Success for shows On Demand from Derby LIVE

Published: 11 May 2021

Since the end of April, Derby LIVE’s On Demand service has seen strong sales, showing how much audiences want to experience cultural events as live performances remain one of the last things to unlock.

After this year’s traditional city centre traditions for St George’s Day were unable to go ahead because of COVID, 154 households signed up to watch a specially-recorded video for St George’s Day at Home.

Free to download, the video was a co-production from Derby LIVE, FOLK3D and The Lost Boys and featured some of the best folk performers in the area. Highlights included a clog dancer and seven-foot dragon dancing their way along the River Derwent to Derby Market Place; The Lost Boys theatre company re-enacting the legend of St George in the style of a silent movie, and new interpretations of traditional English folk dance. An online Ceilidh led by FOLK3D on the evening of St George’s Day completed the celebrations.

St George’s Day At Home built on the experience gained by Derby LIVE in turning live Christmas performances into virtual shows when COVID restrictions were tightened late in 2020. A Christmas Carol by The Lost Boys, Sinfonia Viva’s Brass Quintet in concert, and Babbling Vagabonds’ Elf Encounter – which also ran as a live Christmas grotto experience for children in the Market Place – were recreated for audiences at home.

Now the On Demand platform is hosting its first non-Derby LIVE production. Blonde, an original new musical by the acclaimed Kristian Thomas Company, is available to view until Sunday 16 May with sales through Derby LIVE’s livetickets.org website. More than 300 tickets were sold during the show’s first weekend alone, and viewers can watch as many times as they like until the expiry date.

This filmed stage show is based on the last nine years of the public and private life of Marilyn Monroe, seen through the eyes (and camera) of young photographer, Georgie Gifford. Bringing together some of the region’s most talented creatives and performers, it is directed by Tom Hopcroft with musical Direction from Tom Bond and staging and choreography from Kristian Cunningham. Music and lyrics are by Adam Howell and the book is by Paul Hurt.

Tickets for Blonde are available online and cost £16. Watch the trailer to find out more. Derby LIVE’s On Demand content is easy to access as all you need to do is enter the email address and password you used to buy your ticket. Unlike many virtual offers from theatres, you can watch the production multiple times.

As well as supporting the creative community in Derby and beyond, the advantage of these streamed shows is that they can be watched any time, anywhere. While most ticket sales for Blonde have come from KTCo’s main audience areas of Derby and Nottingham, other UK sales have come from as far afield as Glasgow. There have also been a large number of bookings beyond the UK with sales in Spain, Singapore, South Africa, Canada, Israel and the USA.

Whether your company is professional or community-based, fill in the online form to find out more about using livetickets.org to bring your virtual show to Derby LIVE’s On Demand platform.

Events