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*Some information mentioned in this article may be out of date due to the progress of the current situation.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*
Andrew Keates is a multi-award winning Theatre Director, who has directed plays and musicals in the West End and internationally. His recent credits include Dark Sublime, Dessa Rose and As Is (Trafalgar Studios) and Chinglish (Park Theatre). He is the Artistic Director of Arion Productions, a theatre company dedicated to creating opportunities for theatremakers, as well as being the producer and host of The Show People Podcast – an award-winning podcast dedicated to theatremakers and their craft.
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?
Like most, I was at home. But if I’m honest, my first thought was relief. Look, I have dedicated my whole life to the theatre, but we can never put our profession above the value of human life. I had seen some artists pleading with their Twitter followers to still come and see their shows/concerts, which on one hand I understood, because the government and our Prime Minister had, up until this point, advised everyone to keep calm and carry on. But on the other hand, I was frustrated that some didn’t use common sense to consider that being sat in close proximately to others in an auditorium was clearly a terrible and dangerous idea.
Of course, I didn’t want our industry to be decimated overnight. But it was the right decision, albeit delivered by this government in a tardy and messy fashion.
Can you tell us anything productive you’ve been doing?
Yes. I’ve spent my life creating things - often out of impossible situations, whether that be trying to co-run the Landor Theatre with next to no money and the various events we faced during those years (including the London Riots) to confronting outdated views on the fair representation of BAME artists. I know tough.
But, I’ve treated this time as an opportunity to write my ultimate ‘odds and sods list’ – a compendium of all the jobs I’ve not got round to doing, because of being busy with my work, whether that be re-wallpapering my lounge, putting up shelves, reorganising wardrobes and having a proper Spring clean. I’ve updated my website, found my nose in books that I’ve always wanted to read and been as creative as I can in the kitchen (sometimes out of necessity due to the supermarkets at the moment). I think as artists, we’re happy when we have: an idea – a process – and a result. So, things like cooking give me great satisfaction and I still get to be creative and see a result, even if it doesn’t involve a rehearsal room.
