The show must go on
演出必须继续

After two years of COVID-related delays and cancellations, live performance is returning to Australian stages. But the unprecedented losses have had lasting impacts on the sector.
在经历了两年与新冠疫情相关的延误和取消之后，现场表演正在重返澳大利亚的舞台。但史无前例的损失对该行业产生了持久的影响。

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By Anna Freeland and Hannah Reich
作者：安娜·弗里兰（Anna Freeland）和汉娜·赖希（Hannah Reich）

ABC Arts ABC艺术

Updated 11 Apr 2022, 3:35pm
更新 2022年4月11日 下午3：35

Published 5 Apr 2022, 5:07am
发布时间：2022年4月5日， 05：07

At 4pm on Thursday August 5, 2021, the cast of Cyrano was gathered on Melbourne Theatre Company’s Sumner stage to hear final notes ahead of the evening’s premiere.
2021 年 8 月 5 日星期四下午 4 点，《西拉诺》的演员们聚集在墨尔本剧院公司的萨姆纳舞台上，在当晚的首演前听取最后的音符。

There had been zero COVID cases in Victoria the day before and Premier Daniel Andrews and the whole state had breathed a collective sigh of relief.
前一天，维多利亚州的新冠病例为零，州长丹尼尔·安德鲁斯（Daniel Andrews）和整个州都松了一口气。

But that morning, rumours of new cases started to swirl, and talk of another lockdown.
但那天早上，关于新病例的谣言开始四起，并谈论另一次封锁。

“Somebody had checked their phone, and I’ll never forget the look on their face,” recalls Virginia Gay, Cyrano’s playwright and star.
“有人检查了他们的手机，我永远不会忘记他们脸上的表情，”西拉诺的剧作家兼主演弗吉尼亚·盖伊回忆道。

The cast, creatives and crew, whose rehearsals had been interrupted by a lockdown in July, began to prepare for another, assuming it would start at midnight — as it had before.
演员、创意人员和工作人员的排练在7月因封锁而中断，他们开始为另一场排练做准备，假设排练将在午夜开始——就像以前一样。

But this lockdown was announced for 8pm — snuffing out any hope for Cyrano’s opening night.
但这次封锁是在晚上 8 点宣布的——扼杀了对 Cyrano 开幕之夜的任何希望。

“[We all thought] this is just another blip and we’ll come back and celebrate,” says Moore.
“[我们都认为]这只是另一个昙花一现，我们会回来庆祝，”摩尔说。

But what Premier Andrews had first called a “seven-day snap lockdown” rolled into an 82-day ordeal, putting an end to Cyrano’s entire run.
但是，安德鲁斯总理最初所说的“七天快速封锁”变成了82天的考验，结束了西拉诺的整个竞选。

“There were lots of tears, but weirdly, not from me,” says Gay.
“有很多眼泪，但奇怪的是，不是我流的，”盖伊说。

“I was in a kind of hysteria. I laughed a lot, because it was so absurd.”
“我有点歇斯底里。我笑了很多，因为这太荒谬了。

She had written the show — a love letter to theatre and to Melbourne — in 2020 while living in isolation in Los Angeles.
她于2020年在洛杉矶与世隔绝时写下了这部剧——一封写给剧院和墨尔本的情书。

A tale of two cities
双城记

Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC) ended up cancelling 168 performances in 2021, including three full seasons, amounting to a box office loss of $6 million. This is on top of 417 performance cancellations in 2020.
墨尔本剧院公司 （MTC） 最终在 2021 年取消了 168 场演出，包括三个完整的演出季，票房损失达 600 万澳元。这是在 2020 年取消 417 场演出的基础上进行的。

Cyrano is but one of thousands of Australian shows cancelled or postponed because of the pandemic.
Cyrano只是因大流行而取消或推迟的数千场澳大利亚演出之一。

According to analysis by EY, done on behalf of peak body Live Performance Australia (LPA), the live entertainment industry lost $1.4 billion in revenue in 2020 as a result of COVID-19, representing a 69 per cent decline.
根据安永代表澳大利亚顶级机构现场表演 （LPA） 进行的分析，由于 COVID-19，现场娱乐行业在 2020 年损失了 14 亿澳元的收入，下降了 69%。

Victoria — which clocked the most lockdown days of any state — was worst affected, with attendance falling by 79 per cent and revenue slipping to a quarter of its pre-COVID levels.
维多利亚州是所有州中封锁天数最多的州，受影响最严重，出勤率下降了79%，收入下滑至新冠疫情前水平的四分之一。

While Melbourne and Sydney have been hardest hit, the story of the performing arts across Australia since March 2020 has been one of delays, pauses and cancellations.
虽然墨尔本和悉尼受到的打击最大，但自 2020 年 3 月以来，澳大利亚各地的表演艺术一直是延误、暂停和取消的故事之一。

ABC analysis of survey data from I Lost My Gig (ILMG), a joint initiative between the Australian Music Industry Network and the Australian Festival Association, identified 12,846 workers in the performing arts and live entertainment who reported over 298,000 cancelled job opportunities in the first six months of the pandemic.
澳大利亚广播公司（ABC）对澳大利亚音乐产业网络（Australian Music Industry Network）和澳大利亚音乐节协会（Australian Festival Association）联合发起的I Lost My Gig（ILMG）的调查数据进行了分析，确定了12,846名表演艺术和现场娱乐工作者，他们报告说，在大流行的前六个月中，有超过298,000个工作机会被取消。

Those jobs ranged from large-scale theatre productions to regular pub gigs and amounted to lost income of more than $325.6 million.
这些工作范围从大型戏剧制作到定期的酒吧演出，收入损失超过3.256亿美元。

These cancellations put thousands of Australians out of work.
这些取消使成千上万的澳大利亚人失业。

ABS employment data shows that job losses among full-time and part-time employed arts and entertainment workers peaked in the first three months of the pandemic, with a 40 per cent decline between February and May 2020.
澳大利亚统计局的就业数据显示，全职和兼职艺术和娱乐工作者的失业人数在大流行的前三个月达到顶峰，在2020年2月至5月期间下降了40%。

