18 APRIL 2020 • WWW.LSIONLINE.COMi INDUSTRY ISSUES
continuing to roll out our programme of online
learning.” GLP’s Simon Barrett adds: “I take
some solace in seeing how everyone is pulling
together, whether running online training
courses, virtual pub quizzes or simply
checking in on colleagues and friends.”The industry’s self-employed workforce faced
a different challenge - particularly in the UK,
where seven days passed between the
government announcing support for
companies with employees and announcing
support for the self-employed. Many spent that
time frantically learning about the
governments’ Universal Credit welfare scheme
and the limitations it imposes, particularly on
those with savings or households with one
person still working. An invaluable UK Theatre
Industry Coronavirus Support page quickly
appeared on Facebook.Those who work for themselves have also been
coming to terms with things those working in
the social, ever-on-the-move world of theatre
don’t normally have to deal with: isolation,
lockdown and, strangest all, not knowing
when normality will return. For those with kids,
the challenge of learning how to be a teacher
has also been thrown in. “There’s been a binge
of Disney+,” says LD Rob Sinclair. “There’s
been watching Vectorworks webinars. But I’m
feeling very disconnected from showbusiness
because showbusiness doesn’t really exist.”
LD Guy Hoare adds: “I’m looking at the shows
that are further out, 2021 or 2022; I haven’tnecessarily been contracted, but I’m starting
to work on those because I know they’ll
probably happen, whereas shows that are due
for May or June this year are probably not
going to happen.” LD James Farncombe says:
“The weather has been lovely and I’m
extremely grateful for my garden. Today, we
multi-tracked my six-year old daughter playing
a whole heap of toy percussion and all the
instruments we could lay our hands on and
a good few we invented ourselves - the
resulting 50-tracks was the most joyous
cacophony. For the moment, we’re OK - but
I am much more concerned about what will be
left after this strange period has ended.”Projection designer Nina Dunn adds: “I would
say I am experiencing grief and mourning and
I will increasingly experience frustration and
irritation at not being able to practice the craft
I love so much.” And programmer Vic
Brennan: “The worst thing for me at the
moment is not having a purpose. My task this
coming week is to find ways to be useful to
people other than myself and to try and regain
the feeling of being needed and helpful.”The chancellor did eventually offer the
self-employed help, though with an upper
earnings limit of £50,000 beyond which help
was not available, a limit not applied to
furloughed employees: “I am lucky - I fall
within the limit,” notes programmer Sarah
Brown. “But friends and colleagues of mine,
those who’ve worked hard and happen to have
a good few years, don’t. It feels very strange
that I get this help when others don’t, and
when the same limit doesn’t apply to those
working for companies.” Plus, there’s the
issue of collecting money owed for work
already done and for work booked but now
unlikely to happen. “I’ve heard that those
working on some big TV shows that got
cancelled were paid in full for the days they
were meant to work,” notes programmer Tom
Young. Others have not been so lucky, and of
course, there’s the realisation that everyone is“We lost 25%
of our year in
one phone call;
that’s pretty
devastating.. .”
- Luke Edwards
“I am experiencing
grief and
mourning and
I will increasingly
experience
frustration and
irritation at not
being able to
practice the craft
I love so much.. .”
- Nina Dunn
Photo: Annie Spratt on UnsplashPhoto: Kilyan Sockalingum on Unsplash