UK Theatres Look Forward to When the Dream of Opening Their Doors Can Become a Reality

Express & Star has reported on beloved UK theaters such as Theatre Severn and Birmingham Hippodrome, who are dreaming of the day when they can open their doors back up and present shows to an audience.

Read the full story HERE.

Sean Foley had just completed his first week as Artistic Director at the Birmingham REP when lockdowns went into place. He shared:

"We were staggered. Getting back on our feet will be a really big challenge for us. When we get to re-open, we have a fantastic set of shows to re-open with and are looking forward to welcoming people back. We are conscious that there will be some nervousness.

"Right now, we need a good steer from Government and local Government from everybody involved in terms of relaunching our business.

"If you shut a shop, as soon as the Government lifts restrictions, you can reopen. You can't do that as a theatre. Wherever you left of, you have to rehire and refit. To get your product to market takes a couple of months, that's the specific thing we're trying to work out now; how will we cope during those 2-3 months after the curfew ends when we need to hire staff but have zero income?

David Jack, at Theatre Severn shared:

"I think we'll be one of the last to re-open, along with cinemas, so that's a concern. We've been having discussions and Skype meetings about re-opening with social distancing restrictions in place but we're struggling to see how that can be workable. It would just be so complicated. One theatre I know that looked at it reduced levels that would be unviable for producers and promoters to sustain. We'd go down to 20 per cent capacity at best. One venue was a 1,000-seater and it would go to 200 or so. But then it's not as simple as that, you'd have groups of people coming to the venue from different households and people would mix at the bar or elsewhere. With the current restrictions they can't do that because they're not from the same households."

Check out the full story HERE.

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