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*Some information mentioned in this article may be out of date due to the progress of the current situation.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*
Sia Kiwa most recently appeared in Tina: The Tina Turner Musical at the Aldwych Theatre Her other credits include Ensemble in The Book of Mormon (Prince of Wales Theatre); Myhrinne in Lysistrata (Watford Palace); Soul Girl in Jesus Christ Superstar (Arena Tour); Flashdance (Shaftsbury Theatre); Peaches in Hairspray (Shaftsbury Theatre); Elizabeth in Dirty Dancing (Aldwych Theatre); Nehebka in Aida (European Tour) and Ensemble in The Lion King (Lyceum Theatre).
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 getting ready to go up to Manchester to start filming the next day which subsequently got cancelled. I was shocked, I’d not long left Tina the musical and the new cast was supposed to start on the Tuesday. I was gutted for all of my friends.
Can you tell us anything productive you’ve been doing?
For me, I have 2 children and had just finished my maternity leave so it was a great opportunity to spend quality time with all the family at home and I thought also a good time to brush up on skills. I started learning and honing some accents. I’ve also been learning 3 languages Spanish, German and Dutch!
It sounds ambitious but I’d learnt some Spanish at school so wanted to continue learning, I worked in Germany for 1.5yrs so also wanted to perfect that and my fiancée’s brother lives in Holland and the language is a bit of a hybrid of English and German so I started that too although I’m starting to get confused now, but I’m still going with it. I’ve also done some fitness classes online there is so much about at the moment.
