Trying to make your dream work and realising it’s not fulfilling your purpose, is not failing. Choosing to step back from an industry that does not love you back, is not failing. Finding a new career path and letting go of your old dream, is not failing.

When we started 10 years ago we were two people whose paths one day crossed. We both grew up in working class families on the south coast and came to London to follow our dreams. Both had battled that innate working class feeling that you don’t belong, that you’re an outsider.

That path I took, in terms of fees paid and signing on and rent covered, that’s all gone. Every single part of that process that I was able to access no longer exists. So, what happens to those people with similar dreams and similar backgrounds? For most, they stop. They have to.

If we cease with this illusion that everything exciting on stage now is ‘new’, perhaps we will place more value on what’s past. If we learn from it, then there is potential to create something truly innovative by standing on the shoulders of our predecessors rather than knocking them down.

I didn’t know then I was crying for my own community but I cry all the same. Wishing I’m sitting next to anybody else as I hold all the whoops and gasps and adoration of everything Angel so tightly close to my chest that nobody can see in.

Freelance work demands versatility and adaptability. It leads to rapid skill learning and development in every job you choose to take. Work is work and there’s such a variety of freelance projects that ensures you’re consistently working on yourself and what you know. I believe that working as a freelance artist or technician makes you a more valuable and well-rounded professional. There is a sense of satisfaction that comes from managing a project from start to finish no matter the role you take on during that work.

In 1966 my parents started The Globe Players. They wanted to share their love of theatre and particularly of Shakespeare, with all young people. Over the last 58 years the company has taken on various forms and has employed hundreds of young actors, touring schools and playing to thousands of young people, many of whom will have had our visit as their first and perhaps only experience of theatre.

With Artists fighting back in record breaking numbers across the globe, racism and inequality no longer have a hiding place in the arts industry. Over the last ten years we have witnessed the world shift into a more transparent, accessible, equitable and politically conscious place. But the work is far from over.

I think buildings need to be more mindful of one important aspect of their work. That they should be safe homes for creative risk taking, and radical free speech. Everywhere we look this feels under threat – by the culture wars dividing our communities, by pro-active pressure groups who are increasingly litigious, by a fractious social media environment, by shrinking public subsidy, by cost pressures driving more ‘safe’ and commercial programming.

I’ve been a producer and I’ve been part of the stage management team, so I’ve seen the actors from the other side of the sticky green tape that marks out the set on the floor. I still loved them and I’ve seen how, sometimes, we might not be that lovable. I’ve also seen how hard it is to keep a play afloat, to stop the icebergs from sinking the show at all the different stages of development, and how actors and producers alike can make you wish, to extend the metaphor, that you never left shore in the first place.

“Working-class creatives like myself are some of the most hardworking, talented people you will ever meet, our work ethic is embedded into us, and our pure passion pushes us through doors that have been previously closed firmly shut - we are a force to be reckoned with.”

Exposure to the Arts gently, carefully, from an early age, teaches people valuable life lessons about communication, empathy, connection, kindness, as well as helping them give voice to feelings they may not otherwise have felt strong enough to explore.

Solution-focused therapist Juan Carlos Gouveia explains the many hidden benefits in going to a show.