Covid-19 resources
Covid-19 guidance for theatre workers
- Bectu
- Equity
- Creative Scotland
- Arts Council
- Independent Theatre Council
- Producer Ruby Glaskin’s spreadsheet helps you do a simple risk assessment on your freelance income
- There’s a dedicated HMRC helpline for freelancers and businesses who are worried about paying their tax
- Citizens Advice
- MIND has some really helpful guidelines for looking after your mental health during lockdown
- Freelancers Make Theatre Work acts as a collective voice for UK theatre freelancers
Charities and fundraisers
- The Theatre Artists Fund gives one-off emergency grants of £1000
- Turbine Theatre is running online fundraiser Funds for Freelancers
- Frazer Brown is matching donations on stagily-named arts fundraiser Last Year’s Rent
- More creative nomenclature at Scottish artists’ fundraiser Wan Mair Tune Fund
- Wales Arts Review is fundraising for emergency bursaries
- Luke Barnes is organising a Liverpool Artists Fundraiser
- Bryony Kimmings is matching established artists to emerging artists who are struggling financially
- SOLT has set up a microsite for affected performers with links to charities and other bodies who can help
Where to watch theatre online for free/at low cost
- Live Stream Archive is a free-to-watch collection of small-scale UK performances
- Catch West End shows online courtesy of The Show Must Go On – they’re showing classic Shakespeares on Mondays throughout November
- Watch a recording of Emilia from 10th November onwards – prices are Pay What You Decide
- MAKE/LOVE is Battersea Arts Centre’s season of intimate digital performances
- Traverse Festival is an ongoing fest of livestreams and short films, including Tools for Change (Exeunt review HERE)
Theatre podcasts
- That Black Theatre Podcast is available for listening on the National Theatre’s website
- Fill your ears with theatre courtesy of Soundworlds, a sonic theatre podcast
- Not Another Theatre Podcast chats to early career creatives about what they do
- Listen to Tamasha’s series of five audio dramas about decolonising history
- Season 6 of Chris Goode’s podcast Thompson’s Live has just begun
- This is a great time to listen to Bechdel Theatre’s podcast back catalogue
Distractions, projects and inspirations
- Performances that will never get to happen are being memorialised at online project The Social Distancing Festival
- Apparently Shakespeare wrote King Lear while escaping the plague: don’t let that put you off getting playwriting inspiration from The Bruntwood Prize’s excellent collection of online writing resources
- Total Theatre Magazine’s archive is now digitised and free to read – it covers 1989-2012, and is a treasure trove of alt performance history
- It’s not theatre-related, but ChatterPack’s list of online distractions is pretty incredible; virtual aquarium tours, online choirs, artist draw-a-longs and more
- Forest Fringe’s 2012 Paper Stages is available to read online – artists ask you to perform their works in locations around the city (or in your bedroom). Time for a new edition?
- Do you want to learn about the history of old theatres across the UK in exhaustive-and-fascinating detail? Browse through Arthur Lloyd’s collections
This is an evolving resource: to submit a link, get in touch @theatremagazine – or for fuller listings, read our page Where to watch (and listen to) theatre online
