WRITING an arts column at the moment is pretty tricky. Normally, we would be talking about exciting events which have just happened, or are scheduled in the near future.

But there aren’t too many of those at the moment.

Many of you will know that I run a small touring theatre company, On A Role, which sells one-actor shows to theatres around the country.

We had between 40-50 shows booked out to theatres this spring. None took place after lock-up and most of them were moved into this autumn.

Now, every theatre has moved its show into 2021, some in the spring, but many to the autumn because they are doubtful whether they will be able to operate in the spring.

That remains to be seen, but it’s pretty depressing stuff from the point of live theatre.

Even worse, in terms of large-cast touring productions, the industry is now talking about spring 2022 as the earliest it is likely to return.

I suspect there will be a lot fewer theatres for it to return to if that is the case.

Things could change with the coronavirus situation of course, but the way things are going, that doesn’t seem too likely.

So, two wishes – that a vaccine comes soon, and before that, that we have a new President of the United States next week!