Front row will be too hot a ticket as theatres reopen
Shows will have ‘limited distanced audience’ under minister’s five-stage plan to revive performing arts
THE coveted theatre “front row” could be consigned to history under plans to help the performing arts recover from the coronavirus crisis. The Culture Secretary has announced five phases to getting theatres and other arts venues back open “as soon as possible”, after lockdown devastated the West End.
Mirroring the return of elite sport, the first two stages will involve training and rehearsals behind closed doors, with performances for broadcast and recording only.
When live performances are given the green light under phases three to five, the guidance states there will have to be a “limited distanced audience”, suggesting spectators will be moved well back from the stage to avoid transmission of the virus by performers acting, singing or playing instruments.
Part three will allow shows outside, and a “pilot” performance inside, with a “limited, distanced audience”.
Phase four will allow performances indoors and out, with a “limited distanced audience indoors” maintained, while the fifth phase heralds the return of indoor and outdoor performances, with a “fuller audience indoors”.
Progress through the five steps will depend on the advice of medical and public health experts.
The road map was published as Oliver Dowden met representatives from the arts yesterday to help get the recreation and leisure sector up and running. Entertainment venues have been shut since March and are not part of planned reopenings on July 4.
Members of the Cultural Renewal Taskforce include Sir Nicholas Serota, the chairman of the Arts Council England; Lord Grade, the former BBC chairman; and Baroness Lane-fox, the founder of lastminute.com. Mr Dowden said: “I desperately want to raise the curtain on live performances – they are the soul of our nation and a linchpin of our world-beating creative industries. We know the challenges: theatres must be full to make money, and performers need to be safe on stage as they sing, dance and play instruments, but I am determined to ensure the performing arts do not stay closed longer than is absolutely necessary, to protect public health.”
He added that some outdoor events were already being planned for the summer: “Alongside this we’ll do some pilots on indoor performances to identify the best mitigations to take. When it is safe to do so, we’ll reintroduce indoor performances with audiences.
Sir Cameron Mackintosh is among impresarios to have criticised the Government over its perceived lack of support. But yesterday, Sir Ian Mckellen announced he would begin rehearsals for Hamlet, in the first major production since theatres went into lockdown, at the Theatre Royal Windsor.