Live shows returning to Wedgewood Rooms with reduced audience
Comedy club to re-start events with more gigs on way
EIGHT months to the day since the last show there, live entertainment is set to return to The Wedgewood Rooms.
The Albert Road, Southsea-based venue is today announcing its first show since March 13 – its longrunning comedy club will be there on Friday, November 13.
And over the coming week they will be announcing a whole raft of new gigs, including a series of Sunday concerts, with tribute acts and local bands also on the slate.
The Wedge was granted £147,372 earlier this month from the government’s Community Recovery Fund (CRF), a £1.57bn pot to help keep arts and culture alive during the pandemic.
Manager Geoff Priestley said: ‘Right from the beginning of this we’ve toed two lines – that we would open when it’s economically viable to do so, and the CRF funding has made that possible, and the second thing was that we’d do it when it was safe to do so.
‘We’re not rushing headfirst into doing this – we’re taking our time, toe in the water, seeing what the response is, hoping that people come out.
‘Then once we’re a bit more comfortable we’ll start looking at doing some different things.’
The venue’s capacity is reduced from 400 to about 100 to accommodate social distancing, and tickets will be sold in bubbles of one, two, four or six.
‘We’ve made some changes in the venue,’ Geoff explained.
‘The important thing is putting space into the venue.
‘We’ve reduced the stage slightly and we’ve reduced the technical area at front of house, so that we can put in as much space as we can, to put in as many people as we can, as safely as we can, while making sure they’re comfortable.’
As to that date, Geoff claimed to not be superstitious.
‘Ironically, Friday 13 was the last thing we did – that was a comedy night too. And I actually like coincidences, and I think opening eight months to the day with a similar sort of event feels like the right thing to do.’
The bill for the comedy club has yet to be announced.
For more information and tickets go to wedgewoodrooms.co.uk
We've made some changes. The important thing is putting space in the venue. Geoff Priestley