Theatre after COVID-19

There's no rule book for what we're all experiencing. 


For a people centred business like theatre, the challenges presented by lock down and physical distance are magnified.


Instead of digital broadcasting or creating theatre by teleconference, we've chosen to take a longer view - asking ourselves the question, 'what will theatre be' after all this is over?


As an Arts Council NPO we don't need to jump hoops to get project funding. There isn't oodles of spare cash either. After all, we absorbed the costs of postponed productions and work streams, prioritising paying everyone for the duration of their contract despite the lock down and suspension of all activities. It was the right thing to do. 


So, what else are we doing?


  1. We're having one-to-one conversations with theatre artists and makers;
  2. We're hosting a virtual Talawa Café to explore ideas and share experiences, hopes and ambitions and offer our expertise;
  3. We're enhancing MAKE Online – a place where Black theatre artists can build networks and connections to sustain them as they scale the forbidding cliff-face of the industry;
  4. We have invested in our in-house CRM system and training staff to use it as a tool for audience development and analysis ...


Through these conversations and analysis we can start to build models of theatre-making and artist support which might be relevant in our new future. It’s the beginning of the road. We don’t know where it will lead, but we feel compelled to explore and to tell the story of that journey in the truest traditions of theatre.


Support our work 

Please donate the price of that night out at the theatre which you can’t have – we’ll use it to help build the new future we all want to see.


  • Talawa's history of nurturing and collaborating with outstanding writers like Roy Williams, Derek Walcott, Jackie Kay, Arinze Kene, Chinonyerem Odimba, Inua Ellams, and Malorie Blackman is well known.

    Now, Talawa is developing the next generation of Black British writers such as Nicôle Lecky, Somalia Seaton, Theresa Ikoko, Natasha Marshall and Archie Maddocks.

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