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*Some information mentioned in this article may be out of date due to the progress of the current situation.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*
Fred Smiley is currently making his West End debut in the London company of The Book of Mormon at the Prince of Wales Theatre. His other credits include Simon Senior in Kinky Boots (UK Tour) and Michael McIntyre's Big Show (Theatre Royal Drury Lane).
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 the Prince of Wales Theatre at Book of Mormon on stage waiting for warm-up, I saw that everyone was on stage including the crew so I had a feeling something was up, a couple hours prior Boris Johnson had announced to avoid theatres, pubs and bars.
Can you tell us anything productive you’ve been doing?
Since lockdown I have been trying different online workouts and started writing again, before then I had not written since college, More recently I have started up an Instagram live Q&A with people in the industry to give people something to watch and an insight into the arts.