With the injection of support from JobKeeper between April and September 2020 and the eventual lifting of lockdown restrictions nationally by early 2021, full-time and part-time employment in the sector rebounded to pre-pandemic levels by February 2021.
随着 JobKeeper 在 2020 年 4 月至 9 月期间注入的支持，以及最终在 2021 年初在全国范围内取消封锁限制，到 2021 年 2 月，该行业的全职和兼职就业反弹到大流行前的水平。

But in June, just as theatres had begun reopening, the Delta variant plunged swathes of the country back into lockdown and arts and entertainment employment fell again by 8 per cent.
但在6月，就在剧院开始重新开放之际，德尔塔变种使该国大片地区重新陷入封锁状态，艺术和娱乐就业人数再次下降了8%。

Theatre productions were once again shuttered; Cyrano among them.
戏剧制作再次被关闭;Cyrano就是其中之一。

But she knows of at least eight other Australian companies that have gone through the same thing.
但她知道至少有八家其他澳大利亚公司也经历过同样的事情。

ILMG conducted a follow-up to their 2020 survey to capture the second wave of cancellations. Of the 2,363 responses identified by the ABC as relating to the performing arts and live events, a further $91.5 million in lost income was reported from cancelled work.
ILMG 对其 2020 年调查进行了跟进，以捕捉第二波取消潮。在ABC确定的与表演艺术和现场活动有关的2,363份答复中，另有9,150万美元的收入损失是因取消工作而报告的。

Nine in 10 respondents said they had been unable to work or significantly hindered by COVID-19 restrictions since March 2020.
十分之九的受访者表示，自 2020 年 3 月以来，他们无法工作或受到 COVID-19 限制的严重阻碍。

Less than 1 per cent said they had income protection or insurance.
不到1%的人表示他们有收入保护或保险。

In summary: from the start of the pandemic to November 2021, performing arts and live events workers reported income losses totalling $417.2 million, and over 374,000 cancelled gigs.
总而言之：从大流行开始到 2021 年 11 月，表演艺术和现场活动工作人员报告的收入损失总额为 4.172 亿美元，超过 374,000 场演出被取消。

While live performance has returned, the sector’s recovery now depends on an ever-evolving set of COVID-safe protocols, public health orders and new variants.
虽然现场表演已经恢复，但该行业的复苏现在取决于一套不断发展的 COVID 安全协议、公共卫生命令和新变种。

Since the start of the year, several major events including Tamworth Country Music Festival and the Broken Heel drag festival have been cancelled or delayed because of the Omicron outbreak, leaving many in the industry once again without work.
自今年年初以来，由于奥密克戎的爆发，包括塔姆沃思乡村音乐节和断脚跟变装节在内的几项重大活动已被取消或推迟，使该行业的许多人再次失业。

As Australia continues to adjust to a new COVID normal, it’s time to take stock of two years of uncertainty, and the challenging road ahead for the Australian performing arts.
随着澳大利亚继续适应新的COVID常态，是时候评估两年的不确定性，以及澳大利亚表演艺术的未来挑战之路了。

The people behind cancellations
取消背后的人

Behind every cancellation are dozens if not hundreds of artists, crew members, and hospitality workers losing out on paid work.
每次取消的背后都有数十名甚至数百名艺术家、工作人员和酒店工作人员失去有偿工作。

Melissa Kahraman is one of them.
梅丽莎·卡赫拉曼（Melissa Kahraman）就是其中之一。

The Sydney-based actor and singer graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney at the end of 2019.
这位悉尼演员和歌手于2019年底毕业于悉尼国家戏剧艺术学院。

“We were so ready to prove ourselves in a sense,” she recalls.
“从某种意义上说，我们已经准备好证明自己，”她回忆道。

Fresh out of NIDA, Kahraman landed a role in an independent production of new Australian play April Marlowe’s Abortion, scheduled to open in April 2020 at Sydney’s Belvoir St Theatre.
刚从NIDA毕业的Kahraman在澳大利亚新剧《April Marlowe's Abortion》的独立制作中扮演了一个角色，该剧计划于2020年4月在悉尼的Belvoir St剧院上演。

She subsequently lined up two big gigs for 2021: a role in Bell Shakespeare’s Hamlet and another in MTC’s As You Like It.
随后，她为 2021 年安排了两场大型演出：贝尔·莎士比亚的《哈姆雷特》中的角色和MTC 的《如你所愿》中的另一个角色。

Hamlet was cancelled during the first national lockdown. Then Kahraman spent two months trying to get an exemption to cross the NSW/Victoria border so she could travel to Melbourne to rehearse for As You Like It.
《哈姆雷特》在第一次全国封锁期间被取消。然后，卡赫拉曼花了两个月的时间试图获得跨越新南威尔士州/维多利亚州边境的豁免，这样她就可以前往墨尔本排练《如你所愿》。

“Eventually, I got the exemption. But I later found out from the director of the play that it was one day too late.”
“最终，我获得了豁免。但后来我从剧导演那里得知，已经晚了一天。

The role had been recast.
这个角色被重新塑造了。

2021 ILMG data shows that the majority of cancellations were triggered by lockdowns (85 per cent), but nearly half (47 per cent) were also impacted by border restrictions and travel bans.
2021年ILMG数据显示，大多数取消航班是由封锁引发的（85%），但近一半（47%）也受到边境限制和旅行禁令的影响。

But Kahraman is feeling optimistic about the future, with jobs lined up for the first half of this year, including a role in the recently announced four-part series Bad Behaviour, adapted from the memoir by Rebecca Starford.
但卡赫拉曼对未来感到乐观，今年上半年的工作安排得满满当当，包括在最近宣布的四集剧集《不良行为》中扮演一个角色，该剧改编自丽贝卡·斯塔福德的回忆录。

