Two British soldiers go for a pint. In 1979, at the height of the Troubles, Bobby and Dave, deployed to Northern Ireland, are off duty when they attract two women from across the pub. Crackling banter, a slow dance. Everyone is enjoying themselves. But these are no amateur flirts, the two beauties work for the Irish Republican Army. Their little bait and switch leads to Bobby’s murder, haunting Dave for decades.
Leo McGann’s thriller, directed by Matt Torney, unfolds in flashbacks as an Irish American graduate student interviews Dave for an oral history in present day. His survivor’s guilt is matched only by his hunger for revenge, and when he receives new information about the last living perpetrator, he books a trip to South Belfast. In her review for The New York Times, the critic Laura Collins-Hughes called the show “taut, suspenseful storytelling, the kind that leaves an audience rapt — and dabbles in deception until the very last line.” Available for streaming through Feb. 28.
Stream it at the Mint Theater.
The English writer Sally Carson’s debut novel “Crooked Cross,” published in 1934, tells the story of a family living in a Bavarian mountain town during the Nazis’ ascent to power. Carson adapted her novel — the title refers to a swastika — into a play, and the production premiered in Birmingham in 1935 and was later staged in London.
This adaptation, directed by Jonathan Bank, and produced by the Mint Theater Company at New York’s Theater Row last fall, charts how ordinary people are pulled in by the alluring forces of extremism. Carson’s characters paint a complex picture of nuance; their interiority reveals not only the insidious rise of Fascism, but the painful family dynamics that take root with split loyalties. The book, which fell out of print for decades, was rereleased last year. Stream the play for free, or a suggested donation, through Feb. 22.
Stream it at the Wilma Theater.
Billed as a “live music mixtape” that’s “part spy story” and “part Hollywood audition,” woven with a tale of lost loves, “Poor Judge” tells the darker side of the American success story. At Philadelphia’s celebrated Wilma Theater, the glittering lights of Los Angeles beckon and seduce. Set to music by Aimee Mann, the show, directed by Eva Steinmetz, with music direction by Alex Bechtel, features a live band of actor-musicians, some of them cast members. (Mann’s music will receive another life onstage later this year in a play by Martyna Majok at the Public Theater.)
It’s dance-theater, it’s cabaret, it’s acoustic guitar and accordions, and it’s beloved. “Poor Judge,” a production by the experimental Pig Iron Theater Company, has won three Barrymore Awards, which honor professional theater in the Greater Philadelphia region. Available for streaming through Feb. 22.
Stream it at the National Theater at Home.
As a high-powered London judge, Jessica Parks puts her feminist politics into practice by sentencing sex offenders and domestic abusers. But when her teenage son is accused of sexually assaulting a female classmate, her maternal instincts and ideology clash.
“Inter Alia,” written by Suzie Miller and directed by Justin Martin, is the successor to the duo’s 2023 “Prima Facie,” which picked up honors from both the Olivier and Tony Awards. Rosamund Pike, whom the critic Houman Barekat called “vibrantly engaging” with a “commanding stage presence” in his review for The Times, stars as the conflicted heroine in this production at the National Theater in London. Available to stream starting Feb. 24.
Stream it at Soho Rep.
Anne Gridley has a condition you’ve probably never heard of, and it doesn’t have a cure. It’s so rare it’s classified as an “orphan disease,” which Gridley finds extra funny considering her parents are dead. Written and performed with plenty of dark humor by Gridley, with direction by Eric Ting, “Watch Me Walk” is powered by rage and candor as she navigates her changing body and the absurdities of the American health care system. The critic Helen Shaw highlighted the show during its run last month at the Under the Radar Festival for delivering deep delight. In partnership with the Spastic Paraplegia Foundation, Soho Rep will offer a streamed performance of “Watch Me Walk,” Feb. 28-March 7.
Stream it on BroadwayHD.
Delilah is struggling at her new school. Her father left for a new family, she doesn’t have any friends and her mother is overwhelmed. Boredom and loneliness get the better of her, and an unconventional teenage romance brews. Delilah falls for Oliver. Sweet, funny, patient, a great listener, he’s the ideal boyfriend — except that he’s a fairy-tale prince stuck in a book. Imagination is a powerful companion when life looks awfully bleak.
Adapted as a musical from Jodi Picoult and Samantha van Leer’s 2012 young adult novel of the same name, “Between the Lines,” directed by Jeff Calhoun, blurs the edges of reality and fantasy. In her review, Hughes called the show “an empowerment musical about using the agency you have to shape the existence you want.”
Rachel Sherman reports on culture and the arts for The Times.
