Script

Time Narration Footage Sound

P
Dear Evan
00:00 B-Roll of the West End Hansen
Instrumental

FM
(in person) The UK Theatre Industry is a massive
part of British Culture, with over 34 million
people attending shows all across the country
each year.
(voiceover) However, when Covid-19 hit, all that Gradual fade to me speaking and
changed. Theatre closures and many walking around, in the West End. Dear Evan
[Link] -
cancelations caused unpredicted challenges
Hansen

S
[Link]
which left many people in the industry unsure of B-roll of closed theatres. Instrumental.
their future. Newspaper articles over the top.
N (in person) Over the next 20 mins, we are going to
explore the specific impacts of the pandemic on
the industry and the affects on the people
working within it.
KI
Dear Evan
[Link]- Cut to the title of the
Hansen
[Link] documentary.
Instrumental
D

When the pandemic first hit, it came as a shock

and left everyone uncertain. Suddenly, the
industry was wiped out and was required to Fade into me speaking in theatre
U

[Link]
adapt very quickly. I went to go see some people room.
in the industry to see what their experiences
were.
IJ

Micheal Simkins
I think like every other industry it was surreal
and shocking. You felt like you were in a sci-fi
movie except you hadn't read the last few pages
AB

of the script. You didn't know whether it was

Micheal Simkins speaking to
going to end happily or not. But it was
camera.
immensely frightening. I mean the world
Two camera shots.
[Link] - stopped. Everything stopped. There were no

[Link] plays. They were sort of talking about, we might

B-roll of National Theatre.
do something if it, you know, if it's through in a

few weeks, but of course it wasn't in a few weeks,

it was not even going to be in a few months. And

even when it did it then, came back about eight
weeks later and landed a right hook and put the
whole world back into lockdown again. So for
theatre it has been the most terrible blow.
 Ruby May-Martinwood
During COVID, I think there was a big
financial issue with, you know, people
[Link] - being self-employed and stuff. And being Ruby speaking to camera.
[Link] an actor, it's hard as it is. And I think Two camera angles.
COVID was tricky for loads of people and
for loads of families, especially if you were
part of a performing arts sort of family.

P
John Burton
I think what happened after COVID is there

FM
were a lot of changes that we saw within our
industry. So one of the things that we were very
proud of was we were able to get into the room
with a casting director where we could talk like
this and then we could we could read a script
and you're actually being real. What happened
after Covid was that those opportunities didn't
happen anymore and are still not happening

S
now. So that's had a knock-on effect to me as an
John speaking to camera.
actor and also to everyone else in that now all
[Link] - Two camera angles.
N
[Link]
that we can do is self-tapes. So we have to self-
tape ourself and and then send that in and then

B-roll of theatre backstage.

hope that something comes on the back of it.
But that doesn't help you as an actor in any way
KI
because you don't have any notes, you don't
have any feedback, you read it in a way that you
think is right and it gets sent off, but that's it.
You don't even know if they've watched it. So
D

that's been tough because at least if you were in

the room with people, you could potentially
gauge that feeling, but now it's so sterile and
U

it's so, it's so sort of impersonal that it just, it

makes it very difficult.

Kelly Taylor
IJ

During Covid we couldn't, on some jobs I

couldn't even touch them, so on some jobs they
literally have a bag in front of them, we would
stand and say can you put that there and can
you put that there and that hair's out of place so
AB

could you do that with your hair, so that was

quite hard. I literally got paid for holding a Kelly in the moment doing makeup Dear Evan
[Link] -
mirror saying, can you do that and move that on actor while speaking. Hansen
[Link]
there? That was interesting. I mean, it was good One camera angle. Instrumental
because it helped you realise how tough your
job is, because it's quite quick for me to just go
in and go, right, that's done. Whereas I'm going,
no, no, no, not that bit, this bit, can you? And
that was... So checks got a little bit longer than
they should, which was, I mean, that was an
experience to do that.
 Michael Simkins
The theatre was just finished and a
producer, not the producer of the show,
but a producer was talking to me one night,
he came to see the show and he said that
because of the nature of provincial
theatres, 90% of all the bookings that took,
that you take in a provincial theatre are in
the days after the leaflet announcing the
season has plopped through your letterbox. Cut to Micheal speaking to camera.

P
Two camera shots.
So there's these big mailing lists of people
[Link] -

who always go to the theater and they pick

[Link] B-roll of Guys and Dolls.

FM
it up off the mat. They say, oh, look, that's

on this week. That's on that week. That's

on that. Let's book for five shows. You

know, that's how it used to happen. That
has completely been finished by COVID.
That thing of people saying, I'll book for
five shows because they all look in.

S
Everybody now, particularly outside
N London, is much more nervous about going
to the theater. I think particularly elderly
people are really nervous about it now.

John Burton
KI
Sort of 70% of the theatre-going audience are
over the age of 65 and theatres are dying and
because audiences aren't still going. There are a
lot of people in that age bracket who used to go
D

to matinees and lots of performances who don't

go anymore because they're still scared of
COVID, they're still scared to leave the house
U

and they're still scared to go into an area that's

full of other people in an indoor environment. Cut to John speaking to camera.
So theatre has struggled immensely and still Two camera shots.
IJ

does and that's why you're seeing so many

theatres dark and why so many theatres are Infographic of London

closing down. Link that with the funding aspect

[Link] -
from government and theatre really is in a bad B-roll of outside Moulin Rouge, Les
[Link]
place. You're always going to have big tickets on Mis, Oklahoma.
AB

West End shows like Wicked and Les Mis and B-roll of Wicked and Les Mis
things like that because they're juggernauts, performances.
but independent theatres or theatres that have

touring shows that come into them. I try and go

to theatre as often as I can. And very rarely I see

house full signs out or, you know, look around
the auditorium and not see loads of gaps. And
that's a real shame. So I think still even now
we're seeing the knock-on effect of Covid and
producers are, rightly so I guess, reluctant to
put their hands in their pockets to put the
shows on, not knowing if they're even going to
break even.
 Small independent theatres would have
[Link] - been impacted in a similar way to how Fade to me speaking infront of
[Link] John explained. I spoke to the Kenton Kenton theatre
Theatre to see what it was like for them.

