Hull Truck bosses are ‘determined’ to emerge after lockdown period
HULL Truck Theatre will remain closed until July 31 amid the coronavirus lockdown.
The city-centre based theatre has announced that all performances during the spring/summer season will be postponed, including the production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
CEOS are looking to reschedule all shows for a later date and box office staff are contacting audiences who booked tickets for shows that have been affected.
In a statement from joint CEOS, executive director Janthi Millsward and artistic director Mark Babych said: “Protecting our team, audiences and communities is our utmost priority during this period.
“The theatre building may be closed except for a security team, but a small core team continues to work from home to ensure when it is safe for us to reopen we are able to bring you the very best theatre.
“We miss the wider team who have been furloughed as part of the Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, but we look forward to welcoming them and you back.
“We want to take this opportunity to thank everybody, from staff and audiences, to artists, partners and donors, for their continued and invaluable support during this time.
“We are deeply disappointed to have postponed our community production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which would have seen up to 100 members of our local community come together to create, perform and have fun.
“We are determined that this project will happen in the future, celebrating our fantastic community and the collaborative art of theatre.”
Earlier this month, Hull MP’S called on the Government to step in and provide financial support for the theatre due to the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Hull North MP Diana Johnson, Hull East MP Karl Turner and Hull West and Hessle MP Emma Hardy wrote a letter to the culture secretary asking the Government to provide “urgent and continued financial assistance” to the city centre theatre, which was described as the “beating heart of Hull”.
Theatre CEOS say they have a “sustainable financial plan” in place to cope with the lockdown and are looking to “continue to play a vital role in the cultural landscape” of the city in the future.
“Financially, we can reassure everyone that we have a sustainable financial plan in place for the closure period,” the statement continued.
“We are now looking to the future and how we can continue to play a vital role in the cultural landscape of our city and the lives of our communities, as we all emerge from this challenge.
“We are exploring all financial and funding options open to us to ensure we continue to present great theatre, to work with and support talented artists at all stages of their career and offer creative opportunities to local communities, for generations to come.
“We are hugely grateful to those Hull Truck heroes who have either donated the cost of their tickets or made independent donations to support the work we want to continue to do when we reopen, via the Hull Truck Theatre Future Fund.”
As the lockdown continues, Hull Truck Theatre continues to entertain audiences with their Hull Truck at Home programme, offering great drama and creative activities.
More than 700 people tuned into the theatre’s Youtube channel on April 8 to watch a screening of Paragon Dreams.