New Survey Shows Just 19% of UK Theatre Patrons Will Be Willing to Return When Venues Reopen

A new survey conducted shows that only 19% of audience members of UK arts venues and theatres will be willing to return to events, even after venues reopen.

The survey, called "After the Interval", was conducted by Indigo. It was sent to 192 organisations and venues, including the Royal Albert Hall, Southbank Centre, Barbican, Sadler's Wells, English National Opera and the Old Vic. The venues then sent the survey out to their patrons, and received over 86,000 responses.

93% of respondents said they missed attending live events, and only 17% said they are actively booking now for future events.

However, just 19% of people said they would consider attending events again at this time, even if venues are looking to reopen. Out of that group, 26% of respondents are under 35 years old, and 14% are over 65.

75% of the total respondents said that they would feel safer in venues if there were social distancing measures in place, including limits on the number of people who can attend (76%), avoiding long queues of people (72%) and seats spaced at 2 meters apart (65%).

Read the full report here.

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, a survey taken earlier this month of New York theatregoers showed similar results.

This survey, conducted by Shugoll Research, showed that just 41% of theatergoers say they are very likely to return when theaters reopen while 17% are very unlikely. 58% said they will probably wait at least a few months or more before attending, and only 21% think they will attend right away if there is something they want to see.

Read the New York survey report here.