Following Andrew Lloyd Webber’s evidence to the DCMS this morning and the news over the weekend regarding re-openings, I’m pleased to share a statement from Jon Morgan, director of Theatres Trust.
Jon Morgan comments:
Many people in the theatre industry, including Andrew Lloyd Webber, are working hard to find solutions and mitigations so that audiences, performers and staff can return to theatres safely without the need for social distancing. Safety is paramount but with the right mitigating measures for the different scale and style of each theatre, it should be possible to reopen theatres safely and fully. We are encouraged that the government is determined to see more audiences back in theatres in time for Christmas, but we would stress again that theatres will need advance notice of this. Without an early date for theatres to reopen fully and with the furlough scheme ending in October we will see further redundancies and the permanent closure of more theatres.
The government’s £1.57bn investment package, welcome though it is, will not save every theatre nor every job – which is why today we’ve launched the #SaveOurTheatres campaign in partnership with Crowdfunder to enable communities to show their support for the local theatre or help us to protect the UK’s theatres.