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The best theatre to stream this month: Self Esteem dazzles with Teeth ’n’ Smiles
This monthly streaming guide highlights a range of theatre, dance and audio productions, led by Rebecca Lucy Taylor (Self Esteem) in David Hare’s Teeth ’n’ Smiles. The selection matters because it makes notable recent and archival performances accessible beyond their original venues, spanning rock drama, Shakespeare, queer history, flamenco and musical mystery.
Other recommendations include Michaela Coel performing her early monologue Chewing Gum Dreams on NT at Home, Hiran Abeysekera’s modern-dress Hamlet, and Antoni Cimolino’s 1992 Romeo and Juliet from Canada’s Stratford Festival archive. Arte.tv offers Marco da Silva Ferreira’s protest dance work F*cking Future and Rafaela Carrasco’s flamenco ballet Humo, while Audible presents The Pansy Craze and Murder at the Gates, a concept album featuring Gaten Matarazzo.
In short
- Self Esteem leads the month’s theatre-streaming recommendations.
- Michaela Coel and Hiran Abeysekera feature in major recordings.
- Dance, audio drama and Shakespeare broaden the selection.
Explained simply
Theatre performances are usually experienced live, but streaming services and theatre archives let audiences watch recorded productions from home. These collections can include recent work and older performances, as well as dance and audio productions.
The recommendations draw on several traditions and performers. Rebecca Lucy Taylor, who performs as Self Esteem, appears in David Hare’s rock drama Teeth ’n’ Smiles; other selections include Shakespeare, Michaela Coel’s early monologue Chewing Gum Dreams, protest dance and flamenco.
The guide matters because it gives people a way to encounter performances beyond the venues and places where they were first presented. It also brings together work from different periods and countries across services such as NT at Home, Arte.tv and Audible.
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