Covid has devastated the arts, with many professionals forced to seek work elsewhere: as teachers, coders … and wine tasters. How have they found it?

By Andrew Dickson

“A stone’s throw from London’s West End, the Groucho Club is exactly the sort of spot you’d expect to find a theatre producer holding court, surrounded by rumpled media types and within earshot of a Netflix exec or three.

But there is a more practical reason why Libby Zietsman-Brodie has suggested this location for our chat today: in a few hours, she has a wine tasting there. When I locate her in the upstairs bar, she is proffering a carafe of pale rosé. “A little something?” she asks, waggling a glass.

Zietsman-Brodie is on the point of becoming a full-time wine consultant and writer. After 15 years in professional theatre – initially at the Old Vic, then founding her own production company – she has decided to depart showbiz for good, at the age of 38. No regrets, she insists: “You have to keep moving. If this business taught me anything, it’s that.”

Source: The Guardian