These recent times have been some of the hardest challenges we've faced and as a community, it hit us pretty hard. However during these difficult times, here at Pocket Size Theatre, we wanted to spread a little positivity and share some peoples experiences because we are all in this together. Each day we'll be speaking to our friends in the industry to share their experiences with you all so take a read and see how people are getting through these hard times.
Let's stick together, share the love and get through this as a community!
*Some information mentioned in this article may be out of date due to the progress of the current situation. Please keep that in mind when reading*
Joshua Libard's credits include C.C White in Dreamgirls (Savoy Theatre); Motown (Shaftsbury Theatre); the title role in Doctor Faustus (UK Tour & Arcola Theatre); The Book of Mormon (Prince of Wales Theatre) and The Scottsboro Boys (The Young Vic).
On Monday 16th March 2020, The Society of London Theatre announced the closure of all Theatres in London. This followed suit with regional venues. Where were you when you found out and what was your initial reaction?
I was actually at the box office to buy tickets that night for ‘Dear Evan Hansen’, and I remember being shocked but seeing as Broadway closed a week prior I wasn’t too surprised but hoped it would be for a few weeks.
Can you tell us anything productive you’ve been doing?
I’ve had some things that I really wanted to achieve and master during this time but I was unsure how successful I’d be as like all of us I didn’t know how long this period would last. I’ve been doing workouts with my friends on FaceTime daily, Meditating, baking a few cakes and learning french too. However, it has been hard to stay motivated to keep all of this up throughout this time.
There's so much important information and messages being spread on social media but sometimes it can be quite mentally draining and consume a lot of your time, how have you been trying to look after your mental state whilst using these platforms?
I delete social media of my phone quite often, so that I’m not too consumed. Sometimes I have to check myself and evaluate how much of my day I have spent scrolling mindlessly. It’s very often been a few hours of scrolling.
Have you discovered anything that you’d like to recommend to our viewers?
I’ve been obsessed with ‘Normal People’ on BBC, and even more recently I watched ‘Sitting in Limbo’ that really educated me on the things that happened in the Windrush scandal, I love anything ‘Docu series’ led or historic in any way!
In these times of Social Distancing and isolation, how have you been trying to connect with Friends and Family? Any fun quizzes or games?!
During this time, I’ve really appreciated little things like family walks and endless FaceTimes, we do a weekly family spell a thon, which I consistently score poorly in.
And finally, looking to the future, what are you most looking forward to when all of this is over?
Once this is all over, I look so forward to watching live performances be it live Music or Theatre. I feel like most people have certainly taken the Arts for granted in a physical sense. But the way that We’ve Adapted to this online performance setting has been key to keeping our creativity alive and has filled most of us with hope. When it makes a great comeback.
We'd like to thank Joshua and all other performers who have given up their time to contribute to this feature.
Other useful links for anyone needing further help:
Acting For Others - Charity that provides financial & emotional support to all theatre workers in times of need.
Help Musicians - An independent Charity that helps all forms of Musicians through times of need.
Industry Minds - Mental Health Support for the creative arts.
Theatre Helpline - a free, independent and confidential phone and email service that provides support to people working in the theatre industry.
