Concerts, Book Clubs and Broadway Musicals – the Best Social Activities You Can Stream From Your Home During the Coronavirus Lockdown
Yes ok, you can’t go out to your favourite restaurants, your summer holidays are being cancelled and the summer gigs you have been looking forward to all year are no longer happening – self isolation sucks.
Thank God then, for this little thing we call the internet – the online stage where all of your immense summer plans are still happening – bigger and better than ever before.
Being indoors definitely doesn’t have to be boring – especially when you have access to the world’s best theatre, gigs, opera cinema, and fitness classes.
So instead of moping around the house all week, take a read of all the super exciting things that are going to be happening on the internet this summer...
Virtual gigs
There has been mass disappointment as artists have been forced to cancel their gigs following the news of the coronavirus. This has led to the rise of virtual gigs…
Several stars including Coldplay’s Chris Martin and country singer Keith Urban have been performing live on Instagram to entertain their fans.
Christine And The Queens is performing nightly live 6 pm shows from the Ferber recording studio in Paris, which she broadcasts live on her Instagram account.
Yungblud played an hour-long show to an empty room in LA, for which he encouraged his fans to jump and dance to at home.
Online book clubs
If you’re an avid reader, or someone who likes reading but maybe needs a bit of direction, now might be a great time to try online book clubs. Here are just a couple of great online book clubs:
Poppy Loves Book Club is a book club for women all around the world, created and run by women. There is a new book every month and once a month the community comes together online for a live Facebook discussion on the month’s book, often with the book’s author. Check out their Facebook and Instagram pages here.
PropelHer’s book club describes itself as a club for ambitious women. The club reads one non-fiction book a month and is based in London, but is available to Livestream online. Livestreamed sessions are delivered in a virtual conference call on Mondays at 11 pm.
And, of course, all of the City Girl Network’s Book Clubs are online, too!
Home Fitness Workouts
Now is a better time than ever to get fit, with tons of fitness apps offering free trials for home workout videos and several gyms livestreaming their group classes so you can follow along at home.
Gymshark have recently made all home workouts and plans free on their Gymshark Conditioning iOS App, so you can try HIIT classes, core workouts, abs and booty challenges, dumbbell workouts and many more all for free in your living room.
Les Mills offer a 14-day free trial of their Les Mills on Demand workout streaming service. Les Mills are also helping out gyms that they are partnered with, during this Coronavirus self-isolation phase, by offering 60 day free trials to gym members, in order to encourage people to keep their memberships and support these businesses (so keep an eye out for that). The Les Mills classes include BODYPUMP, BODYCOMBAT, GRIT, BODYBALANCE, CXWORX, BODYATTACK, and many more well-known classes, which can be streamed straight to your device.
If yoga’s more your thing, CorePower Yoga have made their collection of online classes free to stream online. New classes are available to stream each week.
Theatre and Opera
Whether or not you consider yourself a theatre or opera buff, there’s plenty of variety here to suit all tastes – whether you’re looking for humour or heartbreak, comedy or tragedy, there should be something here for you. Also, it’s a renowned fact that it is impossible to sit through a musical and still be miserable at the end (so there’s that!). Here are several ways you can stream some of the best theatre and opera out there…
Marquee TV has been dubbed the Netflix of the arts. Here you can view productions from the Royal Opera House, the Royal Shakespeare Company, Opera Zurich, the Bolshoi, Teatro Real and many more. There is a 30-day free trial available and after that you can purchase a subscription for £8.99 a month or £69.99 a year (under the current special offer).
Broadway HD lets you stream your favourite Broadway shows straight to your home. With hundreds of shows available – from An American in Paris to Kinky Boots – you can enjoy all the magic of the theatre in your living room (or bedroom if you prefer). Grab a glass of wine and enjoy a seven day free trial of all of your favourite shows, or subscribe for $8.99USD per month (approximately £7.72) or $99.99USD for a year’s subscription (approximately £85.83).
Globe Player enables you to buy or rent a variety of theatre productions, including many of Shakespeare’s plays, the complete collection of Dan Poole & Giles Terera’s Muse of Fire documentary and a number of foreign language productions with English subtitles. There are also plenty of interviews with famous actors and directors; including Tom Hiddleston, Judi Dench, Ewan McGregor and Baz Lurhmann.
Dance lessons
If you’re looking to learn to dance, there are several ways to do this:
Steezy offer the opportunity to learn a range of different dance styles; whether you’re into urban dance, pop, house, break dance, hip hop, krump or jazz funk, there’ll be something here for you. Steezy offer unlimited dance classes with a week-long free trial and cater to all levels.
Several of the Strictly Come Dancing cast are doing free online videos teaching people to dance at home. You can check out Gorka Marquez’s dance videos on his Instagram here. Dianne Buswell is also teaching people to dance on her Instagram.
Early Released Cinema Films
Universal Pictures said they will make movies available at home on the same day they are released in cinemas. There are already several early released films now available to rent on Amazon Prime; including Emma, The Invisible Man and The Hunt.
Live ‘write-ins’
For those of you looking to try a bit of creative writing, Reedsy is streaming live ‘write-in’ sessions on Youtube. Reedsy will guide you through a series of 20-minute writing sessions live on air, and during the breaks you can share your progress and ask the hosts any questions you might have. The first of these sessions was on 20th March, but there are sure to be plenty more, so keep an eye out on their website.
Additionally, if you sign up for their newsletter, Reedsy will send you five writing prompts, based on a weekly theme, where you write between 1000 and 3000 words and get the opportunity to win a $50 prize and the chance to be featured on their website. It might just be the kickstart you need to create something great!
So stay safe and have fun indoors, and enjoy all the internet has to offer. We’ll all go for a nice cold drink in the sun when this is all over!
Written by Chloe Lane