So this month Rev Stan's Theatre blog is 10 years old. My first post was 18 April 2010, it took a couple of weeks before I was to post again but the marker was in the sand.

I had lots of ideas for fun theatre nerdery to celebrate but the lockdown has clipped my wings a little bit as many of them involved actually be at the theatre.

But not to let a decade of theatre bloggery go by without marking the occasion I've got a few other things up my sleeve for the coming few weeks/months.

And to kick things off I've compiled a list of my favourite play for each year I've been blogging (I did my 10 best plays of the decade back in December).

It has been fun revisiting my best-of lists but absolutely agony narrowing each list down to just one, as you will see.

I'm still not 100% happy but here goes:

2010

I initially chose The Pride, Lucille Lortel Theater, New York which saw Ben Whishaw make his Broadway debut alongside Hugh Dancy and Andrea Riseborough but then I realised that technically I saw that in February 2010 before Rev Stan's Theatre blog was born. So I've reluctantly decided it doesn't count.

So my second choice is Clybourne Park, Royal Court Theatre. It's a play that set the benchmark for uncomfortable humour and one which I regularly reference when talking about superb dark comedies.

2011

Jeez, this was a tough one. This was the year I saw Jerusalem, Much Ado with Tennant and Tate and Collaborators, National Theatre to name just three. But with much soul-searching I'm going to choose Flare Path, Theatre Royal Haymarket because it was so beautiful and warm and sad and I'll always remember Sheridan Smith's trembling bottom lip and a brilliant early performance by Matthew Tennyson. Saw it more than once too.

So what was it that sparked your love of theatre?

I'm blaming Daniel Radcliffe for my obsession. Over on Instagram where I first posted this video there are already 'blames' for David Tennant in Hamlet and James McAvoy in The Ruling Class.

It seems that I'm not the only one who gets a drug-like kick out of a really good piece of theatre.

Would love to hear your story.

If you've missed a Sunday theatre question, here's a few I've already posted:

The question about Shakespeare.

Hot on the heels of Creation and Big Telly Theatres virtual, interactive production of The Tempest, Big Telly is bringing its game-theatre experience online with a new production: Operation Elsewhere.

Big Telly Theatre Company's Zoe Seaton

Big Telly's artistic director Zoe Seaton talks about creativity, inventiveness and performance during the lockdown.

Operation Elsewhere is described as being 'a new and extraordinary online theatrical experience’ - how does it work?

Like The Tempest, the audience joins a zoom call… Technically, it is complicated, although each actor is running their own tech – most of them are using more than one device, a number of locations and a myriad of props/lighting/effects.

The real magic, however, is happening in Lurgan, where our brilliant stage manager, Sinead Owens is vision mixing the whole show, sharing screens, muting and spotlighting audience and actors – finding an actor amongst 60 thumbnail images and spotlighting them on cue is an art.

The biggest challenge is something we can’t control – i.e. the unpredictability of the internet. If your bandwidth becomes unstable, Zoom can kick you out the room mid-scene, which one actor described as ‘like being an astronaut cut off from the space station….’.

Luckily, we have unbelievably resourceful actors who can improvise and cover and recover…

And the audience is involved in the story. They can see each other and react and join together.

The piece marries ancient Irish myths with theatre produced using digital and virtual technology - what makes old and new forms work so well together?

Many of our productions borrow from old stories, myths and legends. We want to keep our work grounded culturally and share that in unusual ways.

So we’ve always played with traditional stories and ways to subvert them for an audience without losing their authenticity and integrity. So, I think for us, it’s natural to pair the ancient with the future and explore that.

The ancient stories, like Tir na N’Og, which Operation Elsewhere is based on have so much resonance with our lives now. They are timeless - they illustrate the human condition, frailties, beliefs, loyalties, that doesn’t change.

This stage production of Frankenstein was such a big deal when it was announced.

Benedict Cumberbatch, Jonny Lee Miller and Danny Boyle at the National Theatre's Frankenstein post-show Q&A

Benedict Cumberbatch was just transitioning from jobbing actor into a screen-star and it was also a return to stage directing for Danny Boyle after a run of successful films including Slumdog Millionnaire.

But more than that, the play's two leads - BC being joined by Jonny Lee Miller - were going to alternate roles, taking it in turns to play the creature and Frankenstein.

I was lucky enough to see both versions on stage as well as attending the cast and director Q&A for charity.

Not one but two versions

Both versions of the casting are going to be streamed by the National Theatre starting with Benedict Cumberbatch as the creature on April 30 and you can find all the details here.