For Luke Carroll, a Sydney-based Wiradjuri actor with 30 years experience in the stage and screen industries, the pandemic prompted a career rethink.
卢克·卡罗尔（Luke Carroll）是一位在舞台和银幕行业拥有30年经验的悉尼Wiradjuri演员，对于他来说，这场大流行促使他重新思考职业。

The single father of two was rehearsing for a tour of a Play School live show when the first national lockdown hit.
当第一次全国封锁来袭时，这位两个孩子的单身父亲正在为Play School现场表演的巡回演出排练。

The tour never happened.
这次旅行从未发生过。

He ended up losing about $35,000 worth of acting work in 2020.
他最终在 2020 年失去了价值约 35,000 美元的演艺工作。

The average value of lost income reported to ILMG in 2020 by live arts and entertainment workers was $25,000. In 2021, the average rose to $38,700.
2020 年，现场艺术和娱乐工作者向 ILMG 报告的收入损失平均价值为 25,000 美元。2021 年，平均值升至 38,700 美元。

Things picked up for Carroll again by the end of 2020 — including a role in Sunshine Super Girl at Griffith Regional Theatre — but by August 2021 lockdowns had put an end to his acting gigs once again.
到 2020 年底，卡罗尔的情况再次好转——包括在格里菲斯地区剧院的阳光超级女孩中扮演角色——但到 2021 年 8 月，封锁再次结束了他的表演演出。

That was when Carroll began working as the stakeholder engagement coordinator at Adelaide’s Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute.
从那时起，卡罗尔开始在阿德莱德的坦丹亚国家原住民文化研究所担任利益相关者参与协调员。

He says that before the pandemic, he would never have considered this kind of work — or have been able to work remotely.
他说，在大流行之前，他永远不会考虑这种工作——或者能够远程工作。

“All my life is acting; I’ve been acting since I was nine years of age. I’ve never held an office job,” says Carroll.
“我一生都在演戏;我从九岁起就开始演戏了。我从来没有在办公室工作过，“卡罗尔说。

“It was bad, especially [in 2020], the amount of work I lost and [in 2021] the lockdown was harder.
“这很糟糕，尤其是在 [2020 年]，我失去了大量的工作，[2021 年]封锁更加艰难。

After lockdowns ended, he decided to continue working at Tandanya while also picking up acting gigs again, ever hopeful about his industry.
封锁结束后，他决定继续在 Tandanya 工作，同时再次从事表演工作，对自己的行业充满希望。

“Freelancing is a tough gig. I always try to think positive though. As an actor, you have to think like that or you just go crazy.”
“自由职业者是一项艰巨的工作。不过，我总是试着积极思考。作为一名演员，你必须这样想，否则你就会发疯。

‘A black light on the murder scene’
“谋杀现场的一盏黑灯”

Now that live performance has resumed, the once-in-a-lifetime nature of the pandemic has clearly amplified existing pressures.
现在现场表演已经恢复，千载难逢的大流行性质显然放大了现有的压力。

Over the last two years, more than half of the 20 shows programmed by Belvoir have been cancelled, five for good.
在过去的两年里，Belvoir安排的20场演出中有一半以上被取消，其中5场被取消。

Artistic director Eamon Flack says they have decided not to “go safe” with their 2022 program, prioritising new Australian works — like At What Cost?, starring Luke Carroll — that were set to premiere in 2020 and 2021, and attempting to employ as many artists as possible.
艺术总监埃蒙·弗拉克（Eamon Flack）表示，他们决定在2022年的计划中不“安全”，优先考虑原定于2020年和2021年首映的澳大利亚新作品，例如由卢克·卡罗尔（Luke Carroll）主演的《以什么为代价？》，并试图雇用尽可能多的艺术家。

Staff pay cuts, community support, philanthropy, and state and federal government support have kept Belvoir afloat during the pandemic.
员工减薪、社区支持、慈善事业以及州和联邦政府的支持使 Belvoir 在大流行期间得以维持。

ABC analysis of ABS estimates from February shows that ‘formal’ arts and entertainment employment has rebounded substantially since the onset of the pandemic. Total employment remains 4 per cent below pre-COVID levels from February 2020, equal to around 20,000 lost jobs.
美国广播公司（ABC）对澳大利亚统计局2月份估计的分析显示，自疫情爆发以来，“正规”艺术和娱乐业的就业人数大幅反弹。与2020年2月相比，总就业人数仍比新冠疫情前的水平低4%，相当于约20,000个工作岗位流失。

But this figure excludes freelance and casual workers, who make up 45 per cent of the arts and entertainment workforce.
但这个数字不包括自由职业者和临时工，他们占艺术和娱乐劳动力的45%。

Data from the Deputy app, which tracks casual shift work, shows that the arts industry was rostering approximately 140,000 shifts a month before the pandemic. This dropped to 45,898 by April 2020 — a decline of 67 per cent. 
来自跟踪临时轮班工作的 Deputy 应用程序的数据显示，在大流行之前，艺术行业每月大约有 140,000 个班次。到 2020 年 4 月，这一数字降至 45,898 人，下降了 67%。

The numbers have not recovered to pre-pandemic levels, with rostered shifts in January this year sitting 20 per cent below January 2020.
这些数字尚未恢复到大流行前的水平，今年 1 月的轮班人数比 2020 年 1 月低 20%。

“Suddenly you got this snapshot of the way in which the parts of our arts infrastructure that are at the front-edge of meeting the contemporary moment — where the work is most urgent — are the most vulnerable parts of the sector.
“突然间，你看到了这样一个快照，即我们的艺术基础设施中处于满足当代时刻前沿的部分——这是工作最紧迫的地方——是该行业最脆弱的部分。

“The kind of people who do the work … are the last to get securely employed.”
“做这项工作的那种人......是最后一个获得安全就业的人。

While the Bureau of Communications, Arts and Regional Research (BCARR) reports that $8 billion in JobKeeper payments was directed to individuals and businesses working in the creative and cultural sector, only half of the estimated 645,000 Australians working in creative industries received JobKeeper during its first phase (April-September 2020).
虽然通信、艺术和区域研究局 （BCARR） 报告称，80 亿澳元的 JobKeeper 付款是针对在创意和文化部门工作的个人和企业的，但在创意产业工作的估计 645,000 名澳大利亚人中，只有一半在第一阶段（2020 年 4 月至 9 月）获得了 JobKeeper。

