Actors from the Grande Prairie Live Theatre production of Much Ado About Nothing are taking their stage show into the online realm. Cutting a portion of the play into 10 small scenes, the cast has turned the traditional offering into a social distancing, video-conferencing, office romance called “Ben & Bea: A Distancing Office Romance”.
The scenes will be uploaded onto YouTube daily. Actor Derek Hall says they’re excited to be able to try something new for both seasoned theatre-goers, and those who may be new to the world of live performance.
“Shakespeare is a challenge anyways, but rather than have someone sit through a two-hour show, each scene [lasts] around three or four minutes.”
Hall says with shows like Saturday Night Live and late-night TV hosts trying similar things online, they decided it was worth a shot. He adds one particular online offering pushed them over the edge when it came time to decide to put a new spin on a classic.
“Patrick Stewart is doing a Shakespearian sonnet a day on Instagram, so all these things kind of put themselves together to inspire us and show us what is possible.”
New episodes of “Ben & Bea: A Distancing Office Romance,” can be found on Derek’s YouTube page. Much Ado About Nothing was originally slated to be performed at the live theatre from March 26th to April 11th.