Digital Theatre and Streaming Performance: Analysing the Migration of Nigerian Live Performance to Online Platforms

This study analyses the migration of Nigerian live theatre performance to online platforms, examining the aesthetic, economic, and audience engagement dimensions of digital theatre during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The global health crisis of 2020 to 2022 accelerated experimentation with streamed, recorded, and hybrid live-digital theatre formats across the world, and Nigerian theatre companies were compelled to adapt rapidly to survive. The research investigates how theatre companies in Lagos, Abuja, and Ibadan transitioned to digital performance delivery, what aesthetic adjustments were required, and how audiences engaged with online theatre. Data were gathered through interviews with theatre directors and technical producers, analysis of streamed production content, and audience surveys focused on digital performance experience. The study finds that digital performance offered Nigerian theatre companies access to diaspora audiences previously unreachable by live touring while simultaneously raising questions about the nature of liveness and communal experience in theatrical performance. Technical infrastructure disparities in Nigeria significantly affected the quality of streaming and audience access. The research fills a critical gap in documentation of Nigerian theatre's digital transition and concludes that hybrid performance models are likely to remain a permanent feature of the Nigerian performance landscape. Keywords: digital theatre, streaming performance, Nigerian live performance, online audiences, hybrid theatre.