This discrepancy is widely attributed to the exclusion of casual workers from JobKeeper.
这种差异被广泛归因于临时工被排除在JobKeeper之外。

An ABC analysis of ILMG data corroborates this gap in government support for the arts sector.
ABC对ILMG数据的分析证实了政府对艺术部门支持的这一差距。

The data shows that two-thirds of performing arts and live events workers were ineligible for the federal COVID-19 Disaster Relief payments, while four in five were ineligible for state or territory support packages.
数据显示，三分之二的表演艺术和现场活动工作者没有资格获得联邦 COVID-19 救灾金，而五分之四的人没有资格获得州或领地支持计划。

On average, respondents estimated that just 6 per cent of their income would be covered by state or federal support.
平均而言，受访者估计只有6%的收入将由州或联邦支持支付。

Many arts workers have had to turn to crisis services in lieu of government support during the pandemic.
在大流行期间，许多艺术工作者不得不求助于危机服务，而不是政府的支持。

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the music industry’s crisis support charity Support Act, which received $40 million in funding from the federal government, has approved 16,400 grants for crisis relief, worth $36.3 million. This represents an increase of more than 5,000 per cent from pre-pandemic levels.
自大流行开始以来，音乐行业的危机支持慈善机构 Support Act 从联邦政府获得了 4000 万美元的资金，已经批准了 16,400 笔危机救济赠款，价值 3630 万美元。这比大流行前的水平增加了5000%以上。

The Actors Benevolent Fund (ABF), a not-for-profit organisation offering crisis support to performing arts workers, was also inundated with requests. Crisis payments via its Victorian branch increased 16-fold (more than 1,400 per cent) in 2020 compared with 2019, and the NSW/ACT branch reported a jump of 1,517 per cent.
演员慈善基金（ABF）是一个为表演艺术工作者提供危机支持的非营利组织，也被请求淹没了。与2019年相比，2020年通过其维多利亚州分行支付的危机付款增加了16倍（超过1,400%），新南威尔士州/首都领地分行报告了1,517%的增幅。

A spokesperson for ABF NSW said the most commonly requested areas for assistance were: rent, utilities, food vouchers, mental and physical health therapy, car registration and insurance, council rates, and strata fees.
新南威尔士州ABF的一位发言人表示，最常要求援助的领域是：租金，水电费，食品券，心理和身体健康治疗，汽车登记和保险，市政费率和物业费。

Declan Greene, artistic director of Sydney’s Griffin Theatre, says: “COVID created a few new problems, but mostly what it did was magnify problems and inequalities that were already rife in the industry.
悉尼格里芬剧院（Griffin Theatre）的艺术总监德克兰·格林（Declan Greene）说：“新冠疫情带来了一些新问题，但主要是放大了该行业已经普遍存在的问题和不平等现象。

“There is just huge income inequality and financial insecurity.”
“只有巨大的收入不平等和财务不安全。

Ella Caldwell, artistic director of Melbourne’s Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre, agrees.
墨尔本红针演员剧院的艺术总监艾拉·考德威尔（Ella Caldwell）对此表示赞同。

“Particularly in the small-to-medium sector and with independent artists, I really saw the impact on them in terms of wellbeing. But it was already there, it was just magnified,” she says.
“特别是在中小型领域和独立艺术家中，我真的看到了对他们的幸福感的影响。但它已经存在了，只是被放大了，“她说。

A mass exodus, stage right
大规模出走，舞台右边

Unsurprisingly, the pandemic and its knock-on economic effects have taken a significant toll on the mental and emotional wellbeing of many in the industry.
不出所料，大流行及其连锁经济影响对业内许多人的心理和情感健康造成了重大影响。

There has been a 300 per cent increase in calls to the Support Act Helpline compared with pre-COVID levels, with 2,700 hours of counselling provided to clients from across the arts.
与 COVID 之前的水平相比，拨打支持法案帮助热线的电话增加了 300%，为来自各个艺术领域的客户提供了 2,700 小时的咨询。

It’s no wonder that many have considered leaving the industry.
难怪许多人考虑离开这个行业。

Craig Hood is an automation expert who worked on around 1,000 performances of the Australian production of The Book of Mormon between 2016 and 2019.
克雷格·胡德（Craig Hood）是一位自动化专家，他在2016年至2019年期间参与了大约1000场澳大利亚制作的《摩门经》的演出。

Hood had been contracted to work on the Australian production of 9 to 5 the Musical, which was originally set to open in Sydney in May 2020. But March’s industry-wide shutdown put an end to that gig.
胡德已签约参与澳大利亚音乐剧《朝九晚五》的制作，该剧原定于2020年5月在悉尼上演。但 3 月份的全行业停摆结束了这一演出。

“It all became a blur. I had multiple breakdowns … I just didn’t know what to do, I’d never felt this. I was employed for 10 years straight,” Hood recalls.
“一切都变得模糊不清。我多次崩溃......我只是不知道该怎么办，我从来没有这种感觉。我连续工作了 10 年，“胡德回忆道。

Hood was staying with his parents in Queensland and applying for 20 to 30 jobs a week.
胡德和父母住在昆士兰州，每周申请20到30份工作。

“[The performing arts is] a contractor world, you’re used to going from job to job … [but] when it came to the pandemic, it was a shut-up shop. So that’s where my life had to be reassessed.”
“[表演艺术]是一个承包商的世界，你习惯于从一份工作到另一份工作......[但是]当谈到大流行时，它是一家关门的商店。所以这就是我的生活必须重新评估的地方。

Hood ended up relocating to Adelaide with his partner, who had lost work as a lighting technician in musical theatre, and started working in logistics at Ikea.
胡德最终与他的搭档一起搬到了阿德莱德，后者失去了音乐剧灯光技术员的工作，并开始在宜家从事物流工作。

