their words.
Singer-songwriter Bob Bradshaw weaves his stories through a blend of roots music forms, drawing from his background as a prose writer and frontman for a rock ‘n’ roll band. Prior to the pandemic, Bradshaw was a live fixture in New England.
The Ghost Light, referencing that single light in the theater that stays on after performers and audience have left the premises, is a pandemic-induced metaphor for his ninth studio album. Somehow, he maintains cohesion with 12 vastly different stories, self-contained and not bound by any theme, nor by a consistent set of musicians. Instead, the backing configurations change on just about each tune.
The Broadway touring cast of The Prom is scheduled to take the Overture Hall stage in Madison in March 2022. Overture Center
They were moved to tears by entering the empty, elegant, 400,000-square-foot center for the arts that has been shuttered since March 13 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The musical Mean Girls is part of the touring Broadway season coming to the Overture Center in the 2021-22 season. Overture Center
Madison Opera normally performs its full-scale professional operas in the 2,255-seat Overture Hall and the 1,089-seat Capitol Theater. The group is one of 10 resident companies â along with the Madison Symphony Orchestra, Forward Theater Company, Childrenâs Theater of Madison and others â that call the arts hub at 201 State St. their performance home.
The world of the theater has a long history of traditions and superstitions (we’re thinking of you, “The Scottish Play”). But one that’s taken on more prominence and meaning during the pandemic is the story of “the Ghost Light.”
Usually a single illuminated electric bulb at the top of a tall fixture and placed front and center on the stage, the Ghost Light is said to give comfort to the spirits that seem to haunt every theater when there’s no performance happening. Others believe its function is to ward off evil spirits. And more practical souls planted on