Each Week, Abigail Grimstad, TheatreMaker.ie鈥檚 Social Media Manager looks at the posts on social media that caught her attention.
I don’t know about you, but this week feels different. Ireland began to make its slow progression towards our “new normal.” It feels as if everyone’s taken a breath in, but has yet to let it out. My aim for these posts are to bring some like, some “sparkle” into the daily grind, and now more than ever, it can be hard to wade through the bad and even worse news and find a little ray of hope to cling onto.聽 I want to be that ray, or provide that ray, but I first have to find it for myself.
Abbey Theatre releases further performance updates
I suppose we should start where I think most of our heads are, I would assume, this week. It’s certainly where mine is.
This is happening in every field of the arts. This is horrible.
The @AbbeyTheatre cancels, well, pretty much everything…https://t.co/E8ZKzpJimB
— Rick O'Shea (@rickoshea) May 21, 2020
Listen, we knew changes, and shifts were inevitable, especially during this time, but somehow seeing it in writing just hurts a lot more. This week we saw a lot of call-outs, questioning, and propositioning for how we might move forward as an industry.
These are vital conversations, about a vital industry, without which, moving forward as a people is going to be insurmountably difficult. I’ve found myself getting stuck in the problem, swirling around and lacking the ability to pull myself up out of it. These days come, and they pass as well. But I’m trying to acknowledge the sadness, the fear and the anxiety. They will fade, eventually.
Now more than ever we need those conversations to happen, between Artist and Audience, and see how we can adapt, and form something better than what the industry was before all this.
People who don't work in the arts. Are the arts important? What kind of arts? And why? Asking for our government because I don't think they're listening to us. #covidartscrisis
— Lian Bell (@lianbell) May 22, 2020
It seems artists are really only appreciated for the product, for the output, not for the work and process that goes into it. A conversation about shifting is happening, it’s the main thing bringing me hope this week… Whether or not this conversation will reach the government remains to be seen.
After coming across聽this article discussing the future of the British Theatre Industry, I’ll be honest, my stress levels were up there. Thankfully I came across this thread, retweeted by The Everyman Cork, and it spoke to my soul.
My favourite quote from Jo Clifford’s thread:
“The fact is, dear Lyceum, you鈥檙e like a gym. Only in your space we don鈥檛 lift weights, or run on treadmills to become fitter and stronger. Instead you鈥檙e a place where we strengthen our capacity to feel for each other and to empathise. And so you contradict the cruelty of our selfish world and you help us to resist it. And that is also why you matter.”
This beautiful, heartfelt love letter by @JoCliffordPlays to the Royal Lyceum in Edinburgh speaks to us all. It is a letter to all theatres everywhere in this terrible time 鉂わ笍 https://t.co/cv62p9ms1j
— The Everyman (@EverymanCork) May 22, 2020
Now here. I feel like I’ve indulged my morose nostalgia for long enough.
There are still many exciting things going on. People are creating. Artists are adapting.
Fishamble Global #TinyPlayChallenge聽
Fishamble has opened up their #TinyPlayChallenge to a GLOBAL AUDIENCE. And they’ve just released the list of top plays! With the global prompt ‘CHANGE’, you can read the winning selections on Fishamble’s website .聽
We're delighted to share the Global #TinyPlayChallenge plays! Congrats Grace Lobo, Jamie Kenny @IHaveATribe Eric O'Brien @ClareMonnelly R铆an Smith, Holli Harms, Ryan Murphy @ConorHanratty @ciaraesmyth @onahelne @AaronPFinnegan @surigrennell & @JMarksie.https://t.co/ztr3kQg2h2 pic.twitter.com/eIv0Brb67c
— Fishamble: The New Play Company (@Fishamble) May 22, 2020
Here’s the tea.
I have a confession. I have yet to watch Normal People. I have read the book. And have probably watched enough of the episode clips to get a rough idea of why this…
Because this is the only worthwhile thing I鈥檝e done during Covid. . . #NormalPeople #Redux #normalpeoplebbc #Connal #Marianne pic.twitter.com/ilEKoA20x0
— Louise White Performance (@louisewhiteperf) May 12, 2020
…is funny. Maybe it’s funnier if I’d actually watched the series. But I laughed all the same. Makes me want some tea, and a good cry.
I play, U play, we all play Ukulele
I know I’m not the only one during this whole thing who has decided to become a master on my ukulele. (update: it’s not going as great as I’d hoped.) My strumming patterns are atrocious. At least it’s usually in tune.
I didn’t know I needed that.
If anything, this period of time has taught me how to console myself, to get myself through difficult patches, and to keep moving forward, even if the short term future seems grim. I’m going to keep looking for the sparkles. And I’ll keep sharing them with you.
What’s been adding some sparkle to your days?
Take care of each other.