“I’ve not been without a job for over a year now, I have a weekly income … it’s nowhere near what I used to make, but I know what’s coming in,” he says.
“我已经一年多没有工作了，我每周都有收入......这与我以前所做的相去甚远，但我知道会发生什么，“他说。

And after a decade that often involved working 78-hour weeks including late nights and weekends, he now has every second weekend off and works 76-hour fortnights.
十年来，他每周工作78小时，包括深夜和周末，现在他每隔一个周末休息一次，每两周工作76小时。

Rex Rees had moved with her young family from Queensland to Melbourne to work as deputy stage manager on Harry Potter and the Cursed Child two weeks before what she calls “Black Sunday” (March 15, 2020) when the first lockdown put an end to performances.
雷克斯·里斯（Rex Rees）和她年轻的家人从昆士兰州搬到墨尔本，在她所谓的“黑色星期天”（2020年3月15日）前两周担任《哈利·波特与被诅咒的孩子》的副舞台经理，当时第一次封锁结束了演出。

Harry Potter staff were on long-term run-of-show contracts, which meant they were eligible for JobKeeper. Rees has stayed employed on the production through Melbourne’s many lockdowns.
《哈利·波特》的工作人员签订了长期的演出合同，这意味着他们有资格获得 JobKeeper。里斯在墨尔本的多次封锁期间一直受雇于制作。

Still, the 20-year veteran of commercial theatre began studying midwifery.
尽管如此，这位在商业剧院工作了20年的老手还是开始学习助产学。

“[The shutdown was] catastrophic for the industry and it was just so unknown … you’re watching so many other shows and companies just close the doors.”
“[关闭]对行业来说是灾难性的，而且它是如此未知......你正在看很多其他节目，而公司只是关门了。

Harry Potter is back on stage and set to transition to its reimagined one-part format in May.
《哈利·波特》重返舞台，并将于 5 月过渡到重新构想的单部分格式。

Rees is now working as stage manager and juggling full-time work with part-time study. She says crewing the show hasn’t been easy.
里斯现在担任舞台监督，兼顾全职工作和兼职学习。她说，为这部剧编队并不容易。

“There’s been a mass exodus of staff across the industry … a huge amount of knowledge has walked away.”
“整个行业的员工大量外流......大量的知识已经消失了。

Both Flack and Greene confirm that they’ve seen many artists exit stage right.
弗拉克和格林都证实，他们已经看到许多艺术家正确地离开了舞台。

“People have left, people have not been able to practise, and young artists coming out … they’ve got no runs on the board because they haven’t been able to participate,” says Flack.
“人们离开了，人们无法练习，年轻的艺术家出来了......他们没有在董事会上跑动，因为他们无法参与，“弗拉克说。

“It’s certainly gotten harder to cast shows.”
“选角肯定更难了。”

Government investment 政府投资

Many freelancers interviewed for this story spoke of feeling angry and disappointed with the federal government’s response to the industry shutdowns.
许多接受采访的自由职业者都表示，他们对联邦政府对行业关闭的反应感到愤怒和失望。

Gay says: “Wouldn’t it be great to think that the government really listened and gave a s**t and considered our work [to be] work that deserved to be supported?
盖伊说：“认为政府真的倾听并给予了帮助，并认为我们的工作值得支持，这不是很好吗？

In June 2020, following sector-wide criticism, the federal government announced its Creative Economy COVID Support Package, which includes a number of industry-specific grants. The initial funding allocation was $250 million but has since grown to $484 million.
2020 年 6 月，在受到全行业批评之后，联邦政府宣布了创意经济 COVID 支持计划，其中包括一些针对特定行业的赠款。最初的资金拨款为2.5亿美元，但后来增加到4.84亿美元。

For context: that amount of federal funding would cover about one-third of the losses calculated by EY for the performing arts in 2020 alone — leaving a shortfall of $916 million, not including losses accrued by other subsections of the arts.
作为背景：这笔联邦资金将弥补安永仅在 2020 年为表演艺术计算的损失的三分之一左右——留下 9.16 亿美元的缺口，这还不包括艺术其他细分部门的应计损失。

LPA has indicated that revenue losses for 2021 (not available until later this year) will be even greater still.
LPA表示，2021年的收入损失（要到今年晚些时候才能公布）将更大。

It is also worth noting that the arts received substantially less COVID stimulus and crisis support compared to other industries. Funding allocated to the construction sector alone was nearly 30 times more than the $484 million provided to the arts.
还值得注意的是，与其他行业相比，艺术获得的 COVID 刺激和危机支持要少得多。仅分配给建筑业的资金就比提供给艺术部门的 4.84 亿美元高出近 30 倍。

In a statement, the Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts Paul Fletcher pointed to the government’s $200 million Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) fund, part of its Creative Economy package, as a key indicator of its support for the arts.
在一份声明中，通信、城市基础设施、城市和艺术部长保罗·弗莱彻（Paul Fletcher）指出，政府2亿美元的“重启投资以维持和扩大”（RISE）基金是其创意经济一揽子计划的一部分，是其支持艺术的关键指标。

But the allocation of RISE funding has also been called into question, with decisions falling to the federal Arts department instead of the Australia Council, as is custom.
但RISE资金的分配也受到了质疑，按照惯例，决定权落在了联邦艺术部门，而不是澳大利亚理事会。

Among criticisms levelled at the government over its Creative Economy package is that much of it has been targeted at businesses, with limited support available for individual arts workers.
在对政府创意经济一揽子计划的批评中，大部分是针对企业的，对个别艺术工作者的支持有限。

Many of the recipients have been major institutions — particularly via the $50 million COVID-19 Arts Sustainability Fund, of which $42.9 million has been allocated to 15 leading institutions.
许多受助者都是主要机构——特别是通过 5000 万美元的 COVID-19 艺术可持续发展基金，其中 4290 万美元已分配给 15 个主要机构。

