New visa rules, taxes and transport restrictions are some of the hurdles British dance and theatre organisations must now overcome to tour Europe
Brexit or Covid? Hardly a cheerful choice, but when I ask Colette Hansford, executive producer at Hofesh Shechter Company, which will be most decisive for UK theatre and dance companies, she doesn’t hesitate. “Brexit will have the bigger impact because it’s a long-term restriction. We’re a flexible, dynamic sector and can work our way out of Covid – but if we can’t produce and export our work, that’s going to have a devastating effect.”
Musicians have denounced the Brexit deal’s neglect of performers who depend on European work. They feel “shamefully failed” by the British government’s failure to secure free movement for touring artists. But for many of the UK’s stage companies the situation is equally fraught. Unresolved questions remain around touring, co-producing with European venues and attracting international collaborators to the UK. Which to unpick first? “Oh gosh,” sighs Farooq Chaudhry, executive producer of Akram Khan Company (AKC). “They’re all in varying degrees depressing.”
