Pocket Size Theatre and Liza Heinrichs (Captured by Liz) have teamed up again and created our new series 'Coming Home'. In this new piece, we look at the reopening of Theatres in London and around the country and celebrate our industry coming back. We got together some performers who will be some of the first to return to theatres and created this piece to bring some positivity to the theatre industry which has been through one of the toughest years in our lifetime. Whilst it is important to acknowledge the hardships we've all gone through, it's important we pull together as a community and celebrate our beloved industry finally coming back!
The pandemic has been a terrible time for theatre, no doubt. Not only has work been sparse or completely shut down but the lack of finical help for freelancers working across our industry has been catastrophic. It's not a time to compare people experiences because this is a time we all must pull together and rebuild this amazing thing we once had and to also build it back up with the knowledge and awareness we now have to make this a safer and better industry. A group of people who have been highlighted as a priority to make sure we are looking after is our recent graduates, those who left drama schools in 2020 and now those who are leaving as fresh 2021 graduates. Leaving drama school and entering this crazy industry is tough for anyone but for those who have entered it when the industry has been pretty much derelict, well, I can’t even imagine how intimidating that might feel.
Someone among these students who have been released into this industry in these uncertain times is Amelia Atherton. Graduating from the Performance Preparation Academy, she finished her training in the middle of this pandemic. Speaking to Amelia about how she feels she’s changed since graduating and living in this strange world right now, she tells us how amazing she thought her experience in drama school was but how she almost lost who she really was; “I think the three years had just really tired me out. I learnt so much but I do feel that I’d almost forgot who I was. This year has helped me remember I’m a whole person with a whole life outside of being an actor.” So whilst this has been a testing year, there are many lessons we as creatives must take away from this. The industry can be very consuming and we mustn’t ever forget our identities as people, we’re not just theatre people, there is so much more to all of us.