This includes Belvoir, who received $500,000; and MTC, who after the cancellation of Cyrano and with the rest of the 2021 season at risk, were given a $5 million rescue package.
这包括获得 500,000 美元的 Belvoir;和 MTC，在取消 Cyrano 后，在 2021 赛季剩余时间处于危险之中的情况下，他们获得了 500 万美元的救助计划。

The funding has been vigorously welcomed by industry stakeholders.
这笔资金受到行业利益相关者的热烈欢迎。

Executive director and co-CEO Virginia Lovett says: “Our argument to the government, which they heard and I thank them, was that we were drawing unreasonably down on our reserves and that we were going to come out of this crisis with an inability to realise our future artistic visions and programs.”
执行董事兼联合首席执行官弗吉尼亚·洛维特（Virginia Lovett）说：“我们向政府提出的论点是，他们听到了，我感谢他们，我们不合理地削减了我们的储备金，我们将摆脱这场危机，无法实现我们未来的艺术愿景和计划。

MTC envisions this year as a “recovery year” and is mitigating risk through a slightly smaller season and reduced production costs — including smaller casts.
MTC将今年设想为“复苏年”，并通过略微缩小的季节和降低生产成本（包括较小的演员阵容）来降低风险。

Lovett says she’s in constant conversation with governments from local to federal, and also involved in discussions across the tourism, hospitality and live performance industries.
洛维特说，她一直在与从地方到联邦政府的政府进行对话，并参与了旅游、酒店和现场表演行业的讨论。

“JobKeeper was fantastic for us; other investment has been fantastic for us [over the pandemic]. But for us to thrive, then all levels of government need to keep that sort of investment in the arts up,” she says.
“JobKeeper 对我们来说太棒了;其他投资对我们来说（在大流行期间）非常棒。但为了让我们茁壮成长，各级政府都需要保持对艺术的这种投资，“她说。

“As I say: ‘Don’t let a good crisis go to waste’ — we need to really build on what we’ve learned, and keep that momentum going.”
“正如我所说：'不要让一场好的危机白白浪费'——我们需要真正建立在我们学到的东西上，并保持这种势头。

Various bits of funding have kept other companies afloat through the pandemic, though it remains to be seen how companies will weather the inevitable disruption of further outbreaks.
各种资金使其他公司在大流行期间得以维持生计，尽管公司将如何度过不可避免的进一步爆发的中断还有待观察。

A socially distanced audience is not possible at Griffin Theatre, but the size of their space has enabled them to be more nimble and to reschedule most of 2021′s cancelled productions.
在格里芬剧院，观众不可能保持社交距离，但他们的空间大小使他们能够更加灵活，并重新安排 2021 年大部分被取消的作品。

Griffin has received multi-level government funding to stay afloat, including federal RISE funding, NSW state government subsidies for box office losses, and JobKeeper.
格里芬获得了多层次的政府资金以维持生计，包括联邦RISE资金，新南威尔士州政府对票房损失的补贴以及JobKeeper。

He considered programming fewer shows for 2022.
他考虑减少 2022 年的节目安排。

Melbourne’s Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre — the stomping ground of industry stalwarts like actor Kat Stewart — had spent years developing Michele Lee’s Single Ladies (through their INK program), but had to cancel its debut season the day before opening night in 2020.
墨尔本的红针演员剧院（Red Stitch Actors' Theatre）是演员凯特·斯图尔特（Kat Stewart）等行业中坚力量的立足之地，他们花了数年时间开发米歇尔·李（Michele Lee）的《单身女士》（Single Ladies）（通过他们的INK计划），但不得不在2020年开幕前一天取消首演季。

While they were able to bring back Single Ladies in 2021, the last two years have been a tale of disruptions and cancellations.
虽然他们能够在 2021 年带回单身女士，但过去两年一直是一个中断和取消的故事。

Staff were eligible for JobKeeper and the company used philanthropic and state government funds to continue developing and making work so they could pay artists.
员工有资格获得 JobKeeper，该公司使用慈善和州政府资金继续开发和制作作品，以便他们可以支付艺术家的费用。

“There’s been fairly consistent state government support, but I think the unique circumstances of the live performing arts haven’t necessarily been taken into account across the board,” says Red Stitch general manager Fiona Symonds.
“州政府的支持相当一致，但我认为现场表演艺术的独特情况并不一定被全面考虑在内，”Red Stitch总经理Fiona Symonds说。

“There have been a lot of freelance and independent artists and small-to-medium companies that have really struggled and haven’t had a level of certainty or consistency of support, which has made it really difficult and really stressful for everyone.”
“有很多自由职业者和独立艺术家以及中小型公司真的很挣扎，没有一定程度的确定性或一致性的支持，这对每个人来说都非常困难和压力很大。”

Since 2016, Red Stitch has gone without multi-year federal arts funding, and in 2021 the City of Port Phillip announced it would cut three-year funding to Red Stitch worth $30,000 per year. The decision was reversed following community outcry.
自 2016 年以来，Red Stitch 一直没有获得多年的联邦艺术资助，2021 年，菲利普港市宣布将削减对 Red Stitch 的三年资助，每年价值 30,000 美元。在社区的强烈抗议下，这一决定被推翻了。

But the uncertainty of COVID-19 and the company’s funding situation means they’ve decided to release this year’s program production by production.
但 COVID-19 的不确定性和公司的资金状况意味着他们决定逐个生产发布今年的节目。

The company has introduced a new membership model as a source of income, and in late December they were fortunate to secure a $550,000 grant from the RISE fund.
该公司推出了一种新的会员模式作为收入来源，12 月下旬，他们很幸运地从 RISE 基金获得了 550,000 美元的赠款。

They also welcomed the recently announced Victorian Government COVID-19 events insurance.
他们还对维多利亚州政府最近宣布的COVID-19活动保险表示欢迎。

