Hi again, how’s your week going so far? Here’s my latest roundup of cultural treats that’ll let you have another good night ‘out’ from the safety of your sofa. As we head towards the weekend, take your pick from all the new stage, screen and art releases.

Theatre

The biggest lockdown theatre show of the week is undoubtedly Danny Boyle’s 2011 stage adaptation of Frankenstein, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller who alternated the roles of doctor and creature in different shows. Frankenstein with Benedict Cumberbatch as the creature is streaming for free from 7pm UK time on Thursday 30 April. Available FREE on demand on YouTube here until 7pm UK time on Thursday 7th May. It is subtitled and the running time is 2 hours.

The cast swap roles with Jonny Lee Miller as the creature and Cumberbatch as Victor Frankenstein (possibly the best combination), streaming for free from 7pm UK time on Friday 1st May. Available on demand until 7pm UK time on Friday 8th May on YouTube here.

The Hampstead Theatre At Home series continues with a free recording of their 2013 production of #aiww: The Arrest of Ai Weiwei. This show is available to watch on demand here from Monday 27th April until Sunday 3rd May.

The Globe Theatre is streaming a free live recording of Romeo & Juliet here until Sunday 3rd May. They also have The Two Noble Kinsmen on pay-per-view from £4.99 (or FREE from 4th of May), and A Midsummer Night’s Dream from £5.99 this weekend, find out more here.

In the mood for some classical music? Sir Simon Rattle conducts the London Symphony Orchestra in Harmonielehre by John Adams and Symphonie Fantastique by Berlioz (originally broadcast live from the Barbican Centre in May 2019). This starts streaming for free from 7.15pm on 30th April here.

Art & exhibitions

If you’re missing the chance to get out and explore galleries and museums, from 7.30pm on 30th April you’ll be able to watch the latest instalment of BBC4’s Museums in Quarantine. The newest show is art historian Dr Janina Ramirez’s tour of the British Museum so let her take you out for a stroll around it.

The previous Museums in Quarantine shows have included Alastair Sooke visiting Tate Modern’s Andy Warhol exhibition, Simon Schama’s tour of the Young Rembrandt exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and Dr James Fox’s survey of the collection at Tate Britain. View the series here on BBC iPlayer.

I should also mention Scandal and Beauty, a documentary where Mark Gatiss explores the life and career of scandalous Victorian artist Aubrey Beardsley, a creator who wielded outrage as adroitly as his pen.

Want to see some stunning couture fashion? Christian Dior, Designer of Dreams at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs is now free to view on YouTube.

Cinema

If you’re in the mood to study an interesting classic cinema genre, Open Culture has a great list of 10 Great German Expressionist Films to explore for free, including Nosferatu, Metropolis, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and more.

Secret Cinema, the immersive cinema experience mongers, have temporarily switched to online watch-alongs under their new guise of Secret Sofa. This week’s watch-along movie is Baz Lurhmann’s Moulin Rouge, so you can get dressed up at home and join in the fun on Facebook from 7.15pm this Friday 1st of May and screen your own copy of the film with the rest of the crew at 7.30pm.

Also look out for #LionsgateLIVE: A Night At The Movies! Over the next four Saturdays they’ll be screening four FREE watch-along movies, each with a different host. From 6pm on Saturday 2nd May you can watch La La Land, hosted by Edith Bowman for some cheery all-singing, all-dancing fun. Watch it here when it starts.

And finally, it’s Star Wars Day on Monday May the 4th (geddit?), and there’s a 6pm watch-along of The Rise of Skywalker with Edith Bowman and Robbie Collin. You can get a 7-day free trial of Disney+ to watch it on their channel, or watch your own Blu-Ray and look out for the hashtag #TheRiseOfSkywalkerStreamAlong on Instagram and Twitter to join in.

That’s it from me just for the moment, so enjoy all these cultural treats and take extra good care of yourselves.