Jennifer Tang, Associate Director, Young Vic
What has the journey been like getting back to the theatres reopening?
It’s been pretty rocky. It’s been unpredictable. It feels like at every step, there’s peril and a sense of the unknown. But I think it’s also been a real testament to what theatre does best, which is people working together to make something happen, despite all the challenges that occur.
And how is it being back? What’s it like now that everything is kind of slowly getting back to normality?
There’s something really magical that happens when you sit down to watch a show at the theatre. And having been away for so long, I feel that more intensely than ever, so I think I’ll never ever take it for granted ever again. Just the act of watching a show and making a show as well. And it feels like we’re in a really fragile moment. Where, it’s kind of like you know, for lots of companies and artists sink or swim kind of time. So it’s a really incredible moment, but it also feels like a really delicate moment as well.
What was it that you missed most about live performances during lockdown?
I think it’s the act of sharing a story or worldview that’s not my own. And then COVID and the pandemic made my life feel really small. And through you know, watching live performance, you get to hear different stories and different voices and I really missed that kind of bigger world view, that I just wasn’t getting sitting at home in my lounge.