Top Features on Pocket Size Theatre in 2020

One thing we LOVE doing here at Pocket is working on features; some are just a bit of fun, some are to promote the good people are doing and others to fulfill your stagey needs! They've always been a super popular thing on our site, so heres the top 10 features that you guys loved! 

Your 2020 Christmas List: Supporting small businesses in our community

This year, with the increase of people starting businesses due to being out of work, we thought we'd help promote some of those people and collected together some of the people we thought we particularly wonderful! Did you shop small this Christmas? 

15 Production Shots that describe the struggles of a Lockdown

The production shot artiles are still, to this day, our most viewed piece EVER! So, of course we had to make a Lockdown edition! Looking back on it, I can't say a lot has changed... 

Outside the Spotlight: Barbican flair with Jed Berry | Captured by Liz

Outside the Spotlight is brought to you by Captured by Liz in partnership with Pocket Size Theatre, this series of articles is sponsored by Pointe & Flex, a stylish and motivational stationery brand created for dancers, dance teachers and everything in between! From diaries to notebooks, pens to pencils, planners to action lists, Pointe & Flex are here to make sure you stay on top of everything so you can thrive in your industry. Click here to find out more. 

A quiet concrete oasis in the middle of the capital. Things have been busy for Jed, but a trip to the Barbican Centre helps to clear the mind and just breathe. “I love being in London. I moved back home for a while because I gave up my place here when I went on tour, but I recently got back for the show, and I’ve really missed it”, he says as we wander around the Centre trying not to get lost. When lockdown and the closure of theatres was announced, Jed was on tour around the UK with The Book of Mormon, which only started in June last year. Jed recently performed in Fanny and Stella at the Garden Theatre, Eagle London, a new open air venue in the specially renovated garden of The Eagle. In fact, Jed has been trying to keep busy all through lockdown working on an online cabaret with Kinky Boots Angels and Lola’s from all over the world and Jerry Mitchell, choreographer of Kinky Boots. The cabaret aired in July and raised money for Acting For Others, Broadway Cares Covid-19 Emergency Assistance Fund, Black Ticket Project and Broadway Advocacy Coalition. 

The Corona Diaries: Jed Berry

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!

Jed Berry was most recently seen in the UK tour of The Book of Mormon and will be performing in Fanny and Stella at the Garden Theatre, Eagle London. His other credits include Angel in the London cast of Kinky Boots at the Adelphi Theatre; The Sound of Music (UK Tour); Michael in Peter Pan: A Musical Adventure (West Yorkshire Playhouse) and The Wizard of Oz (West Yorkshire Playhouse). 

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 actually at my digs, in bed poorly! My phone started buzzing as my castmates gave me the heads up. It wasn’t a complete surprise as Broadway had already shut down and we all anticipated a UK shutdown was in the not-too-distant future. But when it was official, it suddenly felt so surreal! We devote our lives to this industry, and for it to suddenly just stop felt completely jarring. My colleague and dear friend Jemal got back to the digs and we spent a good ten minutes hysterically laughing in incredulity.

Can you tell us anything productive you’ve been doing? 

I’ve actually been working away this lockdown on an exciting online cabaret! Myself and Jerry Mitchell have produced a charity cabaret that features Angels from lockdown all over the world. We saw that people needed their spirits lifting. We saw that people in our own industry needed support. We listened and learned about the horrendous racial oppressions that our Black colleagues face. So we used our platform. We’ve created a really fun cabaret raising money for Acting for Others, Black Ticket Project, Broadway Advocacy Coalition and Broadway Cares. These organisations do such amazing work and we wanted to find a fun way to support and promote these charities. It’s going to be camp and full of fun little surprises! The Angels have really stepped up and created some amazing acts. It’s airing on 26th Sunday at 9pm on jedberry.com if anyone fancies a watch and a smile!

DREAM CASTING: The Little Mermaid

Having noted down some ideas for this musical casting when I was listening to the album a while ago, I've recently seen the casting for the new Disney movie which I had no idea was happening! And as the musical has never made it over to the West End, we thought we'd put together our dream casting! The Little Mermaid opened on Broadway in November 2007 and closed in August 2009.  Here are some of our ideas, have any more suggestions? Tweet us! @PocketSizeBlog

Ariel | Miriam Teak-Lee