claytoncast

We have found ourselves in a situation which no one could have imagined. I’m not talking about a global pandemic. Evidently governments have done dry runs of such a possibility and failed miserably. I’m talking about a world in which a 99 year old man has to walk around his garden on a walking frame in order to fund the NHS. I’m talking about a world where a footballer has to point out to the Prime Minister that children will starve during the summer holidays if meal vouchers are taken away. Both Major Tom and Marcus Rashford did amazing work and are to be applauded and thanked. We in the theatre world however seem to be still looking for someone to lead us in our action against the pandemic.  Or should that be against the government? Loosening the lockdown on Tuesday, the government’s very own Tintin, Boris the Bumbler, said “I’d like to go to the theatre again.” The scientists stood by looking like a shifty version of the Thompson Twins. Reluctant to wholeheartedly back Tinti...

All of us have had a lot of up and downs as a result of the self-imposed imprisonment that we have been suffering from for the last 12 weeks.  I remember the government announcing the fact it would be 12 weeks for most people to have to stay indoors and thinking what an incomparably long amount of time that was. Yet in many ways it seems to have flown by and become our accepted way of life. It has brought many changes and made many things harder for many of us. I find the hardest point of any day is the moment my head lifts from the pillow and I slowly gain full consciousness of the world I am about to enter. I want to stay out of it all. Getting up in the morning has not been this hard since the fourth form. I've had a few blowouts of the "I'm just not going to take it any more" variety, more often than not provoked by having to watch the imbecilic behaviour of various politicians on the 5 o'clock government comedy show. I fully understand that nobody has found t...