Paul Whitehouse and ‘Only Fools’ musical cast to make silent stand

WHY DON’T EVEN FOOLS AND HORSES WORK?!

Only Fools and Horses The Musical – Silent Stand
On Thursday 3 September at 11.00am, up to 30 members of the cast and crew of Only Fools and Horses The Musical will join together outside the Theatre Royal Haymarket to make a 15 minute socially-distanced silent stand.
This is to show solidarity with those in the UK theatre industry who have lost their jobs and received no government support, to highlight the lack of government guidance for the reopening of theatres, and to implore the Government to provide the industry with a date when theatres can reopen without social distancing.

Paul Whitehouse, co-writer and star of Only Fools and Horses The Musical, who will participate in the silent stand, said: “This stand is to highlight the plight of everyone who works in the theatre industry: the front of house staff, box office, bar staff, cleaners, ushers, maintenance workers as well as the stage crew and cast, producers, writers, set designers, directors, lighting and sound designers, art departments, production teams, make-up and wigs, costume, carpenters, marketing, musicians and musical directors.
Not to mention all the small businesses that survive and thrive as a result of theatre audiences…the restaurants, bars, coffee shops, cabbies and many others.

If it’s ok to go to the cinema, it must be ok to go to a show. If it’s ok to go to a crowded airport and sit on a plane for hours, it must be ok to go to a show. You can ventilate a theatre…you can’t open a window on a plane.

We need restrictions lifted, or a cohesive date to work towards, so we can plan how to reignite an entire industry.”