Sam Shepherd
My name's Sam Shepard, I'm the Marketing and
Publicity Manager for the Kenton Theatre. The
theatre was operating perfectly normally back

P
then. We had lots of gigs, lots of comedy, panto
and all that kind of thing. Everything was going
swimmingly, basically. First thing is, we had to

FM
close the doors so there was no audiences
whatsoever. And at that point, it was more, how
do we keep the theatre running? Because
obviously there's still running costs and what
are we going to do? So we started the Kenton for
Keeps campaign. We did some online shows,
which were okay. They weren't brilliantly

S
attended and it's quite a new concept and quite
a strange thing to do, but we tried our best to
try and keep people engaged with the theatre
N during COVID. Some of it worked and some of it
didn't, but it was a new thing, so no one really
knew how to behave and what the answer was
KI
really. We thought online would be a way Cut to Sam speaking to camera.
forward. Once people started to come back, and One camera angle.
it looked as though we were clear, so it was sort

[Link] - of the summer time, people got more confident. B-roll of outside and inside of The
D

[Link] and we had a good show in just before Kenton Theatre.

Christmas and people just wanted to come,

they wanted to go out and it was a sufficient Photo of Kenton for Keeps news
incentive to make people want to come out and article.
U

so it was that that really kicked it off again. The

first thing we did was distance shows so we had
to basically cut the audience in half which
IJ

means you're always on the loser with the size

of venue that we are, but we thought it was
important to encourage people back to the
theatre anyway. So that's the first thing we did.
We had reduced capacity so we could distance
AB

people properly and try and keep people safe.

And then we had like staggered times to pick up
tickets and that kind of thing. And I think really
the other thing we did was just try and put on
good shows to encourage people back. People
are still behaving in a strange way. I mean, it's
changed audience behaviour considerably.
There's a group that I sort of liaise with around
the country and they're saying that people are
buying tickets later for shows in case they get ill
or in case the show doesn't go ahead or that
kind of thing.
 Marjorie Moran
It's changed from people booking months
in advance, which we used to get, to
booking in the last two, three weeks before
a show and actually in the last week before
I shared quite frequently, because for a Cut to Marjorie speaking to
camera. One camera angle.
[Link] - long time we refunded people who

[Link] cancelled because they had Covid, but that

B-roll of outside The Kenton
stopped sometime earlier on this year, I Theatre.
can't remember the date exactly, and as

P
soon as everybody stopped doing that, then
that made people book, you know, put off

FM
booking more because they didn't want to
lose their ticket money.

Sam Shepherd
You have to hold your nerve quite a bit. So I
Cut to Sam speaking to camera.
think that's the biggest one, is the change in
One camera angle.
[Link] - audience behaviour, which we thought would

[Link] go back to being how it was before, but it

S
B-roll of inside The Kenton Theatre.
doesn't seem to be showing any signs of doing

that just yet. So, yeah, COVID's really affected

the way people behave.
N
[Link]- As much as theatres did struggle, parts of the Fade to me speaking in front of a
[Link] industry adapted it in many great ways. West End Theatre.
KI
Tom Chambers
The impact that Covid had on society has been
a really interesting one for our industry because
D

there's definitely now an audience who can be

at home and enjoy it from the comfort of their
own room. There are still productions that are
U

online and there's national theatre at home, you

Cut to Tom speaking to camera.
know the NT Live, so there'd be the National
[Link]- Two camera angles.
Theatre and they'd do a cinema viewing of
[Link]

IJ

theatre, which is great because there are so

B-roll of National Theatre at home.
many people who love theatre and they can't
get there and have to travel far and the expense
of it all. So yeah, in many ways it's been a really
positive experience in the long run and the side
AB

effects have been great in the fact that yes

there's so many more platforms and now you've
got more choices.

Ruby May-Martinwood
I like the fact that things are online, I think it
means for people that live further away have
got a better chance of, um, travelling, better
chance of getting auditions and getting roles.
[Link]- Cut to Ruby speaking to camera.
Cause I'm from Sheffield originally, so when I
[Link] Two camera angles.
did live at home in Sheffield, it was like paying
£80 to get on a train to London to only get seen
for 5 mins, to get back on the train and go
home. It's a lot to ask of people, so I think its a
lot more affordable
 Michael Simkins
Its amazing to me that the industry has been
able to to get back on its feet and full testimony
[Link] - to everybody thats managed to keep it going. Cut to Michael speaking to camera. Hamilton
[Link] Because we really nearly lost it for a while and Two camera angles. Intrumental
there was a period in darkest Covid when I
thought, am I ever going to hear laughter of a
live audience again.

John Burton

P
There's nothing like live theatre, live theatre is
incredible to watch, you're looking and

FM
watching people um, earning their crust by
[Link] - showing you their craft and their skills on a Cut to John speaking to camera. Hamilton
[Link] stage, in a very intimate environment. Two camera angles. Intrumental
Sometimes you could be within touching
distance of seeing idols on stage, you know,
Hollywood stars. So, I think to be able to have
that and experience that is an incredible thing.

S
[Link]- Tom Chambers Cut to Tom speaking to camera. Hamilton
[Link] You need to go out there, and go to the theatre. Two camera angles. Intrumental
N
[Link] - Hamilton
Credits to end.
[Link] Intrumental
KI
D
U
IJ
AB