Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum Theatre to be mothballed until 2021

One of Edinburgh’s leading theatres is to be mothballed and two thirds of its workforce have been warned their jobs are at risk due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Royal Lyceum, which dates back to 1883, said it had been forced into “hibernation” after running up losses of more than £700,000 in the last two months.

All shows booked into the venue, which is funded by the city council and Creative Scotland, for the rest of this year have been scrapped completely as part of emergency measures aimed at preventing its permanent long-term closure.

Thecompanywhichrunsthe 658-seat venue and produces its shows – which was set up in 1965 – has projected it would run out of funds completely in November without emergency cost-cutting measures.

A reopening has been ruled out until the spring of 2021 at the earliest after staging shows with social distancing measures in places was thought to be impractical and unviable.

Union leaders say 43 out of the 64 members of staff have been warned they may lose their jobs.

They want the Scottish Government and Creative Scotland to intervene to get the threat of redundancies lifted.

However an official statement from the venue said that its board had made the “sad but inevitable conclusion that they must act now to protect the future of the theatre.”

The Lyceum’s statement said: “This period has been exceptionally challenging for the whole theatre industry.

“The restrictions on gatherings over 500, and then the necessary closure of buildings for public safety, have removed income streams at a stroke and left even the largest theatres struggling to survive.”

David Greig, the Lyceum’s artistic director, said: “To protect the Lyceum from closure we have to act now to preserve the theatre company and our ability to create theatre in Edinburgh in the future.

“Sadly, to do this we have to reduce the wage costs which make up the vast majority of our expenditure.

“This will mean losing friends from our theatre family - people I am in awe of, who make the magic happen on our stage and who are much loved and valued.”