Czech “Netflix for theatres” launches
A new start-up aiming to help the country’s theatres, hard hit by the anti-coronavirus measures, was launched in the Czech Republic this week. The streaming service, described as “Netflix for theatres”, provides on-demand, recorded versions of theatre performances. Within the first 48 hours, Dramox has already attracted several thousand subscribers.
The founders of Dramox streaming service originally intended to launch the platform around Christmas, but due to the current situation in the country, they decided to make it available earlier.
While its main goal is to help the country’s struggling theatres, which were forced to close due to the coronavirus situation, it also aims to bring theatres closer to people, explains Radim Horák, one of the co-founders of Dramox:
“We also want to bring theatres to people’s homes, because even if you like theatre, you usually don’t go there every day. With Dramox, you can watch theatre plays every single day and from to time go to the real theatre to see your favourite play or actors.
“With Dramox you can reach all sorts of theatres from across the Czech Republic. You can also see plays that are no longer performed or performances that are so popular that they are sold out.”
Dramox currently cooperates with nearly 40 theatres from all around the Czech Republic, including well-known Prague venues such as Dejvické divadlo, Divadlo v Dlouhé and Divadlo Na zábradlí as well as Brno's Husa na provázku or the City Theaters of Zlín and Olomouc.
“The platform itself is very easy to use. It is similar to other streaming platforms. You can register and get a seven-day trial for free.
“Afterwards you can continue with a subscription and with the subscription you can watch everything you want and everywhere you like.”
What kind of device do I need to access the platform?
“You can currently watch it on your computer, mobile phone or tablet. We are currently working on an application for Smart TV and mobile phones.”
The Dramox streaming service is available not only in the Czech Republic but also across the whole of Europe.
A subscription to the platform costs CZK 299 per month, and allows the viewers to watch an unlimited number of theatre performances available on the platform. More than half of the proceeds go to the theatres themselves.
At the moment, there are some 40 performances available on the platform and Dramox founders are working on acquiring licenses for another 80 plays.
Most of the recordings have been provided by Czech Television but in the future, Dramox would like to make their own recordings. They are also planning to provide English subtitles for at least some of the plays.
The most popular recordings currently include Tales of Common Insanity by Petr Zelenka and Black Hole by Jiří Havelka, both performed at Dejvické divadlo.
To find out more about Dramox and see their catalogue of performances, visit their website dramox.cz.
