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Post by Deleted on May 3, 2020 8:18:29 GMT
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Post by Cleo on May 3, 2020 12:15:18 GMT
Cameron Macintosh talked to Michael Ball on Radio 2 today about his theatres reopening. Worth a listen approx 90 minutes in. Summary: London & Broadway will be one of last to go back. Major producers talking to each. Will have to wait for social distancing to cease. Need audience and actors to feel safe, Social distancing would not work so await given go ahead by government. On line streaming of his staged concert of Les Mis has raised £250k for Musician’s Union Hardship Fund, Major Tom, Acting for Others. Suspects early new year before go ahead given and then 4-5 months before shows can be staged.
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Post by basdfg on May 3, 2020 12:45:27 GMT
BBC has a UK tourism figure predicting staycations will be the new norm as people will never return to holidaying abroad anywhere like before. Not sure it will be that bad.
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Post by intoanewlife on May 3, 2020 13:00:56 GMT
Cameron Macintosh talked to Michael Ball on Radio 2 today about his theatres reopening. Worth a listen approx 90 minutes in. Summary: London & Broadway will be one of last to go back. Major producers talking to each. Will have to wait for social distancing to cease. Need audience and actors to feel safe, Social distancing would not work so await given go ahead by government. On line streaming of his staged concert of Les Mis has raised £250k for Musician’s Union Hardship Fund, Major Tom, Acting for Others. Suspects early new year before go ahead given and then 4-5 months before shows can be staged. Finally someone having a sane conversation about the situation. |
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Post by NeilVHughes on May 3, 2020 13:28:15 GMT
The Cameron Macintosh opinion is aligned with the one I am coming to terms with.
The optimist in me says September, the realist Spring next year and the romantic, my first show being the opening night of Globe 2021 Summer Season.
At the moment would settle for a pint in a Beer Garden.
As someone once said:
“O time, thou must untangle this, not I. It is too hard a knot for me t'untie”
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Post by HereForTheatre on May 3, 2020 13:33:07 GMT
I'm pretty sure theatre will be back in some capacity by the end of the year. I know theatres that are determined for that to be the case no matter what measures have to be put in place for it to happen.
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Post by talkingheads on May 3, 2020 13:36:39 GMT
I love that idea about the pubs restricting drinks to three pints, knowing full well that all this will mean is a lot of people going on pub crawls. But the Mackintosh thing was fascinating and as close to a genuinely realistic viewpoint as I think I've heard so far. |
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Post by nialld on May 3, 2020 13:42:41 GMT
Cameron Macintosh talked to Michael Ball on Radio 2 today about his theatres reopening. Worth a listen approx 90 minutes in. Summary: London & Broadway will be one of last to go back. Major producers talking to each. Will have to wait for social distancing to cease. Need audience and actors to feel safe, Social distancing would not work so await given go ahead by government. On line streaming of his staged concert of Les Mis has raised £250k for Musician’s Union Hardship Fund, Major Tom, Acting for Others. Suspects early new year before go ahead given and then 4-5 months before shows can be staged. I listened to this but didn't hear any mention of him saying he thinks early next year is when the go ahead will be given - did I just miss that? I'm assuming the 4-5 months estimation only refers to the big musical he produces - I can't see why a smaller scale play would need 4-5 months prep after the go ahead, particularly ones that have sets built/production work already done. |
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Post by HereForTheatre on May 3, 2020 13:46:25 GMT
Why would it need 5 months to get a show back on it's feet once they are able to return? I'm a bit baffled.
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Post by Cleo on May 3, 2020 13:51:16 GMT
Cameron Macintosh talked to Michael Ball on Radio 2 today about his theatres reopening. Worth a listen approx 90 minutes in. Summary: London & Broadway will be one of last to go back. Major producers talking to each. Will have to wait for social distancing to cease. Need audience and actors to feel safe, Social distancing would not work so await given go ahead by government. On line streaming of his staged concert of Les Mis has raised £250k for Musician’s Union Hardship Fund, Major Tom, Acting for Others. Suspects early new year before go ahead given and then 4-5 months before shows can be staged. I listened to this but didn't hear any mention of him saying he thinks early next year is when the go ahead will be given - did I just miss that? I'm assuming the 4-5 months estimation only refers to the big musical he produces - I can't see why a smaller scale play would need 4-5 months prep after the go ahead, particularly ones that have sets built/production work already done. I listened again - it is at 1hour 36min where he says thinks early next year. Yes Cameron is only talking about his theatres & productions. |
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Post by HereForTheatre on May 3, 2020 13:52:49 GMT
Also there won't be mandatory social distancing on stage. It can't be justified when things like football will be back, pretty soon by the looks of it, where players are all over each other. You'll find the return of things like football will be a precedent.