The NSW, Tasmanian, and Western Australian governments have since announced similar schemes for major events cancelled or significantly disrupted by public health orders. But the eligibility criteria vary state to state and cater more to events with higher projected capacity and revenue. Cover is only available for events staged within the designated state’s borders and does not extend to public health orders issued by other states or territories, so touring shows may not be able to recoup losses for performances planned elsewhere.
此后，新南威尔士州、塔斯马尼亚州和西澳大利亚州政府宣布了类似的计划，以应对因公共卫生命令而取消或严重中断的重大活动。但资格标准因州而异，更多地迎合了预计容量和收入更高的活动。保险仅适用于在指定州境内举办的活动，不适用于其他州或地区发布的公共卫生命令，因此巡回演出可能无法弥补计划在其他地方举行的演出的损失。

While these initiatives offer much-needed support to large-scale events and festivals, smaller and independent companies continue to bear the brunt of the pandemic’s disruption.
虽然这些举措为大型活动和节日提供了急需的支持，但规模较小的独立公司继续首当其冲地受到大流行的破坏。

The Omicron outbreak late last year saw fewer people attending live performances — a byproduct of what some have called the ‘shadow’ lockdown. And despite the relative easing of restrictions since, companies are now contending with delays because of cast and crew infections, and ad hoc venue closures.
去年年底，奥密克戎爆发，参加现场表演的人数减少，这是一些人所谓的“影子”封锁的副产品。尽管此后限制相对放宽，但由于演员和工作人员感染以及临时场地关闭，公司现在正在应对延误。

This is particularly problematic for the independent sector, which has largely missed out on government support.
这对独立部门来说尤其成问题，因为独立部门在很大程度上错过了政府的支持。

In the past two months, musical theatre outfit Squabbalogic postponed its production of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, due to open February 17, while Sydney’s independent theatre and performance venue Giant Dwarf announced its permanent closure.
在过去的两个月里，音乐剧公司Squabbalogic推迟了原定于2月17日开幕的《在晴朗的日子里你永远能看到》的制作，而悉尼的独立剧院和表演场所Giant Dwarf则宣布永久关闭。

In a statement, Giant Dwarf’s owners said: “The second lockdown really hit us hard.”
Giant Dwarf的所有者在一份声明中说：“第二次封锁确实对我们造成了沉重打击。

With unpredictable and ongoing disruptions, several peak bodies representing live performance (including LPA, APRA AMCOS, and ARIA) have called on the federal government to establish a nationwide insurance scheme.
由于不可预测和持续的中断，代表现场表演的几个高峰机构（包括 LPA、APRA AMCOS 和 ARIA）呼吁联邦政府建立一个全国性的保险计划。

When asked if the government would consider the proposal, a spokesperson for the federal Arts Minister said: “It is decisions by state government health authorities which trigger the business losses faced by producers of arts and entertainment events. Therefore, it is state governments which are best placed to provide cover against this kind of risk.”
当被问及政府是否会考虑该提案时，联邦艺术部长的发言人说：“正是州政府卫生当局的决定引发了艺术和娱乐活动制作人面临的商业损失。因此，州政府最适合为这种风险提供保障。

Flack also wants a more coordinated approach to arts support and funding.
弗拉克还希望在艺术支持和资助方面采取更加协调的方法。

“What we’re seeing is that our national cultural infrastructure is out of date and that there hasn’t been a real serious, comprehensive look at it since the last millennium.
“我们看到的是，我们的国家文化基础设施已经过时，自上个千年以来就没有真正认真、全面地审视过它。

Data shows that federal arts funding has stagnated over the past decade, and arts funding across all levels of government has declined.
数据显示，联邦艺术经费在过去十年中停滞不前，各级政府的艺术经费也有所下降。

Independent think tank A New Approach (ANA) analysed ABS Cultural Funding data against population growth and found that per capita spending on the arts and culture sector across all three levels of government declined by 6.9 per cent between 2007-08 and 2019-20.
独立智库 A New Approach （ANA） 根据人口增长分析了 ABS 文化资助数据，发现在 2007-08 年至 2019-20 年期间，所有三级政府在艺术和文化部门的人均支出下降了 6.9%。

Flack says the arts funding crisis is “a gross failing of governments of all stripes on both sides, across many, many years”.
弗拉克说，艺术资金危机是“双方各行各业政府在许多年内的严重失败”。

He wants to see a tripling of funding to the Australia Council, which would amount to $659.4 million per year based on its current appropriation for 2021-2022. 
他希望看到澳大利亚理事会的资金增加两倍，根据目前2021-2022年的拨款，每年将达到6.594亿澳元。

Data shows there is substantial support for public arts funding in Australia. According to the Australia Council, just shy of two-thirds of Australians (63 per cent) agree that the arts should receive public funding, while nearly three in four (73 per cent) believe the arts should be an important part of education.
数据显示，澳大利亚对公共艺术资金的大力支持。根据澳大利亚理事会的数据，只有不到三分之二的澳大利亚人（63%）同意艺术应该获得公共资助，而近四分之三（73%）的人认为艺术应该成为教育的重要组成部分。

Despite the decade-long decline in funding, COVID-specific support packages have lifted federal arts funding to an all-time high.
尽管资金连续十年下降，但针对 COVID 的一揽子支持计划已将联邦艺术资金提升到历史最高水平。

The chart below compares arts and culture expenditure in 2019-20 across all levels of government with and without COVID-19 specific measures.
下图比较了 2019-20 年各级政府在有和没有 COVID-19 特定措施的情况下的艺术和文化支出。

The government has touted its record spending of $10.7 billion on the creative sector during the pandemic. This is on top of its $484 million Creative Economy package, but includes whole-of-economy and interim measures. Three-quarters of this amount was spent on JobKeeper ($8 billion), while the remaining $2.7 billion was allocated via the Boosting Cash Flow for Employers payments. Questions remain about the longevity of this elevated support and how the sector will remain resilient in the face of ongoing precarity.
政府吹捧其在大流行期间在创意部门的创纪录支出 107 亿美元。这是在其4.84亿美元的创意经济一揽子计划之上的，但包括整体经济和临时措施。其中四分之三用于 JobKeeper（80 亿美元），而剩余的 27 亿美元则通过“促进雇主现金流”付款分配。关于这种提升支持的持久性，以及该行业在面对持续的不稳定性时将如何保持弹性，仍然存在疑问。

