Sebastian Armesto, Nathan and Jacob, Leopoldstadt, Wyndham’s Theatre

How did you get into acting?

I was 10 years old and in order to avoid a detention I went for an audition for a film and I got it!

What’s the best thing about your job?

I mean, it seems churlish to say going home but most people like going home after the end of the job! Probably meeting new people.

What was the journey for you from theatres closing to reopening?

Well, we were doing the show when Covid forced us to close and I didn’t do anything for the entirety of the pandemic except worry. So I was very grateful to get back to doing it.

What was it like getting back into theatre?

It was actually strangely [just] like doing it before. Once we got over the relief, it was very familiar.

What was the number one thing you missed about live performance?

Well personally – watching it actually, not being part of it! Watching people being good at what they do, not just theatre – music, dance, all of those mediums, so I missed it most as an audience member not as a worker.

Faye Castelow, Gretl, Leopoldstadt, Wyndham’s Theatre

How did you get into acting?

A very conventional route! I always wanted to be an actor, I don’t know why, but at school that’s all I ever wanted to do. I went to drama school whenI was 18; I went to Oxford school of drama and was very fortunate that when I graduated I started working and then – touch wood – it’s been alright since!

What’s the best thing about your job?

The people. Working in an industry where people are there because they love their work and they’re so skilled, so pretty much every job you do, you will be surrounded by people who are delighted to be there as well. When you have that energy within a company, it’s unbeatable.

What was the experience for you from theatres closing to them reopening again?

A roller coaster! We were doing Leopoldstadt at the time. We’d been open for 6 or 7 weeks and we were really riding high off beautiful show and a success. We really hadn’t expected it to be as successful as it was, and it felt like it happened over the course of a weekend. Going from sort of Friday night to Monday morning: full houses over the weekend and then on Monday not being on stage.

The uncertainty was too difficult to process for a long time and then we were just so fortunate that Sonia Friedman insisted from the very beginning that we would be back, however long it went. We had so many different rounds: we’ll be back in autumn; we’ll be back for Christmas; we can come back in spring again… every time it was pushed back it felt like it got further away, but she always said ‘it’s not If it’s when and we will be back’. Having that light at the end of the tunnel was great. [It was] good fortune that not by any means [did] other people have, so I did feel extremely fortunate.

What was the experience like being back on stage?

Overwhelming. I didn’t know how I was going to feel. How do you process and experience something that you’ve fantasised about for 19 months? How do you experience it?

Every single second you’re trying to bring the last 18 months with you, every time you wished you were back on stage. I think I built up the first day of rehearsal; the first time I put my costume on; the first preview; the music going in the first preview… I thought about those moments so much that when they actually are happening you almost can’t process it.

It was weird because it was the most extraordinary experience ever and yet being on stage is the most natural thing in the world and it’s my home. It’s where I feel the most to myself, so it’s this strange duality of being totally overwhelmed and then totally normal.

What did you miss most about live theatre?

The audience. That relationship you have. That response. It’s totally tangible, and yet you can’t really define it. Coming down for the first preview and with the iron down and curtain down waiting to begin and we heard an audience. I remember one of the girls saying ‘listen, listen’ and we could hear 800 people sitting in Wyndham’s for us – that is just irreplaceable.

Keshini Ranasinghe, Head of Wardrobe, Leopoldstadt, Wyndam’s Theatre

How did you get into your line of work?

I’ve always had an interest in costume and wardrobe, but one day I was temping at the RSC offices as a receptionist and they [asked me] if I wanted to work in theatre, what I [would want] to do and I said I would like to work in running wardrobe and costume but I didn’t know how to get into it.

So they sent me up to Stratford upon Avon to do some shadowing and from then on I wanted to work in running wardrobe.

What’s the thing you like most about your job?

I love doing a quick change, getting an actor or an actress in and out of costume in seconds. That’s one of my favourite things – they go from one look to another and straight on stage. Sometimes I’ve had to do changes on stage hidden behind some scenery!

What was the experience for you from theatres closing to reopening?

I was working on Leopoldstadt when that happened, and I just felt like the whole world had collapsed. Luckily I had just started seeing someone, so I went into the pandemic locked down together and he was really supportive whilst I ended up making face masks just to make some income! When theatres vaguely opened, I did get some work every time before going back into lockdown.

I got some work in different theatres; some places were just, sorting out their storerooms, other places doing laundry calls so [I got] bits and bobs. [It’s] nice going back and knowing that everyone was going through the same thing and you weren’t on your own yeah.

What was it like when theatres properly reopened?

It was amazing. I was just so happy going back, being able to see everyone and just find out how everyone was doing. It’s not the same doing zoom chats. We are people who just need people around us. Seeing everyone and going back to Leopoldstadt was just amazing.

What was like the number one thing that you missed about live performance?

The atmosphere. hearing an audience hearing indoors, it’s very buzzed as that feeling of. Just that electric feeling you have in a theatre before a show goes on.

Isabella Trevisiol-Duff, Head of Wigs and Make up & Head of Wardrobe, Leopoldstadt, Wyndam’s Theatre

How did you get into your line of work?

I have done hair and makeup for the last 10 years and hav been really fortunate with the opportunities that I’ve got and [this is] my first West End head of department job.

What’s your favourite thing about your job?

I love going to work and lockdown definitely highlighted how much I loved my job. I love the excitement and the adrenaline of doing a show as well as the creative process to get there.

For you what was the journey from theatres closing to theatres properly opening again?

We closed on the 17th of March and my team and I went back up to the wig room and continued to get ready for the show – it hadn’t quite sunk in that we weren’t going to do it. We acted as though it was normal and everything was left as though we’d be back in two weeks to the show, which obviously didn’t happen!

I moved up to Yorkshire with my partner to be in lockdown with her and ended up kind of creating a life up there. But Leopoldstadt was definitely a passion project. It’s such a beautiful production and something I wanted to go back to and to finish what we’d started so when [Sonia Friedman Productions] got in contact about bringing it back, it was a no brainer to go back to it and luckily my deputy was still in the same boat and wanting to do it.

But it was a challenging year and a half.

What was it like to be back?

It was incredible. There was a massive feeling of pressure; it’s such a big production and we obviously want it to look and be the best as it can be. But you’ve gone from zero to 100. Being back at work and doing everything, it was emotional. Hearing the audience for the first time – even though I work backstage, I ended up bursting into tears, because it was just ‘oh my gosh, we’re actually back to doing what we’ve dedicated our careers to’. It was really moving.

It’s quite funny how quickly you fall back into the normality of getting the tube and going to work and then it all just falls back into place, but it was definitely very daunting going back to it.

What was the number one thing that you missed about live performance?

The atmosphere. Being surrounded by like-minded people. It’s priceless. That sounds so cheesy but knowing that we’re all on the same page and we all at the end of the day [have] the same goal, which is to entertain.