The show must go on if theatre is going to survive

Changing rules and ambiguity over the lockdown roadmap will cripple this beloved industry, writes Charlotte Cripps

Many venues can’t function with a 50 per cent reduction to seating capacity (Getty)

Freedom Day may have been delayed – but at least we can take some solace in the fact there are lots of good plays and art shows still going ahead.

Trevor Nunn’s Happy Days at Riverside Studios and Under the Milk Wood at the National Theatre, which stars Michael Sheen, Karl Johnson and Sian Phillips, are the hot tickets. They both opened this week.

Paula Rego opens at Tate Britain on 7 July, Bridget Riley’s new work is on show at David Zwirner Gallery, while Masterpieces in Miniature at Pallant House with tiny artworks by Damien Hirst and Grayson Perry opens next week.

I’m going to my first art exhibition since lockdown next week. It’s Van Gogh Alive, a multi-sensory experience, in a purpose-built venue opposite the Royal Albert Hall. Had Freedom Day not been delayed, I would have ditched the mask and gone with a busload of my daughter’s school friends. But it’s still socially distanced – with group bookings of no more than six.

For museums, I’m told, the assumption has always been to phase out social distancing measures slowly, rather than change things overnight – and some theatres continued to sell their shows as socially distanced to avoid box office complications that arise when the roadmap out of lockdown is not set in stone. For others, it’s far more devastating.

Many theatres – including those in the West End ­– can’t function with a 50 per cent reduction to seating capacity.

Andrew Lloyd Webber threatened to sue the government and risk arrest by opening his new musical Cinderella as planned on 25 June if lockdown restrictions remained. Now ministers hope to help him by making Cinderella exempt from the lockdown delay by joining a pilot scheme. However, he’s said he will only take part if the run tests events are nationwide.

Theatreland could be left in tatters if it doesn’t get up and running fast.

And with all the ambiguity over lockdown rules; to be honest, I can’t keep up. Why can I go to a pub with friends but not to a festival? It’s all so confusing. But whatever you do, make sure you pack a mask. It’s still all about booking in bubbles.

Yours,

Charlotte Cripps

Culture writer