If Covid-19 has proven anything in the cultural sphere, it is just how able we are to adapt to unusual circumstances. From David Hockney painting on his iPad, to Damien Hirst cooperating with Snapchat, the pandemic has not deprived us of culture, simply changed its form. Even theatre has found a way, with Jenna Coleman and David Morrissey performing A Separate Peace from their respective abodes via Zoom, to widespread acclaim.
In a recent interview with The Daily Telegraph, Sir Nicholas Hytner, the former director of the National Theatre is confident in our ability to respond and react to these challenging times.
He said: “Literally no one knows what’s going to happen but there are so many performing artists who are finding ways to reach people through this period by being ever more inventive.
“We’ve had opera and ballet galas, dancers reaching people from their living rooms, it’s all part of a spontaneous new movement.
“People are ready to find new ways to communicate and if this is how the future develops, I am not pessimistic."
Saturday’s performance is the first of many planned “virtual play readings” to raise money for charity. Tickets were sold for between £7.50 and £20 depending on how early they were purchased. Over 1,000 tickets were sold and crew and cast alike had a virtual pub trip following the performance in order to discuss it.
According to Sir Nicholas, the play marks part of a “concerted effort” to ensure the show goes on.
He notes that the theatre is responsible for “not just big institutions, but individual artists, get through the current phase, then the transition phase and are ready to get back.
“There is a decades-old cultural infrastructure here, as in Europe, that I’m quite sure nobody wants to throw away."
