The UK is now in its seventh week of lockdown in an effort to fight the spread of the novel coronavirus and the disease it causes, COVID-19. While observing proper social distancing measures is doubtless the correct response and saving lives is the most important thing right now, the adverse effects of the lockdown have been wide-ranging, from the personal to the economic. Among the countless industries that have been affected by the closure of non-essential business and public spaces, the theatre industry has certainly been hit hard. At time of writing, London theatres will not reopen until at least the 28th of June, leaving performers, production teams, front of house staff and other industry professionals with greatly reduced or no work for another seven weeks. SOLT and UK Theatres have put together a website with a wide range of specific resources for professionals needing support. The website will also point you in the direction of worthy causes if you are in a position to offer donations to support theatres and theatre professionals during this difficult time.
For By Jove, though, it may be cliché, but nevertheless: the show must go on. In an effort to keep our spirits up and our artistic projects moving forward, we’ve been making the most of our access to technology and experimenting with online meetings and workshops. It’s been a learning process: as many people will have found out over the past weeks, screen fatigue is real, and it’s just not possible to engage in a digital workshop for as long as you can do it in person. But we’ve found that building in breaks and setting tasks in advance is key to getting the most out of shorter online workshops. And when you come to the workshop with an open mind, no set expectations, and a spirit of adaptability, some amazing things are possible.
Wendy Haines, our head writer on our ongoing project looking at the myths of Orestes and his family, has run two brilliant internal workshops that have really got us thinking about the possibilities for artistic production (on this project and others) during lockdown. These have focused on writing and on ‘digital staging’, and have both brought us closer to realising the project and opened our eyes to what’s possible in the online ‘theatre’ space. The forms of theatre we’re playing with are far from the traditional – but that’s what we had always hoped for this project anyway. And as we have no idea how long the current situation will last in varying forms, we believe it’s time to start working in ways that don’t merely adapt, but actively embrace, the constraints that have been put on our ways of working.
So what does all of this mean? It means that you should keep your eyes peeled on our blog and social media channels, because very soon we’ll be making some exciting announcements—things you can enjoy in the short, mid, and long term. We hope you’ll come along for the ride with us, and in the meantime, stay home, stay safe, and stay as happy as possible.
