Theatres and performing arts need a lifeline, is it too late? – Jayne Dowle

Leeds-based Opera North is the latest company to announce that it is cancelling live performances for the foreseeable future.

If you wanted to see La Traviata, Jack the Ripper or Carmen, you’ll be disappointed. All mainstage productions in the autumn 2020/winter 2021 season will not be going ahead now.

Like many theatrical organisations, Opera North will instead be rolling out an innovative programme of online and digital events, including an interactive soundwalk around Leeds based on a new score recorded with the orchestra and chorus of the company.

This sounds interesting, but I think you’ll agree; it’s not quite the same as the thrill of live performance, the anticipation of seeing a production you’ve looked forward to for months, the delightful escapism of being swept up in the sheer excitement of it all.

I feel sad that coronavirus has taken this away from us. And I feel desperately worried for all my friends who work – but not since March – in the industry.

And it is an industry, make no mistake about that. Perhaps part of the problem is one of perception. Too often ‘the arts’ is dismissed as a bunch of luvvies.

Yet, in 2019, the Arts Council said that the arts and culture industry had grown £390m in a year to contribute £10.8bn annually to the UK economy.

Importantly, the sector contributes £2.8bn a year to the Treasury via taxation, has 363,700 jobs and generates a further £23bn a year through associated sectors.

And interestingly, Mr Dowden, productivity in the arts and culture industry between 2009 and 2016 was greater than that of the economy.

Please don’t write in and tell me to stop being so melodramatic. Arts and culture are an absolute lynchpin of the British economy and an export which travels without tariffs or import/export duty around the world. Showbusiness deserves more than being sidelined at a time of national crisis.

In June, almost 100 actors, writers and directors wrote to the Government to ask for urgent action. Their suggestions included sustaining the workforce through the Job Retention Scheme and a new package to support freelancers and self-employed artists.

Their letter also suggested ways to support theatre recovery through adaptations to the existing theatre production tax relief scheme, plus support for businesses that supply theatres. And it asked for aid with making venues Covid-19 secure. It was a serious and thoughtful plea, but has it been taken seriously? No.

Why? Think for a moment how grey and depressing life would be without live music, theatre, dance and performance of all kinds.

Think also of all those companies – the sound and lighting guys, the costumiers, the security and transport firms – who rely on live performance for a living. Most are self-employed in one way or another; no furlough scheme for financial support here.

And consider the next generation. The UK’s reputation for training young musicians, dancers, singers and actors is unsurpassable. Yet schools and studios remain firmly bolted shut. Government advice has at best has been confusing, at worst non-existent.

It isn’t just the cancelled big-ticket events that cause disappointment. It’s the milestones and the family performances we’ll miss; my daughter Lizzie’s annual dance school show – a fixture for more than a decade, our 12-year-old nephew in his first starring role, as Oliver in a local am-dram performance of the Lionel Bart musical, the school production of Annie the Musical, in which Lizzie was to play Miss Hannigan, the flame-haired irascible orphanage owner. I was looking forward to that one. And the wig.

Then the concert in London that my 17-year-old son was attending with his friend. When it was cancelled I did breathe a slight sigh of relief – Jack and his pal were staying up all night in London then coming back to Yorkshire by coach. However, remembering my own teenage adventures, I did sorry for them. Another horizon foreshortened, another youthful experience curtailed.

The Government should be reminded that the ‘performing arts’ are not some indulgence which can be filed under the heading of ‘non-essential’ and forgotten about. They are the lifeblood of the nation, lifting spirits, raising aspirations and reminding us that we are still good at something.

Millions of people involved in this industry have been left high and dry, companies are going bust, theatres stand dark and towns and cities which rely on income from cultural and artistic events are cast adrift. All urgent reasons to find Oliver Dowden and thrust him into the spotlight.

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