Theatre boss’s fury at packed Palladium gig
THE boss of one of Scotland’s favourite theatres has slammed the “madness” of the London Palladium being allowed to host An Audience With Arsene Wenger while football fans can’t watch their teams live.
Iain Gordon, of the Pavilion, hit out at the Palladium for packing in 1000 fans for the event starring the former Arsenal manager.
The boisterous crowd even started with loud football chants.
Gordon asked if the difference between theatres like the Pavilion in Glasgow and the posh Palladium was its owner Lord Lloyd Webber.
Referring to photos from the event, he said: “This doesn’t make sense, there is hardly an empty seat in the house.
“How can they sit in a theatre with hardly a space between everyone to talk about football but cannot sit outside in a football stadium to watch a game?”
Gordon has used the lockdown, which shut down all theatres and music venues in Scotland, to make improvements to ventilation systems at the Pavilion and introduce high-standard hand sanitisers and toilet flush systems.
He said he only wants to reopen when the R number looks under control but added: “Is there one rule for us and another for the London arts elite? This all seems irresponsible.”
The London Palladium has gigs by Van Morrison and Debbie Harry coming up soon but Gordon thinks the Test and Protect system will make future events impossible. He said: “It’s beyond me to think that from that crowd somebody in the next few days does not report symptoms. That would effectively mean every person in the audience and all the staff self-isolating. The whole thing then collapses.”
In July, singer Beverley Knight took to the Palladium stage when Lloyd Webber’s theatre opened at 30 per cent capacity to demonstrate stringent hygiene methods he hopes can enable UK theatres to reopen.
Visitors had staggered arrival times, wore face masks and, while queueing, used mobile phones to fill out NHS test and trace forms. After contactless security checks and ticket scans, temperatures were taken.
And seating was reconfigured to ensure that audience “bubbles” are at least 1m apart.
Palladium owner LW Theatres insisted there was at least 1m space between all parties at the Wenger event.