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!
Kathryn Barnes was most recently seen in the Curtains the Musical on the West End at the Wyndhams Theatre and on tour around the UK. Her other credits include The Addams Family - A Musical Comedy (UK/Ireland Tour & The Theatre at Mediacorp, Singapore); Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (UK/Ireland Tour & West Yorkshire Playhouse); CATS (London Palladium & UK/International Tour); Oliver! (Sheffield Theatres); The Boyfriend (Her Majesty’s Theatre); Footloose (Greenwich Theatre); Sleeping Beauty (Courtyard Theatre) and Jack and the Beanstalk (Belfast Opera House).
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*Some information mentioned in this article may be out of date due to the progress of the current situation.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*
Kathryn Barnes was most recently seen in the Curtains the Musical on the West End at the Wyndhams Theatre and on tour around the UK. Her other credits include The Addams Family - A Musical Comedy (UK/Ireland Tour & The Theatre at Mediacorp, Singapore); Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (UK/Ireland Tour & West Yorkshire Playhouse); CATS (London Palladium & UK/International Tour); Oliver! (Sheffield Theatres); The Boyfriend (Her Majesty’s Theatre); Footloose (Greenwich Theatre); Sleeping Beauty (Courtyard Theatre) and Jack and the Beanstalk (Belfast Opera House).
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 in Leicester on tour with ‘Curtains’ and we were on stage sound-checking and rehearsing a cut show. The news left a lot of uncertainty on whether the London closures would start to affect touring companies but we did our best to carry on. I remember getting ready for the show that evening and wondering whether it would be the last one. We learned the next morning that it was and we packed up our things, said our goodbyes and travelled home. I loved performing our special show and certainly didn’t feel ready to finish however I felt incredibly accepting of the whole situation. Everything ‘work-wise' is completely out of our control but I am confident that the industry will bounce back. ‘The show must go on’!
Can you tell us anything productive you’ve been doing?
I am currently obsessed with cooking nut-free vegetarian recipes at the moment, call me Nigella! I have also been trying to find a suitable balance between eating everything in the house and exercise. I love Joe Wick’s HIIT workouts and I enjoy Zoom classes with the Pilates machine Emily Langham. I’d love to give a shout out to everyone who is giving up their time to lead their online classes. I love the community in these sessions and seeing friendly faces keeps me sane! Otherwise, I've tried to keep busy and have used this isolation downtime to do all the jobs that I have wanted to do but haven’t had the chance. I have finished my Tax and have done a lot of painting the fences/decking in the garden. I’ve kept productive doing mostly ‘life and house jobs’ alongside a little bit of online teaching. All of this is helping me keep a sense of normality.
