An Argument for Theatres
70% of UK theatres face permanent closure by the end of 2020.
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The last show I saw before lockdown was Love Love Love at the Lyric Hammersmith. 500 of us were in that room; all gathered together to do what, in my pre-quarantine life, I used to do two or three times a week. I didn’t hug my friend when I met him at the start of the evening. It was the beginning of March and what constituted acceptable public behaviour seemed to shift on an hourly basis. We touched elbows. ‘This is probably the last theatre show we’ll ever see,’ my friend said, and we laughed, incredulous. No one dared to clear their throat in the darkness. Three days later, the theatres closed.
It’s strange to think of it now, being in a room packed full of strangers. Shuffling past them in narrow aisles, breathing the same air. My subconscious has caught on to this atomised existence quicker than I think, really, it ought to have done. I skirt around people in the street in a wide, two metre radius, before I’m even aware I’ve done it. Recently, I had a nightmare about hugging someone who wasn’t in my isolation bubble.
The weekend before Love Love Love, I was at Rich Mix for Another Lover’s Discourse, a show I had been involved in making through my work as a theatre producer. Riham Isaac is a multidisciplinary artist from Palestine. It wasn’t easy for her to get to the UK. We had to raise numerous grants, and then of course there was the business of securing a visa – many Palestinian theatre companies have had to cancel planned UK tours in the past because their visas have been denied.
Anyway, we’d managed it. And that night, a mixed crowd of all ages and ethnicities was at Rich Mix watching Riham’s funny, poignant account of negotiating romance in Palestine, which, as it happens, has much in common with negotiating romance anywhere else. A moment of recognition across cultures, of shared laughter.
The house was packed.
I’ve written this essay for The London Magazine as we face the brutal fact that under current circumstances, 70% of British theatres will permanently close by the end of 2020. In order to survive, the sector needs urgent intervention from the Government. You can help! Please take a moment to:
Sign this petition.
Write to your MP.
Check how your favourite theatre is doing, and if you can - donate.
Remind the people you love about theatres, and that we’ll miss them if they disappear.