The show can’t go on: UK theatres in crisis despite being allowed to reopen

Theatres were given the green light to reopen this month, but for the vast majority of venues, the prospect of the curtain raising any time soon is remote. For others, it may not happen at all.

Britain’s arts and entertainment industry, one of the country’s biggest success stories, is in crisis. Performers, technicians and theatre owners say that the government allowing venues to open their doors and welcome guests is useless as almost all productions lose money when shows are at less than 70 per cent capacity – an impossible level with social distancing in place.

With a metre between each audience member, most theatres would have to close every other row and leave at least two seats vacant for every one that’s occupied.

The grand reopening has been very much a damp squib.

“It’s a bit like saying to a milkman that you can go back to work but you can only deliver three pints of milk a day,” says Laurie Kirkby, a sound engineer who worked for a decade on The Phantom of the Opera in London’s West End until the pandemic struck and he was made redundant.

“All theatres, from a tiny venue right up to the O2, survive on ticket sales and if you can only sell 20 per cent of your seats it’s just not feasible. You just can’t do it. There is absolutely no point in opening.”

“The fact you can open a venue again is irrelevant because you can’t put anybody in it. It doesn’t help us at all.”

It’s “basically suicide” for most producers to put on shows at the moment, says Kirkby. “They’d just be throwing money away.”

“Any live event, especially indoors that relies on social distancing to be lifted, it’s over for all of them. That includes huge venues like the Albert Hall. It’s over for them.”

The UK theatre industry is not just an important part of the nation’s cultural landscape, it is also big business and a major employer.

Some 15.3 million tickets were sold in the West End in 2019, with more than 80 per cent of seats full, generating a record £800m. Across the country, the total audience hit 34 million for 63,000 performances with ticket sales of £1.3bn.

London’s theatres are a big draw for tourists and local venues are important hubs of creativity that, if lost, leave a void that is hard to fill.

Closures are already happening. The Nuffield Theatre in Southampton, once named local theatre of the year, announced last month that it would close its doors for good, bringing to an end a run of more than 50 years and putting 86 people out of work.

Many more such announcements are expected by the end of the year unless the government relaxes social-distancing rules or provides additional financial support.

To do neither would condemn many businesses in the sector to certain closure, destroying incalculable value that could take years to restore.

People in this business have been dealt a particularly cruel hand by the government’s pandemic response.

While it may have a reputation for glamour, the reality for most workers is insecure work on short-term contracts that can be cancelled overnight if a show flops. A high proportion of workers have fallen into the considerable gaps in government support and understandably feel they are being treated unfairly.

Many work as freelancers but are paid PAYE, or do some self-employed work and some on contract. Such idiosyncrasies have meant they are not eligible for furlough or grants for self-employed workers.

Self-employed actor Pooky Quesnel is one of those who has seen her income disappear but cannot get government help. She believes she and others have been subjected to unfair prejudice.

“The arts industry is a massive contributor to GDP,” says Quesnel. ”Why are creatives being penalised in contrast to PAYE earners, who generally have far more secure lives/incomes in any case?”

She fears that productions that do go ahead will have much smaller casts, leaving many actors out of work. “The industry needs not only a rescue package – but an extension of the self-employed income support scheme,” she says.

Laurie Kirkby was one of the lucky minority who had a stable job over a number of years. But now that is gone too. He is picking up some freelance work using his skills as a welder. Friends have offered him bits and pieces of work here and there. But it doesn’t quite compare to the excitement of being part of a hit West End show, and money is starting to get tight.

“In this country we do financial services, we do hospitality and tourism and entertainment. That’s what we do well,” says Kirkby.

“People think that it’s just a hobby, a bit of amateur dramatics, but it’s not.

“It’s not just a bloke standing backstage with a fag in his mouth pulling ropes. These are highly skilled people.”

Behind the scenes of each performance of The Phantom of the Opera there are about 200 people – lighting engineers, make-up artists, porters, catering, transport, logistics, accounts.

When the furlough scheme ends, “without doubt” tens of thousands of people will lose their jobs, he says.

He would like to see the self-employed support scheme extended for arts and entertainment workers until social distancing allows the industry to operate fully again

While a £1.6bn fund announced by Oliver Dowden, the culture secretary, last month is welcome, few believe it will be enough to live up to its billing and save Britain’s “globally renowned arts, culture and heritage institutions”.

Emma De Souza, of the Society of London Theatre, is trying to focus on the rays of light in a bleak outlook, but it is difficult.

“We’re seeing redundancies across the board,” she says. “It’s tragic.”

She points to a handful of shows that are braving it and planning performances again. Sleepless, a musical based on romcom classic Sleepless in Seattle, is set to open this month at Troubadour Wembley Park.

Fittingly, The Mousetrap, the Agatha Christie whodunnit famous for being the world’s longest-running play, is to come back fighting on 23 October. Before the pandemic arrived, The Mousetrap had run continuously since 1952.

The National Theatre is also set to open in late October, with a sequel to the critically acclaimed Death of England, billed as an “explosive” play about race.

Open-air venues like those in Newbury, Regent’s Park and the Minack in Cornwall, have sold out performances they’ve put on since reopening from mid-July; clear evidence that there is demand to see live performance, says De Souza.

“It’s difficult, it takes time to build an audience, it takes time to rehearse. Usually, it will be at least eight to 12 weeks for a show to come back.”

Producers are trying to be inventive to ensure the show goes on. The Bridge Theatre in London is trying out talking-head monologues to cut costs. Others are streaming performances so people can watch at home.

But any big production with a large cast won’t be able to open until the government moves to stage 5 on its “Nando’s scale” for relaxing restrictions.

“We simply cannot open with social distancing,” says De Souza.

The next casualty will be Christmas pantomime season. “That is the lifeblood of many of our regional theatres. They would normally be starting to plan shows in the coming weeks but it’s a big risk to start committing money now with no certainty that shows can go ahead.

“These buildings are massive cultural assets,” says De Souza. “There is a real demand for live performance there and I think we need that escape more than ever, don’t we? I’m confident that we will come back.”