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 people's 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!
Charlotte Gooch was most recently seen playing Alex Owens in the South Korea tour of Flashdance the musical. Her other credits include Tina Sparkle in Strictly Ballroom (Piccadilly Theatre, West Yorkshire Playhouse & The Princess of Wales Theatre, Toronto); The Golden Age of Dance (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane); Margot in Legally Blonde (Daegu Opera); Lets Dance Again (Royal Festival Hall); Dale Tremont in Top Hat (Aldwych Theatre & UK Tour); Penny in Dirty Dancing (Piccadilly Theatre & UK Tour); Patty & Cover Sandy in Grease (UK Tour) and Tantomile, understudy Bombalurina and Demeter in CATS (German Tour).
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*Some information mentioned in this article may be out of date due to the progress of the current situation.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*
Charlotte Gooch was most recently seen playing Alex Owens in the South Korea tour of Flashdance the musical. Her other credits include Tina Sparkle in Strictly Ballroom (Piccadilly Theatre, West Yorkshire Playhouse & The Princess of Wales Theatre, Toronto); The Golden Age of Dance (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane); Margot in Legally Blonde (Daegu Opera); Lets Dance Again (Royal Festival Hall); Dale Tremont in Top Hat (Aldwych Theatre & UK Tour); Penny in Dirty Dancing (Piccadilly Theatre & UK Tour); Patty & Cover Sandy in Grease (UK Tour) and Tantomile, understudy Bombalurina and Demeter in CATS (German Tour).
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 at home that evening, I started to get messages come through from friends that were in shows and on what’s app groups as they started to hear the news and how it was affecting their show. It was all at about warm up time. I couldn’t really believe it and my heart broke for them. Arriving at the theatre is always one of my favourite parts of the day as everyone is always happy to see each other, sharing news from their day and getting excited/ready to perform, so imagining arriving at theatre to be greeted with that news really hit me. It really made the enormity of the current crisis hit home.
Can you tell us anything productive you’ve been doing?
On day 1, I made myself the ultimate to-do list and I’ve been making sure I tick at least one thing off of it every day. I’ve found that feeling you’re still being productive during this is key! So I’ve been brushing off the DIY skills and painting walls, upscaling garden furniture, clearing out cupboards and cleaning, so much cleaning! Don’t think my flat has ever looked so clean and organised. I’m also trying to learn the piano - Current status: hopeless!
Fitness-wise, I’m making sure I am working out for 1-2 hours every morning so that I don’t come out for his looking like a couch potato!! I find it's a brilliant way to start the day too, it gets me motivated.
I teach at quite a few colleges when I’m not working in a show so have been doing some online classes for them. Last week I filmed a one-hour ballet class for them only to discover my phone had stopped filming after 9 minutes!! That wasn’t such a successful day!
