We’re working intensively to get theatres open again, says Dowden
THE CULTURE Secretary has said he is working “intensively” to ensure theatres can reopen, adding that the pantomime season was crucial to their success.
Oliver Dowden made the comments after visiting the London Palladium, where he met composer Andrew Lloyd Webber.
It comes after The Yorkshire Post this week revealed the concerns of venue bosses in the region. They criticised recent Government guidance about reopening and York Theatre Royal executive director Tom Bird called it “disappointingly vague”.
Mr Dowden tweeted: “I saw very comprehensive safety measures in place at the London Palladium this morning with Andrew Lloyd Webber and Public Health England.
“Despite the huge challenges, we’re working intensively with them and others to get theatres open as soon as safe and I know that panto season is key.” While pubs, bars and cinemas are set to reopen tomorrow, live performances remain banned as part of the Government’s ongoing response to the pandemic.
Dire warnings have been issued about the future of the theatre industry if additional support is not given to venues.
Tamara Harvey, artistic director of Theatr Clwyd in Mold,
North Wales, warned last week that there was a very real danger that the Government’s failure to provide enough help to the theatre industry would result in venue closures.
The Royal Exchange Theatre, in Manchester, has warned it could make up 65 per cent of staff redundant. Last week the Theatre Royal, in Newcastle, announced plans to make half its staff redundant.
Lord Lloyd Webber has previously called on the theatre industry to be more positive about its future amid the pandemic.
Last month he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme it had been “absolutely awful to see everything that I’ve loved in my life gone”, adding he wants to prove they can reopen.
He added he hoped to trial measures used at a production of Phantom of the Opera in South Korea and had ordered hygienic door handles and thermal-imaging cameras.