Can't wait to see them both again and it looks like there might be an opportunity to watch both versions back to back.

When in lockdown...

Did you see Frankenstein, looking forward to seeing it again?

Related reading:

Frankenstein charity Q&A highlights.

My review: First viewing with Jonny Lee Miller playing the creature

Theatre in the time of coronavirus - how to get your stage fix during the lockdown

Archive streaming schmeaming, Creation Theatre have taken theatre performance during the lockdown to a new level.

Screenshot: Creation Theatre's virtual The Tempest - Annabelle Terry as Miranda

Using Zoom and other technical wizardry they are putting on a live and interactive family-friendly version of The Tempest.

Shakespeare's tale of nobility shipwrecked on a mysterious island has been distilled down to an hour's running time using a handful of key characters.

The actors, observing lockdown rules, perform in isolation - using different virtual and physical backdrops to transport them from scene to scene.

As a member of the audience, you can choose whether to have your camera on or off. If you do choose the former the 'audience' only appear when called upon to get involved with the story.

This weekend Creation Theatre is inviting audiences to watch an interactive, virtual version of Shakespeare's The Tempest - from the safety of their sofa. Creation's chief executive Lucy Askew talks about the challenges of making theatre in isolation for people in isolation and how it will change theatre in the future

Necessity breeds invention, how did the idea for an interactive, virtual production of The Tempest come about?

We felt really strongly that despite the restrictions we all currently face we had a responsibility to continue to entertain and that we needed to find ways it would still be live and responsive to an audience.

We didn't want isolation to mean we'd lose what is different and special about the live experience, chatting to Zoe Seaton at Big Telly [Theatre Company] it was clear they were thinking similar thoughts.

Last year we made the Tempest so adapting that and embracing the new opportunities online mediums offer felt like a good place to start.

How does it work and what can audiences expect?

The audience is invited to a Zoom call. They then see the story of The Tempest unfold, the show has been virtually designed by our costume designer Ryan Dawson Laight with virtual backgrounds and carefully curated costumes put together from what can be accessed by our cast in isolation.

While still observing all rules about social distancing, Creation Theatre and Big Telly Theatre Company have created an interactive, anarchic (their word) production of The Tempest to watch while on lockdown this Bank Holiday weekend.

The Tempest Live will stream this Easter weekend

Using Zoom to transport the audience from their living room to Prospero’s Island, nine actors will tell Shakespeare's mysterious and magical story of Miranda, Caliban, Ariel and royal court who find themselves shipwrecked. 

The production incorporates pre-filmed scenes, virtual backgrounds and projections.

Each performance is scheduled and will each have a capacity of 50 audience members (audiences taking part can have the choice to switch off their cameras so they don’t have to be seen by everyone).

Lucy Askew, Creation Theatre’s chief executive commented: “We’re really excited to be trialling this brand-new idea. This piece of work has been made in isolation for people in isolation, and we hope that it truly opens up a whole other theatrical world that we can all experience and participate in from our living rooms.

Fleabag the play is back. It started off life at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2013, won awards then transferred to the Soho Theatre.

The ridiculously successful TV series, which I loved, followed and Phoebe Waller-Bridge subsequently revived the play for a sell-out run in the West End last year.

To raise money for covid-19 charities it's available to stream for a couple of weeks via the Soho Theatre website. All you have to do is make a donation (minimum is £4).

I saw it during its Soho run and have very fond memories but having gone from fringe production to household name does the original play still stand up?

Details on donating and streaming Fleabag can be found here.

If you'd like to read my original review of Fleabag at Soho Theatre you will find it here.

Want more theatre to watch online during lockdown? Here's my list of some of what has already been announced and I'm updating it as and when there are more announcements.

On Desert Island Discs you get given the complete works of Shakespeare to take with you but what if instead of that you got to choose one production of one Shakespeare play?

Tell me what you would choose - and why - in the comments.

(Excuse the missing captions in the middle, Clips app is not having a good day today.)

During this period of social distancing, there is still plenty of theatre available to watch online and I've compiled a list of some of what is available.

The 2016 production of Mike Bartlett's play Wild at the Hampstead Theatre is available to watch online and here are my 60-seconds worth of thoughts recorded after watching last night.

You can see Wild via Hampstead Theatre's website all this week and if you'd like to read my review from 2016 you can find it here.

And if you want more theatre to watch online check out my list of the best of what has been announced so far.

Got a recommendation for a play being streamed either currently or scheduled in the coming weeks? Get in touch - I hate to miss out.