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*Some information mentioned in this article may be out of date due to the progress of the current situation.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*
Hannah Ducharme is currently in the West End premiere of Pretty Woman in the Ensemble and covering the role of Kit De Luca. Her other credits include Scaramouche in We Will Rock You (Royal Caribbean); First Cover Sloane in Bat Out of Hell (Dominion Theatre); Spirit of the Dance (International Tour) and The Rat Pack, Dancing Queen & Broadway! (US & European Tours).
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 will start by saying that the week before this statement there had been a different announcement which 'advised strongly' the cease of going to theatres, restaurants and entertainment venues in general. I watched this live on my phone as I was making my way into the Piccadilly Theatre. This frightened me as there was little assurance that we as an industry would be taken care of.
When I got into the theatre, the dressing room and the warmup on stage were a buzz of what had been stated on the news. By the end of the warm-up, we were told to stay back and were told that following the gov announcement, we were not going ahead with the performance and would close for the foreseeable future.
I was due to go on for my cover role for the first time the following week, so missed the chance to perform in front of a live audience. Luckily, just the week before was my first cover run, which was fantastic. I went home, had a little cry and a very big glass of wine and tried to poise myself for the coming weeks.
I always try to air on the side of positivity, so initially I really didn't think that it was going to be too bad. I tried to convince myself that it would last a couple of weeks, I didn't think it would continue on to this extent.
Can you tell us anything productive you’ve been doing?
Well this one is easy! I am very lucky to live with a very close friend, Will Joy - my MD from We Will Rock You - and early on, we decided to start a daily Livestream, performing a song-of-the-night on Facebook and YouTube. Be it Musical Theatre, Country, Jazz, Pop, Disney or even Fisney! (fake Disney) It's been fantastic fun for us.
