This issue of Drama & Theatre bears more than one reference to the indisputable fact that – due in part to a statistical likelihood of straitened financial circumstances – young people from minority backgrounds have been among the hardest hit by the extraordinary hardships of 2020. It is also the case that the wave of Black Lives Matter protests which followed in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in the Spring, has prompted a greater degree of effort – long overdue on the part of some institutions – in seeking to redress longstanding systemic inequalities. The world will emerge from this pandemic looking different in a number of ways, and while many of those ways are cause for alarm, we can but hope that some positive changes will arise from the ashes of this terrible year. On page 14 we meet an inspiring young Black person uncompromising in their determination to make a difference to the opportunities available in the theatre industry for the ‘Young, Gifted & Black’. Meanwhile, on page 26, a university professor tells me of her quest to ensure that the students she hopes to support into careers in the performing arts are taught by lecturers and visiting practitioners who represent the full gamut of their own diversity. There is a long way to go in ensuring that the same, or similar, opportunities are taken up by people from all ethnic, economic, even geographical backgrounds – and it is necessary for that change to be made actively. It isn't enough for opportunities to be available to all – extra work also has to be done to encourage young people to overcome the less visible barriers – the ones put up by expectation, within themselves or their communities. This starts in education, and it's wonderful to see that challenge being taken up heartily, where it is.
Ongoing restrictions on social mixing have been a huge blow to the theatre industry, which was just beginning to clamber to its feet before the second lockdown hit. As I write, the news of Tier 3 restrictions in certain areas of the country has forced pantomimes to be abandoned, and other productions which hoped to be welcoming audiences back before Christmas have been postponed, again, until the new year. The pandemic has, nonetheless, prompted a vast burst of creativity in streamed output: theatre productions, drama workshops, professional development opportunities, ‘escape room’ games…are all, ironically, available to a greater number of people, more widely distributed, and in a much broader variety of financial situations, than ever before. It has made my participation in the shortlisting process for the Music & Drama Education Awards 2021 hugely rewarding, as I've learnt about the array of initiatives which have resulted from the global shift online. It has also expanded our reviews section, this issue, with more web-based content than we were able to fit into our usual two pages. As ever, I hope you find useful, practical ideas in these pages, and wish you well into 2021.