Throughout this time of isolation, many venues across the world are streaming live performances and productions which have otherwise been cancelled. We have put together a collection of online resources for you to brighten your day, provide some additional entertainment other than the television and widen your knowledge of what is available to you online.

Please see below for what is available to watch from the comfort of your own home:

The Royal Opera House

The Royal Opera House are pleased to announce a FREE live programme of full-length productions to spread the joy of ballet and opera during these uncertain times. They will be broadcast via The Royal Opera House Facebook and YouTube channels allowing you to enjoy them from the comfort of your own home.

Così fan tutte

OPERA
10 April 2020, 7pm BST
This comedy by Mozart sees two men test their girlfriends’ faithfulness. Their plan – to disguise themselves in order to try and seduce the other’s lover. What could possibly go wrong?

The Metamorphosis

BALLET
17 April 2020, 7pm BST
A contemporary piece by Arthur Pita, created on Royal Ballet Principal Dancer, Edward Watson. It is based on the novella by Franz Kafka, about how one family reacts when their son wakes up, transformed into a monstrous insect.

Take a virtual tour of 10 of the world’s best museums and art galleries

Art lovers can view thousands of paintings, sculptures, installations and new work online – many in minute detail – as well as explore the museums themselves. There are various platforms: from interactive, 360-degree videos and full “walk-around” tours with voiceover descriptions to slideshows with zoomable photos of the world’s greatest artworks. And many allow viewers to get closer to the art than they could do in real life.

So, take a break from the news, enter full-screen mode and start your art adventure in sunny California …

J Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

With more than 6,000 years worth of creative treasures, the Getty is one of the best places for art on the west coast of the US. Go from neolithic clay figures to Van Gogh’s Irises and Renoir’s La Promenade – just two of many artworks that feature in the virtual tour. As with several of our selection, Google Arts and Culture offers a “museum view” tool to look inside gallery spaces, with clickable artworks presenting further information. The Getty’s sunny sculpture plaza and garden terrace are worth adding to your digital trip, via another viewing platform, Xplorit.
• getty.edu

Vatican Museums, Rome

Soaring vaulted ceilings, intricate murals and tapestries, the Vatican’s museums are creatively rich sites. Don’t forget to look up when exploring the seven spaces in the museum’s virtual tour, to gawp at a series of 360-degree images, including the Sistine Chapel. Wander around the rest of Vatican City with a You Visit tour that takes in Saint Peter’s Basilica and Square, complete with a tour guide narrating each interactive space.
• museivaticani.va

Guggenheim, Bilbao

Frank Gehry’s sculptured titanium and steel building, on the banks of the Nervión River, is one of the world’s most distinctive art spaces. The interactive tour takes viewers around its collection of postwar American and European painting and sculpture – Rothko, Holzer, Koons, Kapoor – and even down between the weathered curves of Serra’s Matter of Time (turn left at the entrance).
• guggenheim-bilbao.eus

Natural History Museum, London

Hintze Hall at Natural History Museum. Photograph: Jonathan E Jackson/The Natural History Museum, London

From the diplodocus to the dodo, botany to butterflies, giant crystals to specimens in jars … the Natural History Museum’s vast collection has long been a favourite of both Londoners and tourists. Get lost in the corridors and gallery spaces – one treat is Dippy the dino, who despite recently going on tour still makes an appearance in the entrance hall in this interactive online guide.
• nhm.ac.uk

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

This grand museum has a vast collection of art and historical objects across 80 galleries. A 10-year renovation project was completed in 2013, transforming the space and combining elements of 19th-century grandeur with modern lighting and a new glass-roofed atrium. The interactive tour helps viewers get up close to every brush stroke by Vermeer, Rembrandt and other Dutch masters while exploring the Great Hall and beyond.
• rijksmuseum.nl

National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, South Korea

There are several sites making up this museum: the main gallery in Gwacheon and branches in Deoksugung, Seoul and Cheongju. The virtual tours explore an inspiring mix of print, design, sculpture, photography, new media and other large-scale installations. From Joseph Beuys to Warhol and Nam June Paik, the collection includes an international lineup of established artists, contemporary Korean artworks and emerging names.
• mmca.go.kr

Musée d’Orsay, Paris

In the former Gare d’Orsay, a Paris railway station and hotel, the musée is home to Cézanne, Monet and other French masters. Under a 138m-long curved glass roof, sits the largest collection of impressionist and post-Impressionist works in the world. The virtual tour also includes an online exhibition charting the history of the building. And over on Tourist Tube there’s a 360-degree view of the magnificent exterior.
• m.musee-orsay.fr

British Museum, London

There are 3,212 panes of glass in the domed ceiling of the British Museum’s Great Court, and no two are the same – and the 360-degree view in this virtual tour lets viewers examine each and every one. Beyond this magnificent space, viewers can find the Rosetta Stone, Egyptian mummies and other ancient wonders. The museum’s interactive infographic platform, History Connected, goes into further depth of various objects with curators, along a timeline.
• britishmuseum.org

MASP, São Paulo, Brazil

The Museu de Arte de São Paulo has one of the broadest historical collections available to view via its virtual gallery platform, spanning from the 14th to 20th centuries. Paintings appear suspended in the air around the open-plan space, on glass panels or “crystal easels” as the museum calls them. There’s also a temporary retrospective exhibition by Brazilian pop artist Teresinha Soares beside the building’s statement red staircase. The glass and red-beam structure, built in 1968, is worth a look from the outside too, via Google Street View.
• masp.org.br

National Gallery, London

A backdrop to London’s four lions in Trafalgar Square, the National is home to 2,300 publicly-owned paintings, watercolours, drawings and other European art from the 13th to the mid-20th century. There are seven exhibition spaces of Renaissance art and the Central Hall to explore in its 360-view virtual touring pages, from portraits to large dramatic altarpieces.
• nationalgallery.org.uk

The National Theatre

The National Theatre will be streaming live, full length plays and performances during their closure via their Youtube channel.

Jane Eyre
This bold and innovative reimagining of Charlotte Brontë’s masterpiece uncovers one woman’s fight for freedom and fulfilment on her own terms.
Streaming from 7pm on Thursday 9 April. Available until 16 April.

Treasure Island
Robert Louis Stevenson’s story of murder, money and mutiny is brought to life in this thrilling stage adaptation.​ Featuring Arthur Darvill as Long John Silver.
Streaming from 7pm on Thursday 16 April. Available until 23 April.

Twelfth Night
Where music is the food of love, and nobody is quite what they seem, anything proves possible in Shakespeare’s classic comedy. Featuring Tamsin Greig as Malvolia.
Streaming from 7pm Thursday 23 April. Available until 30 April.

 

NASA

Nasa have made all of their image galleries free online during this time of isolation! You are able to view these by clicking here Happy Stargazing!

The Stay-At-Home Literary Festival

The Stay-at Home! Festival was created by writer CJ Cooke in partnership with Paper Nations in March 2020 as an international online literature festival designed to (a) prevent loneliness, (b) champion connectivity and community amidst social distancing, and  (c) celebrate writing and reading as tools to achieve (a) and (b)! In a nutshell, it is a free and completely online festival with workshops, readings, panels and Q&A sessions by writers of all genres that people all over the world can enjoy from their sofa (and which will doubtless be presented from writers’ sofas!)

The programme features over 200 authors and 130 events from 27th March until 11th April 2020, with subjects ranging from poetry to novel writing and nonfiction, career advice, wellbeing and mindfulness, mental health, and publishing.

All events are live, though we do have a few events that run throughout the project. To join in, simply click on the web link provided on each event of the programme at the indicated start time – no need to register. All you need is a smartphone, tablet, or laptop – cosy up on the sofa with a hot drink and biscuit and enjoy!

Click Here to participate in the literary festival!

Andrew Lloyd-Webber Musicals

Yes, you’ll get to enjoy a dash of Joseph And The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. You’ll get to taste a pinch of Jesus Christ Superstar. And, you’ll even get to experience a new, virtually orchestrated snippet of Phantom Of The Opera. ALL for no cost at all! First up, is the 1999 showing of Joseph And The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. It’s the film version of the tale that first came to life in 1968, when Andrew Lloyd Webber was just 19. Then, on the following Friday (10 April), Jesus Christ Superstar steps up. This stream is set to be the 2012 arena production of the beloved musical.

These two performances will hit this YouTube channel at 7pm UK time. You’ll have exactly 48 hours to catch them before they disappear off the internet, so don’t miss out!