‘We’ve become much stronger and more resilient as a result of 2020’
This past nine months has laid waste to live entertainment but hopes remain high for a better 2021 here in Portsmouth.
In any other year, putting on quickfire comic Jimmy Carr at Portsmouth Guildhall would be a regular ‘day at the office’ for its staff. But in 2020, it marked the first time a major touring act had graced the venue's stage since the pandemic began. The star stand-up performed two nights there last week, providing welcome laughter at the end of a grim year for the live entertainment industry.
And The Kings Theatre was in fullswing with its Pompey Panto, Dick Whittington, playing to what passes for packed houses in these days of socially distanced audiences.
Unfortunately the announcements in quick succession that Portsmouth, Havant and Gosport were being put in tier three, and then tier four, put paid to any more shows before the year is out. However, there is optimism that, as D:Ream once sang, things can only get better.
Talking about the Carr shows, the Guildhall’s chief executive Andy Grays says: ‘These are concerts which normally you wouldn't give a second thought to because you do these almost every day.
‘But it was very different because it wasn't just “a concert”. We were pleasantly surprised that everything went smoothly, and I think Jimmy was just so pleased to be on stage, he really was.’
With many venues unable to stage any shows since March, there is now some hope that with the vaccination roll-out and other developments in the pipeline, 2021 will see the wheels start to turn again.
‘Compared to 2020,’ says Andy, ‘2021 is definitely going to come up smelling of roses, to a point. It's just a question of when and how we get there, but we are positive. Despite recent announcements, I've seen confidence return in terms of the ticket-buying public. We did quite a bit of analysis, and ticket sales are really quite strong for shows that are here from midsummer onwards.
‘That does show that the public, if they feel they're going to be protected and safe, and it's at a certain time, then they're buying tickets. It's the early part of the year that's going to be tough for everyone.’
With pent up demand from artists, promoters, venues and the public, Andy believes we could be in for a boom time.
'We are inundated with either confirmed shows or ones pencilled in for next autumn. I've never seen it as busy, not just next autumn but also the following spring.
‘I felt that if you hold the market place back, it bounces out. It's like a rubber band – it will return in a big way.
‘Whether you're a comedian or a musician or whatever, your whole career has been put on hold this year. They're desperate to get out. I think the public are going to have a wonderful array of concerts and events to attend.
‘Hopefully all of us will look back in five years and this will be a tough and distant memory and we can get back to our lives and enjoy ourselves.’
At The Wedgewood Rooms in Albert Road, Southsea, they had planned a run of shows from November onwards, but the second lockdown stopped those.
The venue’s manager Geoff Priestley says: ‘It has been a very long, very stressful and very fraught year. But then that's 2020, that's how it is for everybody, it's not just us. All you can do at this point is get through it and deal with things as they come at you day to day.’
But Geoff also remains up-beat about next year.
‘I have this theory that it can't be any worse! For 2021, my head is actually positive. We've got some shows booked in, we're moving some shows to the autumn when we think it's going to be safer to do.’
‘We've adopted an approach of keeping our staff and our customers as safe as possible, so if it means we get locked down we will obviously comply. While we want to do shows, rushing in to doing them isn't the right thing.’
‘We're optimistically putting shows into next year, and we've got another project which some of the Arts Council funding we received is going towards, so that should be good fun for early next year.’
In the new year, London’s prestigious venue The 100 Club is set to pilot a new British initiative. Its creators say it will scrub indoor air clean ‘by using high intensity UVC light to safely inactivate 99.99 per cent of dangerous airborne pathogens,’ including Covid-19 and many others. If successful, the Pathogen Reduction System (PRS) will be a huge break
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GEOFF PRIESTLEY, THE WEDGE
through for the industry.
Geoff adds: ‘Things can only get better because there are people working on various projects and things that will mean we should be able to open with a higher capacity more safely.’
Over at The New Theatre Royal in Guildhall Walk, it’s a familiar story.
‘Having to close our doors and cancel or postpone so many shows has been heartbreaking and we are missing having our audiences in the building very much,’ says marketing manager Charlotte Bell. ‘We’re working very hard behind the scenes and looking forward to welcoming people back into our building in 2021.
‘After such a tough year, we are going to need our theatres and the shared experience of live performance to help bring us back together.’
Like The Wedge, The NTR mounted a successful online fundraiser. They received more than £15,000 as part of the nationwide #SaveOurTheatres campaign.
‘We were delighted with the support received via our Crowdfunder and the donations we received really will make a big difference to us. The success of the #SaveOurTheatres campaign on a national scale was also brilliant to be a part of as it helped to raise awareness of the really severe strain on theatres like us.’
The support from the public also helped buoy the staff ’s spirits.
‘Seeing the messages of support throughout the year come in from our audiences, Portsmouth businesses and wider community was really special. New Theatre Royal holds such a special place in so many people’s hearts so it’s really helped us to stay motivated to get back up and running just as soon as we can.’
And Charlotte is also confident about the coming year.
‘We are feeling optimistic! 2021 will come with its own challenges we are sure, but we’ve become much stronger and more resilient as a result of the events of this year and are feeling well prepared.
‘There are so many shows we are looking forward to bringing to our stage and hope that we will be able to audiences back in our building again very soon.’
While staff at The Kings were understandably upset at having the panto run cut short, they have refused to be beaten. A recording of the show is now available to buy for streaming, and they plan to revive it in the February half-term.
Chief executive Paul Woolf told The News: ‘We’re a huge part of Portsmouth. The Kings is a huge part of the cultural offering. We’ve connected with the heart and soul of Portsmouth in these last six months. We feel very close to the people of Portsmouth – it’s just so sad that this has happened.’
‘We've got to get ourselves through the year and just make sure we manage our cost base and get to next year's panto.’
For more go to kingsportsmouth. co.uk, portsmouthguildhall.org. uk, newtheatreroyal.com, or wedgewoodrooms.co.uk,