Live Broadcast of A Midsummer Night’s Dream to Regional WA a Success
Black Swan State Theatre Company’s live stage performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the State Theatre Centre of WA in Perth was broadcast in real time to audiences across regional Western Australia on 21 May.
A pilot project supported by Lotterywest and the WA Department of Culture & the Arts, the live broadcast was shown at 8 regional and metro theatre or community venues and 19 regional Community Resource Centres (CRCs) via the State Government owned Westlink Channel. Black Swan is the first Australian theatre company to broadcast a live theatre performance in real time.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream was broadcast live to patrons at the following venues:
- Esperance, Esperance Civic Centre
- Kalgoorlie, Goldfields Arts Centre
- Geraldton, Queens Park Theatre
- Mandurah, Mandurah Performing Arts Centre
- Bunbury, Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre
- Merredin, Cummins Theatre
- Armadale, Armadale Town Hall
- Northbridge, Northbridge Piazza
Over 3,000 patrons watched the live broadcast at the above venues and CRCs with up to an additional 1,000 viewers estimated to have watched from their homes via the Westlink Channel.
The feedback from regional venues and audiences has been outstanding.
“Congratulations to everyone involved in the simulcast of A Midsummer Night's Dream. We had a fantastic crowd at the Goldfields Arts Centre in Kalgoorlie-Boulder. Totally loved every aspect of the show - it ticked every box - great actors, fantastic set, beautiful costumes. Congratulations to Kate Cherry & your fantastic team and thank you again to Black Swan for this enterprising way of bringing theatre to the masses. Hope there will be lots more of it.” Lisa, patron
“We saw the screening at our CRC in Wagin...fabulous!!!! Incredible stage & design, so wonderful to be able to see this without the drive to Perth.” Claire, patron
“I watched this production in Esperance last night and I'm still thinking about how wonderful it was! The audience truly felt like they were there and clapping and laughing in synch with the live/theatre audience. A world class performance and production. Many thanks!!!” Susan, patron
“We had a great night here. We had fun setting up and went with a fairy theme – we had a grotto in the entrance and fairy lights in the main room and with overhead lights the room looked great. Everyone enjoyed the evening and had a laugh – we are eagerly awaiting the next event.” Tambellup Community Resource Centre
The regional simulcasts were free events, and patrons were encouraged to book tickets prior to the performance to secure their seats.
The broadcast included a pre-performance talk in Esperance, Kalgoorlie, Geraldton and Armadale, and every venue featured behind-the-scenes footage before the show. The broadcasts at five of the venues – Esperance, Kalgoorlie, Geraldton, Armadale and Northbridge Piazza – were hosted by Black Swan comperes. Black Swan also held a number of community workshops in the lead-up to the broadcast in Esperance, Kalgoorlie, Geraldton and Armadale.
Black Swan’s Artistic Director Kate Cherry says “I am so glad that this live broadcast was embraced by the regional audiences. We look forward to touring our productions and hopefully doing more broadcasts in the future to ensure that, as Western Australia’s state theatre company, we continue to share great theatre with everyone in Western Australia.”
Black Swan’s General Manager Shane Colquhoun says “The pilot project will undergo an independent evaluation and I truly hope that the State Government will, together with support for live touring, ensure future broadcast projects by our major performing arts companies become a regular feature for regional and remote communities.”
