From Shakespeare plays to safari, there is something to keep everyone entertained when you look online.
From Shakespeare plays to safari, there is something to keep everyone entertained when you look online.
Keep cabin fever at bay with this curated list of boredom busters from Stratford Press editor Ilona Hanne.
If I could pick the very best place to spend lockdown, it would be in Africa. Specifically, in a safari lodge somewhere with a decent hide to sit in and watch the wildlife.
While there is no chance of getting there right now, you can do the next best thing and start spotting wildebeest and elephants from the comfort of your living room.
Watching a giraffe silently graze is not the worst way to spend your lockdown. Photo / Africam Tembe Elephant Park
If Africa isn't your thing however, you can just as easily go polar bear spotting, or watch some great horned owls nesting. Not a fan of wild animals? How about watching some kittens at play or some honey bees in their hive?
All this and plenty more is available thanks to a website bringing you footage from live cams all around the world.
The website, explore.org/livecams contains links to a wide range of livecams, from space to under the sea. While the action is live, and therefore no guarantee as to what you will see at any given time, the website also curates some of the highlights captured. If you ever wanted to see a condor hatch, then this is the site for you.
Jimmy Carr will keep you entertained with his Little Tiny Quiz Of The Lockdown. Photo / YouTube
If you aren't already fighting with the adults you are sharing your bubble with, then why not try out a quiz? While pub quizzes are a thing of the past currently thanks to Covid-19 restrictions, you can still show off your general knowledge thanks to British comedian Jimmy Carr.
The comedian / writer / television personality has been posting daily quizzes over the past few weeks, each with 10 questions. He then later posts a second video with the answers. Called the Little Tiny Quiz Of The Lockdown, it's a great way to spend an evening. Now he has created a compilation of some of those quiz questions into one longer quiz. The questions are wide ranging, but certainly aimed at older teens and adults, not children.
Each section consists of 10 questions, after which he gives the answers and any relevant point-scoring system needed.
As it's on YouTube, you can pause as you go if you want to allow more time.
It's up to you how to play against your bubble buddies - you can all write down the answers and then mark each other's, or call them out and trust your memory when it comes to the answers. Either way, just remember you still have to live in the same bubble, so don't get too argumentative!
If it's not the local bar or pub you are missing, but your local theatre, then take a virtual trip to Shakespeare's Globe theatre in the UK.
As it is the bard's birthday month it is fitting to enjoy some of his greatest works, and you have plenty of choice thanks to the Globe.
Six of Shakespeare's Globe productions have been made available for your viewing, free of charge, on the theatre's video-on-demand service, Globe Player.
From Shakespeare plays to safari, there is something to keep everyone entertained when you look online.
The 2009 production of Romeo and Juliet is one of the plays available. This version features Ellie Kendrick as Juliet and she is fantastic to watch. She presents the viewer with a Juliet so perfectly played, it is hard to imagine someone else in the role ever again. She is well matched with her Romeo, played by Adetomiwa Edun. He absolutely owns the stage whenever he is on it, and despite knowing the tragic end of this tale I found myself willing him and his beloved Juliet to somehow survive, so well played were their characters. Watch this and the other plays on www.globeplayer.tv
If you aren't ready to sit through an entire play, you can still get a dose of Shakespeare thanks to the Globe. It is also screening all 37 Complete Walk short films. These films were made to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Bard's death and feature all-star casts in the 10-minute mini films. One was made for each of Shakespeare's plays and each was shot on location in the real setting of each tale. From the Pyramids of Dahshur in Egypt to the rocks of Elsinore, Denmark, the settings are as impressive as the cast. Enjoy them on www.globeplayer.tv/shakespearelives
If you feel like channelling your inner Eddie Van Halen or Slash, then thanks to musical instrument makers, Fender, now you can.
Or at least, you can make a start and find out if your air guitar skills translate to playing a real instrument.
Spend some of your time at home learning the guitar, or even the ukulele, thanks to Fender. Photo / Fender
They are offering three months of free guitar lessons in a range of genres. From rock to folk, with pop, country and blues all options too, you can pick your path and play your way through alert level 3. With simple, easy to follow lessons via video and a great range of songs to accompany you, it's a great way to learn a new skill.
The lessons are available for a range of instruments as well, from acoustic or electric guitar to bass or ukulele, so you can match it to whatever instrument you bought yourself on a whim.
To enrol, all you need to do is visit the website: www.fender.com/play and sign up. Then you pick your path - the instrument and genre you want to play, and start your lessons.
You can even change your genre if you find out part way through you are more John Denver than Slash. It's okay, we won't tell anyone.
If you would rather channel your inner Margot Fonteyn or Darcey Bussell, then English National Ballet School-trained dancer Sarah De-Feu can help you.
Get ready to limber up and stretch your muscles with lessons from the Ballet Coach. Photo / YouTube
Also known as The Ballet Coach she has a YouTube channel under that name where you can find a range of videos to teach you the basics of ballet from the comfort (or at least privacy and therefore embarrassment-free space) of your own home. You don't need any special equipment, just a chair to use as a mini-barre.
Her lessons are for all ages, skill and flexibility levels, so if her intermediate / adult class leaves you feeling a little sore, maybe try her Grandmas and Grandpas session. She also has plenty of lessons for the younger members of your bubble and we aren't judging you if you try that one out either.
