Covid has wreaked havoc on the UK theatre industry and small local theatre companies are arguably dealing with the most struggles. Jennifer Rigby of Aunty Jen Productions experienced the highs and lows of the pandemic whilst trying to put on a pantomime over Christmas for her community.
"I've cried quite a lot. It's been really hard."
Jennifer Rigby said this with a smile, almost joking. But I felt the truth behind her words. I wasn't surprised - I'd be crying a lot too.
“I think the most difficult thing to cope with is the massive ups and then the massive downs that we’ve had to go through.”
And she wasn't exaggerating. Having followed her mission of performing the 'Sleeping Beauty' pantomime live for audiences since almost the very beginning, I knew of the rollercoaster their journey to this point was.
It's January 5th 2021. The holiday season is over.
Where is the happily-ever-after for this pantomime?
Aunty Jen Productions is a theatre company in Studley, Warwickshire that was born out of the ashes of the first national lockdown in the UK.
The company was developed from the Studley Isolation Support Group, a volunteer group set up to respond to the needs of the Studley community during the first Covid-19 lockdown.
Professional actress, producer and director Jennifer Rigby had spent the lockdown as 'Aunty Jen': a character she created to entertain the public and to make staying at home just that little bit easier.
But with the lifting of restrictions, she wanted to find a way to entertain a community emerging from lockdown, and so created Aunty Jen Productions.
The company's first production happened last summer, where they performed socially-distanced Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer’s Night Dream’ on a 40ft trailer at Studley Sports and Social Club.
"The feedback and the comments that we had about the standard of the production, but also about this wonderful feeling of wellbeing and happiness after such a difficult period, was really quite overwhelming. So it was well worth doing it."
Jen explained how motivation to put on the outdoor performance stemmed from the volunteer group's work over lockdown.
"We wanted our vulnerable community members to be able to come out to a safe environment and I think because we were associated with the volunteer group, they felt like we were taking that responsibility seriously.
"The feedback and the comments that we had about the standard of the production, but also about this wonderful feeling of wellbeing and happiness after such a difficult period, was really quite overwhelming. So it was well worth doing it."
Fired up and confidence high, her next plan was to produce Studley's first ever pantomime for the local community, which eventually materialised into a socially-distanced pantomime of 'Sleeping Beauty'.
The First Meeting
It's November 16th 2020. I'm talking to Jen over Zoom for the first time.
The UK is in a national lockdown less than a month away from the pantomime's opening night, but it is all smiles during the meeting.
After all Studley's coronavirus case numbers are low, what is there to stress about?
We instead discuss the effort the local community has put into the creation of this pantomime, and Jen describes how everyone is coming together for the production.
"Whilst the actors are professional and the performance is professional, all of the stuff going on around it is created by this volunteer community.
"We've had material donated, we've had dresses donated - they're all being adapted by volunteers.
"It really really is a community effort."
The Covid-19 pandemic and the forgotten small theatre companies
Whilst the struggles of the performing arts industry during Covid has been well-documented, there has been a lack of focus on small independent theatre companies and how they will survive.
The government's £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund, which aims to provide help to those 'at imminent risk of failure' due to the pandemic, is not usually applicable to smaller organisations due to a minimum grant of £50,000.
Smaller independent theatre companies also usually rely on the use of community centres or other venues in their local area to put on a production, and struggles due to government restrictions mean it is difficult to safely put on an in-person performance for their audiences.
Bad News
It's December 10th 2020 and the happiness that surround the first meeting has faded away.
A surprise Tier 3 announcement for the company's local area has put a stop to all live performances of the pantomime. Jen states that they actually would have been on stage today.
"As a company, the six of us were really excited to be back rehearsing and really motivated to make it a brilliant pantomime.
"And all of a sudden, overnight, everything changed."
Not all doom and gloom for small theatre companies
Scoot Theatre is a small theatre company in Surrey that has performed mainly in cricket clubs in order to produce safe, covid-secure shows.
Similar to Aunty Jen Productions, the company performed productions of Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ last summer, touring various cricket clubs across the UK.
