The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Excitement as theatre plans for summer
Pitlochry Festival Theatre has announced its reopening plans for this summer after facing significant challenges due to Covid-19.
In its 70th anniversary year, the theatre will welcome audiences to its new outdoor amphitheatre from June with showings of David Greig’s Adventures With The Painted People.
This year’s season will also celebrate live music, with operas and musicals, and an evening dedicated to the work of Mozart.
Artistic director at Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Elizabeth Newman, said organisers “can’t wait” to bring people together.
“It has been a challenging year for everyone,” she said.
“We’ve done many, many online events... however, we know our amazing audiences have missed being in-person and experiencing live theatre.
“Although we couldn’t produce the Summer Season as previously planned, I feel extraordinarily excited to share this Outdoor Summer Season with audiences, especially for our big birthday.”
She added: “I hope it channels the same unstoppable spirit that first made Pitlochry Festival Theatre extraordinary 70 years ago when John Stewart first put up the Theatre tent.”
Theatre bosses say numerous procedures will be in place to ensure the safety of the audience.
Government guidelines and regulations will be followed, with sanitiser stations throughout and a reduced capacity with social distancing.
Despite ongoing Covid-19 challenges, the theatre is looking forward to welcoming audiences back.
Ms Newman added: “Everything we do will follow government guidelines.”
The past year has resulted in significant difficulties financially for Pitlochry Festival Theatre and it was forced to make half of its staff redundant in June last year due to furlough changes.
Almost half of its 98 staff were made redundant after Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced that the government would taper off its Job Protection Scheme from last August.