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Imagine you’re a singer taking to the stage of London’s Royal Opera House. To perform at such a prestigious address is a big deal. Now imagine how much more of a big deal it would be if as well as the 2,200 spectators looking on from the auditorium, you had audiences in their hundreds of thousands watching from around the world. Until the last decade or so, such an idea would have been preposterous. Now, thanks to the technological advances of live screening, it’s happening on a monthly basis. “It makes a difference to the artists to know they will be performing literally on a world stage,” says Alex Beard, chief executive of the Royal Opera House. Since 2008, live broadcasts have become a standard feature of his company’s programme, with six operas and six ballets broadcast to more than 470 venues across the UK every year. “We’re pretty much the only organisation in the UK that can get artists of the calibre of Jonas Kaufmann, world-leading tenor; Anna Netrebko, world-leading soprano, and Natalia Osipova, wonderful ballerina, on our stages because of the busyness of their schedule,” says Beard. “We feel we have an obligation to share that experience with as many people as possible.”There’s a similar philosophy at NT Live, the National Theatre’s broadcasting arm, which now accounts for a quarter of the organisation’s audience. Having launched in 2009, it routinely goes out to more than 650 venues in the UK and over 2,000 worldwide. Broadcasting around 14 shows a year, it has reached a total audience in excess of 5.5 million people – 600,000 saw Benedict Cumberbatch in Hamlet alone. Producer Emma Keith aims to reflect the full breadth of the theatre’s output – and, indeed, that of neighbouring theatres such as the Young Vic and the Old Vic – which means choosing not only the sure-fire hits, but also the less well known. “We want Shakespeare and the classics, but we want to ensure we’ve got new work as well,” she says. “It’s about showcasing the best of the theatre that’s out there.”Like every innovation, live screenings were initially a cause for concern. Wouldthe broadcasts steal audiences? If people could see Cumberbatch playing Hamlet in their nearest multiplex, would they be put off seeing a less starry production by the local rep? Would arts centres take the easy way out by scheduling a broadcast instead of a flesh-and-blood performance?Happily, those fears have proved unfounded. Research undertaken last year indicated that cinema screenings, DVD recordings and online broadcasts have not reduced the appetite for live performance. GLOBAL BROADCASTLIVE SCREENINGS ARE BRINGING POWERFUL PERFORMANCES FROM TOP THEATRES TO CINEMAS WORLDWIDE – BUT WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES?MARK FISHER FINDS OUT 1 Billie Piper in Simon Stone’s production of Federico García Lorca’s Yerma. It will be screened live from the New Vic on 31 August.2-3 Harold Pinter’s No Man’s Land was screened live from Wyndham's Theatre in 2016140STAGE TO SCREENThe Arts Society ReviewAutumn 2017