A Rainbow Renaissance
Preparing for a pint in the pub? I think I’ll hold off a few days until the beer gardens calm down a little. It has now been 109 days since I last slept in my “home” bed in London, having stayed at my parents in Cheshire since my tour was curtailed. I still have all my winter stuff with me! All being well I’ll be getting back to London later this month for a proper sort-out.
My days have been a mixture of reading, news-watching, exercise (regularly getting out for a run each weekday morning, mercifully), some music software learning or piano playing, with evenings spent catching up with friends or some TV. I’m trying to learn a new food recipe a week, but my dad’s taste are quite finicky these days, so I’ve tended to tread carefully with that more recently.
The Theatre - and wider Arts - Industry continue to cry out for government support. In response, the politics veers more to getting venues open as quickly “as it is Covid safe to do so”, seemingly unaware that most therefore won’t fully open until the virus is under control, bringing the whole debate back to financial support - both for companies and individuals - for the time being. While the whole saga is clearly depressing, the increasing amount of broadcasters, media publications and MPs pressing the government on this issue brings with it a sliver of optimism for the future.
June saw the Black Lives Matter movement really galvanise, with the real systemic shift being the realisation from across the world that this was as much an issue for white people as it was if you are another skin colour. The difficult realisation was that by standing aside and leaving it once again for black people to fight solely, you could make yourself part of the problem, not the solution. Rather than standing aside, it was finally time to stand side-by-side. This summer has felt like a cultural shift rather than a moment, and I desperately hope that this momentum is kept up for as long as it takes.
Unfortunately, this brings us back full-circle to the prior issue: the rapid demise of the arts industry as we know it. It will return, of course, but great progress was being made in equality: race, gender, age, class… Those producers with available money will be the first to mount a comeback, and I worry that it deprives a voice to those who will have been left in the worst situation post-pandemic. The emergence of young performers, technicians, creatives and designers from poorer backgrounds could be near-non-existent in these next few years, and the cultural hole could be massive. My hope is that those with the remaining funds (or grants) prioritise equality in a similar way to how an Industrial restart needs to really focus on green energy and climate change. The next chapter in this country’s legendary Theatre Industry should be its own Rainbow Renaissance, rather than a Whitewash.
Have a fabulous July, and try not to drink a shot of Covid-19 by accident!