Artistic Director Max Hutchinson explained how cricket clubs and performing outdoors just felt like the perfect fit when considering coronavirus restrictions.
“We had to rehearse and make sure everyone was two meters from each other when they were acting.
“Which, again, is quite easy when it’s outdoors because you’re playing big open space and you can’t really bring the stage in. So it kind of lends itself to that anyway.”
The company also produced ‘A Christmas Carol’ over the holidays at a local cricket club. This went ahead due to their Tier 2 status, where government guidelines allowed live performances to take place.
Scoot Theatre's successful delivery of a pantomime shows that local theatre companies can still perform during a global pandemic.
Adapting to the circumstances
Although the Tier 3 news was devastating, Jen wasn't about to give up.
She had a little bit of hope the next announcement would bring Studley into a tier that would allow them to resume live performances.
But she also had plan.
Through many phone calls and constant communication with various individuals, Aunty Jen Production’s socially-distanced adaptation of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ was broadcasted live to both their local school and to audiences online.
“In a way, it felt really special.”
Jen said that thanks to a local company in the local community providing filming services for free, they were able to perform live online to audience members as far as Togo, Africa and were able to finally present all their hard work.
“As actors, we were just so incredibly happy to be in that room doing a performance together.
“In a way, it felt really special.”
Jen also explained how the live streaming allowed for audience participation through social media, which made the experience more enjoyable and special for the community.
“It was brilliant to know that there were hundreds of people watching it.
“That felt wonderful, rather than filming something for television where the audience aren’t watching it in the moment.”
The rise of online theatre
The coronavirus pandemic has seen theatre, an art form spanning centuries, abandon traditional practices and take up digital forms in a bid to survive.
The practice has blown up since mid-March 2020, when all theatres in the UK were forced to shut.
Big companies like the National Theatre has streamed old shows successfully over the course of the Covid-19 outbreak for audiences nationwide, and new companies like Lockdown Theatre has live-streamed table reads with famous actors like Sir Ian McKellen in order to raise funds for charity.
Digital theatre allows small local theatre companies to present shows to audiences in a safe and restriction-compliant manner without all the added expense or troubles of adhering to strict guidelines.
Cut The Cameras Theatre Company in West London is one of many small independent theatre companies that partakes in this practice during the pandemic in order to entertain communities; the company hosting musical concerts from home with a variety of actors featuring in the show.
Founder Lewis Snell says that although he misses experiencing the arts in-person, his own struggles with mental health in the first national lockdown inspired him to create the Musical Lockdown Online events.
"I just wanted to make people happy.
"Because I felt such in a rut, I want other people to be able to just watch this for an hour, an hour-and-a-half, and forget about the drama that's going on."
The Final Scene?
It's January 5th.
There is no happily-ever-after to this Christmas pantomime.
Aunty Jen Productions were unable to put on their pantomime due to another Tier 3 announcement for their area.
“Emotionally, it’s been really quite draining.”
Jen explained that the tier system halting their plans for the pantomime numerous times has had an effect on her and the community around her.
“Emotionally, it’s been really quite draining.”
“You get over one challenge thinking that you’re coming out of the other end, and then there’s another challenge to be faced and another thing to be overcome.”
The company also enlisted the help of the Studley community to create the costumes and props for the production, and all the support made the cancellation harder for them according to Jen.
“If we had hired all the costumes in and had just gotten six actors from anywhere to do a production, then maybe it wouldn’t mean quite so much.”
“But every time we put a costume on that has been made by somebody it has that additional feeling of ‘This is really quite special!’”
The Show Must Go On
But it isn't over.
Throughout the months that I have followed Jen's journey towards putting on this pantomime for a live in-person audience, she never once showed signs of losing hope or giving up on her goal. Today is no different.
The aim is now to hold the production over Easter break in April 2021.
Jen describes the support from her community and officials as her motivation to push forward with the production. She also believes that despite all the set backs the arts industry and local theatre companies are experiencing during the pandemic, they will get through.
“We are creatives, we will find a way around all of this.” Jen says. She seems resolute in her words. I trust her.
“It kind of shows the resilience of human beings and of mankind that we will find a way and we’ll make people smile again.”