Theatres fear it’s dame over for pantomime this Christmas

Virus threat may be behind them by December but stars warn distancing rules could kill off productions

PANTOMIME season could be cancelled this Christmas, the head of the UK theatre industry has warned, plunging already struggling venues into even deeper financial crisis.

Theatres plan their Christmas productions in the summer, but uncertainty around social distancing rules is making that impossible.

Julian Bird, the chief executive of the Society of London Theatre and UK Theatre, told the Commons digital, culture, media and sport select committee that pantomimes were vital to the industry.

“To state the obvious, Christmas for theatres is absolutely essential,” he said. “Pantomime is the number one time of year when people go to the theatre. They go in multi-generational family groups. Theatres are full. It is most children’s first exposure to the theatre.

“It is the time when theatres, being blunt, make the most profit – profit they need for the rest of the year to invest in other productions. So it’s vital in terms of families, vital in terms of community, and vital economically for each theatre.”

Asked if this meant that “Christmas has been cancelled this year”, Mr Bird replied: “I very, very much hope not. But we’ve been very clear with the Government that the sector needs understanding around the support that is available to it.

“And we need that in a timely fashion because most theatres have to make the decision around their Christmas production by early August. So time is very short.”

Mr Bird said that, under social distancing rules, auditoriums would only be able to operate at between 30-35 per cent capacity. “Clearly that is not an economic or a business model that any venue can operate on,” he added. “Social distancing, without doubt, is one of the real issues.”

Last Christmas, ticket income from UK pantomime productions hit a record high of more than £60million.

Billy Pearce, a veteran performer of 21 pantomimes at the Alhambra Theatre in Bradford, West Yorkshire, is due to appear there in Sleeping Beauty this Christmas.

His fans include Dame Helen Mirren, who came to the Alhambra’s production of Snow White last Christmas and posed backstage for a photograph, while describing him as a “legend”.

“I can’t imagine Christmas without pantomimes,” Pearce said. “Nobody knows what will happen. There is so much work involved in putting one of these shows on – months of advance planning and marketing.

“It’s very difficult to market now. I don’t want to sound all doom and gloom, but there is so much against it. If you think about the cast and all the support we have backstage, the idea of keeping people two metres apart is impractical. And how could it work for an audience?”

Caroline Dinenage, the DCMS minister, told the committee she had been speaking to the Department of Health about whether two-metre social distancing in theatres was absolutely necessary.

The two-metre rule “works if you’re face-to-face, but if you’re sitting behind someone, does it have to be the same? If you’re sitting diagonally across from someone, does it have to be the same? We have been interrogating colleagues at the Department of Health and Social Care on this.

“But clearly the silver bullet here is being able to open properly without any form of social distancing.”

‘It’s vital in terms of families, vital in terms of community, and vital economically for each theatre’