Emilia archived West End production to be streamed this November with proceeds going to support the whole all-female team of the 2019 production

An archived recording of the West End production of Morgan Lloyd Malcolm's Emilia will be streamed online for audiences. Viewers are asked to pay what they can to see the piece with proceeds being split between the whole all- female team of the 2019 production who now find themselves out of work due to Covid-19.

The show, which was taped during the shows London run at the Vaudeville Theatre, tells the story of Emilia Bassano, Renaissance poet, polemicist and contemporary of Shakespeare. Some believe she is the 'dark lady' of the sonnets.

Malcolm said today: "We are releasing a filmed version of our beloved production so that Emilia can provide much needed hope and inspiration during this most difficult of times for our industry. From the Globe to our West End run, Emilia's story has empowered audience members, provoked an unprecedented online feminist movement for a theatre production, and even inspired tattoos! It felt the right time to make our show available to fans, writing Emilia Bassano into her rightful place in history.

"The effects of COVID-19 have devastated the theatre industry, and holding our team in mind, including talented freelancers now completely out of work, we will be sharing profits amongst our amazing all-female creative team, cast and backstage team. As theatre has had to migrate online, we wanted to find a way to connect audiences as much as possible – I can't wait to join our audiences for the watch-along premiere and we can all celebrate Emilia's story together - wherever we are in the world!"

Captioned and audio described recordings are available, with the piece being streamed from 10 to 24 November. Malcolm and some of the cast and creative team will watch together at 7.30pm on Tuesday 10 November. You can use the hashtags #EmiliaWatchParty and #IAmEmilia to join in.