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Post by nialld on May 3, 2020 13:56:24 GMT
Why would it need 5 months to get a show back on it's feet once they are able to return? I'm a bit baffled. Yes, I'm not too clear on that either - you'd tend to believe CM knows what he's talking about but considering this is from the point after social distancing has fully stopped, it seemed a strange assertion to make. He wasn't that clear on why it's such a long period but made reference to it being due to the fact that these shows are such massive operations/need 200 people to make them run etc, which I get and obviously we need to allow time for rehearsals and potentially recasting but I don't see why that equates to 4/5 months, particularly as most of his shows have been running for years. In any case, as we get nearer to the point of social distancing ending it will be more evident that it's coming towards the end, and in that respect confirmed plans for reopening can start to be made before social distancing officially ends. The way he was talking made it seem like we would go from complete uncertainty to the end of social distancing within the space of a day, and it would only be possible to make arrangements for reopening from that day onwards, which seems illogical. |
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Post by theatreian on May 3, 2020 13:58:45 GMT
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Post by nialld on May 3, 2020 14:02:30 GMT
I listened to this but didn't hear any mention of him saying he thinks early next year is when the go ahead will be given - did I just miss that? I'm assuming the 4-5 months estimation only refers to the big musical he produces - I can't see why a smaller scale play would need 4-5 months prep after the go ahead, particularly ones that have sets built/production work already done. I listened again - it is at 1hour 36min where he says thinks early next year. Yes Cameron is only talking about his theatres & productions. Ah just listened again - but what he says is 'I don't think we'll be back till early next year', and I'm pretty sure he means he's predicting theatre will be back early next year (with the 'we' in reference to the theatre world) and the 4-5 months estimation is factored in as before that point, not afterwards. |
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Post by Deleted on May 3, 2020 15:39:10 GMT
BBC has a UK tourism figure predicting staycations will be the new norm as people will never return to holidaying abroad anywhere like before. Not sure it will be that bad. Really? Because the article I read says that although people are likely to wait a few months before booking foreign holidays it's generally expected that things will get back to normal within three or four years. On top of that it's likely that prices will be very low at first precisely to encourage people to get over their "you go first" reluctance, so the general expectation is that everything will pick up fairly quickly. And why shouldn't it pick up quickly? This is far from the first pandemic the world has seen. It's not even the first pandemic the world has seen this century, though many people forget that because H1N1 didn't have much of an effect on the UK. Once the risk is over it's over. Every other time people have got back to normal once the risk has passed and there's no reason things should be any different this time. |
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Post by crowblack on May 3, 2020 16:12:28 GMT
BBC has a UK tourism figure predicting staycations will be the new norm as people will never return to holidaying abroad anywhere like before. Not sure it will be that bad. Yes - it'll go back to something like the 1970s, with the added factor that not only will, say, student backpackers not want to get seriously ill halfway up a mountain in South America or on a party beach in the far East, but people in countries with poor healthcare support probably won't take too kindly to hordes of tourists bringing infection with them either. |
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Post by Jon on May 3, 2020 16:49:22 GMT
Really? Because the article I read says that although people are likely to wait a few months before booking foreign holidays it's generally expected that things will get back to normal within three or four years. On top of that it's likely that prices will be very low at first precisely to encourage people to get over their "you go first" reluctance, so the general expectation is that everything will pick up fairly quickly. And why shouldn't it pick up quickly? This is far from the first pandemic the world has seen. It's not even the first pandemic the world has seen this century, though many people forget that because H1N1 didn't have much of an effect on the UK. Once the risk is over it's over. Every other time people have got back to normal once the risk has passed and there's no reason things should be any different this time. I agree, tourism always seems to bounce back fairly quickly after a major event like a pandemic or terrorism. I think this idea that everyone will not travel anymore to foreign countries for holidays is just ludicrous. |
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Post by theatreian on May 3, 2020 17:11:07 GMT
Patti seems to think theatre will not be back until 2021 too!
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Post by Deleted on May 3, 2020 17:52:29 GMT
BBC has a UK tourism figure predicting staycations will be the new norm as people will never return to holidaying abroad anywhere like before. Not sure it will be that bad. Really? Because the article I read says that although people are likely to wait a few months before booking foreign holidays it's generally expected that things will get back to normal within three or four years. On top of that it's likely that prices will be very low at first precisely to encourage people to get over their "you go first" reluctance, so the general expectation is that everything will pick up fairly quickly. And why shouldn't it pick up quickly? This is far from the first pandemic the world has seen. It's not even the first pandemic the world has seen this century, though many people forget that because H1N1 didn't have much of an effect on the UK. Once the risk is over it's over. Every other time people have got back to normal once the risk has passed and there's no reason things should be any different this time. Exactly. And frankly if everyone else starts holidaying in the UK I'll be jetting off abroad to escape them! Besides, as lovely as parts of the UK are (hardly anything beats a week in the Scottish Highlands or islands), holidaying for me is about experiencing new cultures and places I've never been before, which is why I love going abroad and will be on a plane for leisure travel as soon as it is permitted. |
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Post by basdfg on May 3, 2020 18:34:55 GMT
BBC has a UK tourism figure predicting staycations will be the new norm as people will never return to holidaying abroad anywhere like before. Not sure it will be that bad. Yes - it'll go back to something like the 1970s, with the added factor that not only will, say, student backpackers not want to get seriously ill halfway up a mountain in South America or on a party beach in the far East, but people in countries with poor healthcare support probably won't take too kindly to hordes of tourists bringing infection with them either. You and me are the only people with the realism to accept the new world - nothing is going to bounce back.
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Post by basdfg on May 3, 2020 18:37:06 GMT
Really? Because the article I read says that although people are likely to wait a few months before booking foreign holidays it's generally expected that things will get back to normal within three or four years. On top of that it's likely that prices will be very low at first precisely to encourage people to get over their "you go first" reluctance, so the general expectation is that everything will pick up fairly quickly. And why shouldn't it pick up quickly? This is far from the first pandemic the world has seen. It's not even the first pandemic the world has seen this century, though many people forget that because H1N1 didn't have much of an effect on the UK. Once the risk is over it's over. