Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre is to make two co-productions available to watch online for free.
The first is the Ian Dury and the Blockheads musical Reasons to be Cheerful. Part gig, part play, this coming-of-age tale was produced by Graeae in association with the Belgrade. It was on stage at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East in October and November 2017.
Written by Paul Sirett and directed by Graeae’s artistic director Jenny Sealey, the show is “packed with punk attitude and stone-cold classic songs” including “Hit Me with your Rhythm Stick”, “Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll” and the titular “Reasons to be Cheerful, Part 3”.
Integrating British Sign Language and captioning through Graeae’s signature theatrical language, the show will be made available to watch via the Graeae web site as part of Crips without Constraints, an 11-week programme of online activity celebrating the creativity and diversity of deaf and disabled artists across the UK. It can be seen from 3 June until 3 August.
The Belgrade will also present the online première of Satinder Chohan’s Made in India. Co-produced by the Belgrade and Tamasha in association with Pilot Theatre, this play about motherhood is centred on the commercial surrogacy industry in India.
Before a change in legislation in 2016—shortly before the show premièred in Coventry—India had come to be regarded as the world’s “surrogacy hub”, with women acting as paid surrogates for hopeful parents from around the world.
The show was directed by Katie Posner. It will be streamed via Tamasha’s YouTube channel and Facebook page from 16 until 30 June. Full details of how to watch can be found at the Belgrade Theatre web site.