The Covid Collapse

Stage and Screen came to a juddering halt in March; everything I was involved in was either put-on-ice or cancelled for the foreseeable future. Professional and semi-professional actors and everyone else involved in the business were suddenly out of work. Equity General Secretary, Christine Payne said in our magazine last month: “The coronavirus closed our industry down and we are now seeing tentative signs of it re-opening; now more than ever we must stand together”.

Besides financially helping 2,500 of its members, Equity has been hard at work lobbying Government to help keep our theatres open. It’s tough enough making a living in this sector, as it is, but I fear many businesses will fold and some people will be looking elsewhere for employment. Before Lockdown the film industry for TV and the big-screen was very busy, I was ‘On-Pencil’ right through to the middle of May, plus waiting for decisions on a few Walk-On auditions. Whilst there are signs of a return to filming, we are advised that it will be very different when we do get back on set, with much fewer Supporting Artistes being used in scenes.

On stage, I was well into rehearsals for a character part, Ron Nichols, an inmate in a nursing home, where they plot to escape to the Normandy beaches to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the D-Day Landings. Ron is a colourful character, a man of the theatre and escapee from Colditz, with his nursing home pal Sid. As Ron was stuck in my head, and also being starved of any acting, I decided to bring-him -to-life in a few social media videos. Ron, my Great Uncle, was released by Matron to visit us, back in March. However, since Lockdown he has not been allowed to return, and is stranded with the Wilkinsons in Whirley – this is what it’s come to!