By Grace Hatchell, 2nd Act Couriers
I was halfway through my round this week when something stopped me dead in my tracks. Not a missed delivery, not a matinee overrunning, not even a door slammed in my face — but a post that landed with a quiet thud and stayed there.
Katie Deacon shared openly about maternity pay for performers, and once you’ve read it, you can’t unread it.
In many West End contracts, maternity pay looks like this: six weeks at 90 per cent of your wage, followed by statutory maternity pay — currently £184 a week. That’s it. No curtain call, no encore, no “we’ll make this work”. Just a sharp drop from survival to struggle.
Katie spoke honestly about returning to work earlier than planned, not because she wanted to, but because financially she had to. And that’s the bit that hurts. Not the theory, not the policy, but the lived reality.
Because let’s be honest — most households now need two incomes just to keep the lights on. Rent or mortgages, bills, food, travel, childcare. The idea that £184 a week can carry a family through those months belongs in a fantasy musical, not modern Britain.
What makes this particularly stark is that performers are often freelance, contract to contract, with little long-term security even before becoming parents. Add pregnancy and maternity into that mix and suddenly the message — however unintended — feels loud and clear: this industry needs you on stage, but struggles to support you off it.
That’s why it matters that Equity is pushing this conversation forward.
Equity has been highlighting the need for family-friendly policies in theatre — not as a luxury, not as a “nice to have”, but as a basic matter of fairness. Because if the industry truly values talent, longevity, and diversity of voices, it has to support performers through every chapter of their lives, not just their most bankable years.
And here’s where the spotlight needs to shift slightly.
Campaigning matters. Advocacy matters. But employers in the West End also need to step up.
Productions, producers, and major commercial theatres benefit enormously from the labour, skill, and emotional commitment of performers. Supporting mothers — properly, financially, and without penalty — should be part of that responsibility. Not something quietly passed off as “just how it is”.
If we want an industry where women don’t have to choose between starting a family and sustaining a career, this cannot stay an unspoken compromise whispered in dressing rooms.
Theatre prides itself on empathy. On storytelling. On understanding the human condition.
This is a moment to prove it.
From my little satchel to the grandest of stages, I hope this conversation keeps going — and that it leads to real change. Because nobody should have to rush back under the lights before they’re ready, simply to survive.
Grace would like to see a future where the show still goes on — but so does life.
We are the performing arts and entertainment trade union | Equity
Katie Brent (Deacon) (@katiedeacon92) • Instagram photos and videos
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