Greene appreciates the COVID-specific responses from governments to keep companies afloat.
Greene赞赏政府为维持公司运营而采取的针对COVID的应对措施。

“I feel increasingly the solution has got to be a completely new model to how we do [publicly funded arts].”
“我越来越觉得解决方案必须是一个全新的模式，以改变我们做[公共资助的艺术]的方式。

Hope tempered 希望得到缓和

As Australia enters its third year of the pandemic, audience sentiment has changed.
随着澳大利亚进入大流行的第三年，观众的情绪发生了变化。

Survey data published by Audience Outlook Monitor last month shows that Australian audiences are cautiously optimistic about returning to arts events, with 59 per cent of respondents saying they are ‘ready to attend’. A further 38 per cent say they will attend when the risk of COVID transmission is minimal, and 3 per cent will only attend when there is no risk.
Audience Outlook Monitor上个月公布的调查数据显示，澳大利亚观众对重返艺术活动持谨慎乐观态度，59%的受访者表示他们“已准备好参加”。另有38%的人表示，他们会在COVID传播风险最小时参加，3%的人只会在没有风险的情况下参加。

With the prospect of further outbreaks, the findings suggest that audiences will need more time to return to pre-COVID attendance comfort levels.
随着疫情进一步爆发的前景，研究结果表明，观众将需要更多时间才能恢复到新冠疫情前的上座率舒适水平。

While audiences are tentatively returning to theatres, thousands of shows from 2020 and 2021 — laboured over with love, creativity and the sheer determination of anyone who works in the performing arts — will never get onto stages.
虽然观众正在试探性地重返剧院，但 2020 年和 2021 年的数千场演出——用爱、创造力和任何从事表演艺术工作的人的坚定决心——将永远无法登上舞台。

Audiences did get a taste of Cyrano, even after it was cancelled, when Virginia Gay performed a small section of her show on ABC’s Q&A.
观众确实尝到了Cyrano的味道，即使在它被取消之后，当弗吉尼亚·盖伊（Virginia Gay）在ABC的问答中表演了她的节目的一小部分时。

The clip went viral and Gay received countless messages from people sharing their pain, sadness and isolation.
这段视频在网上疯传，盖伊收到了无数来自人们的信息，分享他们的痛苦、悲伤和孤独。

“It was completely overwhelming, that Q&A response — and I will never ever forget it,” recalls Gay.
“那完全是压倒性的，那个问答的回应——我永远不会忘记它，”盖伊回忆道。

But this story has a rare happy ending: Cyrano will be back on at the MTC in September this year.
但这个故事有一个难得的圆满结局：Cyrano将于今年9月重返MTC。

“When [outgoing MTC artistic director] Brett Sheehy told me the news, the floods of tears came,” says Gay.
“当（即将离任的MTC艺术总监）Brett Sheehy告诉我这个消息时，泪水如潮水般涌来，”盖伊说。

Company manager Stephen Moore says: “While we are incredibly excited and fortunate to be bringing Cyrano back in 2022 … we’re never going to get back the 2021 production because life has changed and the world has changed and what those creatives and those artists bring to the work is going to be different.
公司经理 Stephen Moore 说：“虽然我们非常兴奋和幸运能够在 2022 年将 Cyrano 带回来......我们永远不会回到 2021 年的作品，因为生活已经改变，世界也发生了变化，那些创意和艺术家为作品带来的东西将会有所不同。

“When we cancel shows and we lose productions, it is a piece of history that’s never to be repeated.”
“当我们取消演出并失去制作时，这是一段永远不会重演的历史。”

Gay says that over the past two years she — like so many in the live performing arts — has had to become a “hope temperer”.
盖伊说，在过去的两年里，她和许多现场表演艺术界的人一样，不得不成为一个“希望的锤炼者”。

“You have to have enough hope to keep going towards making something, anything, and hope that we will be able to get people in to see it and that we will be able to connect with people and make them feel less alone.
“你必须有足够的希望继续做一些事情，任何东西，并希望我们能够让人们看到它，我们将能够与人们建立联系，让他们感到不那么孤独。

“But you also can’t have too much hope, because that immediately leads to these terrible depressions.”
“但你也不能抱太大的希望，因为这会立即导致这些可怕的萧条。

Before the end of 2021, Gay was back on stage at Belvoir with The Boomkak Panto, another work that she wrote in isolation in LA.
在 2021 年底之前，盖伊带着 The Boomkak Panto 回到了 Belvoir 的舞台上，这是她在洛杉矶单独创作的另一部作品。

Credits 学分

Reporting: Anna Freeland and Hannah Reich
报道：安娜·弗里兰（Anna Freeland）和汉娜·赖希（Hannah Reich）

Data analysis and production: Anna Freeland
数据分析与制作：Anna Freeland

Photography: Sarah Walker and Daniel Boud
摄影：Sarah Walker 和 Daniel Boud

Editor: Dee Jefferson 编辑：Dee Jefferson

Notes about this story 关于这个故事的笔记

• The ABS defines industries included in the Arts and Recreation Services based on their ANZSIC classification. For the purposes of analysis, we have adopted the broadened definition used in the Australia Institute’s Creativity in Crisis report. This includes the motion pictures and sound recording categories, which typically sit under Information Media and Telecommunications in ANZSIC.
  ABS根据其ANZSIC分类定义艺术和娱乐服务中包含的行业。出于分析目的，我们采用了澳大利亚研究所的《危机中的创造力》报告中使用的扩展定义。这包括电影和录音类别，这些类别通常位于ANZSIC的信息媒体和电信下。

• ABC calculations of I Lost My Gig data differ from those published by ILMG in August 2020 as visual arts related responses have been excluded from our analysis.
  ABC对《I Lost My Gig》数据的计算与ILMG在2020年8月公布的数据不同，因为与视觉艺术相关的回应已被排除在我们的分析之外。

• The ABC acknowledges free curtain hire from Theatre Star.
  ABC承认Theatre Star免费租用窗帘。