Let's stick together, share the love and get through this as a community!
Jacqui Sanchez was most recently seen as Cynthia in the UK touring production of Priscilla Queen of the Desert. Her other credits include The King and I (London Palladium/UK and Ireland Tour), Babe the Sheep Pig (Polka Children’s Theatre and UK Tour), 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Catford Broadway Studio Theatre), Shrek The Musical (Original London Cast, Theatre Royal Drury Lane and UK Tour), Avenue Q (Noël Coward, Wyndhams and Seoul, South Korea), Miss Saigon (UK tour and Tam tour), Grease (Scandinavian tour), Aladdin (Mayflower, Southampton and Hackney Empire), and Hair (English Theatre, Frankfurt).
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?
We had just finished our new venue tech rehearsal for the Priscilla tour in Woking and were about to open that evening which is always a bit of a stressful day for everyone to get everything done in time. Personally, I was really looking forward to being back near home for the week and having friends coming to see the show. We had obviously heard about theatres shutting down across the world over the week previous and were already quietly nervous as we were supposed to be heading out on a European tour after we had finished the UK and Ireland leg. Everyone was so nervous at one point I suggested we have a 'Gray's Anatomy'-style 'dance it out' in the dressing room corridor (like Meredith and Cristina do in the early series), much to the bemusement (and probably the annoyance) of the in-house and touring tech staff. I think it did the trick though, it seemed to cheer up everyone who wanted to take part (including myself) and get rid of some of the nervous energy. At the quarter we were then called to the stage and told that we were to stop performances with immediate effect until further notice. I remember looking around at the circle we formed, at all the people who had worked so hard to get the show in and up on time and just feeling a bit numb - like the rug had been pulled out from under us but still having the hope that we would be back sooner rather than later.
Can you tell us anything productive you’ve been doing?
Early on I took part in a socially distant video dance piece by Chris Whittaker for an online concert called All the Web's a Stage in aid of Theatre Together (@TheatreTogether on twitter and @theatre.together on Instagram) - it was so lovely to dance his choreography and feel these old bones breathe! Also, I've been doing Yoga with my best friend almost every day and have just introduced her to Pilates. She, in turn, has introduced me to Couch to 5k - got to say I was never much of a running fan, but now I find I crave it.
