While times have been hard for many of us this year, the arts has suffered more than most industries during the pandemic.

For performers like Wicked West End star Emma Hatton, who gets to step on stage at the recently reopened Stag Theatre in Sevenoaks this weekend, it’s a moment she will treasure.

“It is so exciting. It is going to be emotional actually,” she said.

“It is your job, so you take for granted that you are stood on the stage to do what you love and get paid for it.

“I think it all got cut off so abruptly you don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone. You don’t savour those moments when you are doing eight shows a week.”

She and her fellow Wicked stars - Alice Fearn, Sophie Linder Lee and Sophie Evans - will perform at the Stag on Halloween weekend, on Sunday, November 1.

“For the four of us to stand on stage together and sing together, we all feel incredibly lucky. We are doing it at Halloween too so it will have an extra magical feel to it.”

Rehearsals for the show will be on Zoom and Facetime, and they will only meet up in person a few hours before curtain up.

“To get together and do this, it will be like therapy. It will be a mood booster for everyone involved.”

Emma first performed in the town for the Live on the Vine run of outdoor performances this summer at Vine Gardens.

The successful series saw a range of singers, musicians, actors and comedians perform, with audiences paying what they could, with donations being split between the performers and the Stag Theatre, to prevent it from closing permanently as a result of the pandemic.

Emma said: “There is a theatre-loving community in Kent. It is just great to have somewhere that is providing a venue for live performance again.”

Of Live on the Vine, she said: “It is quite a different experience, performing outdoors, because you can see how people are responding. You can see if they’re getting bored, or reaching for a Malteser, so it is quite a grounding experience.

“It was the first time Live on the Vine had happened, so we had no idea what to expect. The weather was amazing and it was packed. Everyone donated so much too, it shows you that people are really missing live music and entertainment.

She said of the last few months: “It is quite a scary time for performers. We know we’re not key workers - my sister’s a paramedic so I know how it is for them - but we trained in this to do what we love and what we are good at.

“A life without the arts is just an existence; it isn’t living. People consume the arts every day and don’t realise it. The fact that these shows are being put on and tickets sell really well tells us that people are hungry for live shows and live theatre.

Producer Jamie Wilson, who organised Live on the Vine and has helped with the line-up at the Stag, said: “2020 has been a difficult year for many sectors, and the arts industry has been particularly bad hit. After the success of Live On The Vine, I wanted to help encourage audiences back inside. People are nervous about coming into theatres, but they are among the safest public environments to spend time during this epidemic.

“So I’ve called in as many favours as I have left (which is not many now), to bring some of the best performers I know to the Stag Theatre, to help rebuild theatregoing audiences in Sevenoaks, and help earn some much-needed money for professional performers. I’m so excited that Emma, Laura and the two Sophies are coming to our theatre - it’s going to be an unmissable night.”

To book for one of the tow performances of Wicked Women on Sunday click here or call 01732 450175.

For more entertainments news across Kent click here.

Putting on panto in a pandemic.