After weeks of Covid-related cancellations, the industry is braced for what could be its most challenging period. Theatres in Glasgow, Manchester and London give their view
Theatre is a house of cards. Over the past 16 months, it has repeatedly come tumbling down and been reassembled. The industry has grown increasingly jaded. We have seen forced closures and mass redundancies, overdue financial packages stymied in usual Tory fashion, roadmaps to recovery with no economic or, oftentimes, logical basis, and lockdowns and delays including the four-week postponement of “freedom day”.
Despite having taken many punches, the industry has kept fighting. But remove one freelancer and the house of cards comes tumbling down again. This has been no more evident than during the last two weeks, due to Covid-19 self-isolation rules. Will a seemingly innocuous phone “ping” muffled under a director’s script halfway through rehearsals, or a positive Covid test result from a cast member on the day of press night, be the sector’s final blow?
