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Ok, let& #39;s talk about jobs. I, like every performer, have been told in the past to "get a real job". When being flippant, Rhys and I often joke about the fact we don& #39;t do "a real job". But obviously, we do. Or rather, following the logic, we don& #39;t, and nor do you. I& #39;ll explain...
This isn& #39;t going to be another thread about what a vital part of our economy the theatre industry is, or how many people it employs, or the fact it is the backbone of our entire cultural sector. Those are all excellent points, but not the point I& #39;m making.
The point I& #39;m making is that the people that think artists should get "a real job" never specify what that actually means. What makes something a real job, and why does making theatre not count?
Partly I think it& #39;s about making money - the idea that the starving artist should just go and get a job in a shop. Except, of course, that millions of artists like us make a decent living. Pandemics aside, I make more from theatre than I would if I worked in a shop.
Also, that argument comes hand in hand with the idea that the more money you earn the more valuable your job is. That hedge fund managers are worth more to society than rubbish collector, care workers and cleaners.
An ugly truth about our society is that we still equate wealth with merit. The myth of trickle down economics is that we need billionaires to generate money for the rest of us, when in fact it is the opposite, its just that the billionaires control the messaging.
So having a real job is about more than making money, clearly. Is it about stability? Is my job not real because I don& #39;t clock in 9 to 5? Because my income is largely seasonal? If so, surely the entire hospitality sector isn& #39;t a real job either.
Lots of people with "real jobs" dream of starting their own business (restaurants especially), even though that means having no regular income for years, and having your work hugely dependant on the whims of the public/major pandemics.
So it can& #39;t be about having a regular pay check. Maybe it& #39;s about doing something that benefits society? Again, let& #39;s ignore the great boon to the economy the arts bring, and focus on a smaller scale.
What service does a restauranteur provide that a theatre maker doesn& #39;t? Going out to a nice restaurant is a luxury, and is expensive both in terms of time and money, so the only true benefit is experiential. How is that different to the theatre?
More importantly perhaps, economics aside, how does a hedge fund manager benefit society? What does the senior sales rep at a mid range paper company bring to the world as a whole?
It& #39;s very easy to compare ourselves to teachers and care workers and say "those are proper jobs that help people", but no one ever yells "get a real job!" at marketing executives and management consultants. So it& #39;s not about that either.
The more I think about it, the more I think the notion of "a real job" comes down to the archaic idea that work should be suffering. What I do for a living looks fun (it is super fun) and therefore it doesn& #39;t count as "work".
I feel like we have been convinced that something is only "work" if you don& #39;t want to do it, and that the act of doing that is somehow inherently worthy. The term "an honest day& #39;s work" basically means "hard labour for meagre reward".
Obviously, this idea benefits those at the top of the food chain who make money off of other people& #39;s hard work. Yes, the pay is bad, the work is hard and the hours are long, but congratulations, you& #39;ve done something worthwhile with your life, and made your boss richer.
The people that tell us we don& #39;t have real jobs are the same people who revel in taking long lunch breaks, sneaking out of work early, who strive to beat the system and earn more but work less, and then chastise us for not doing "a proper job".
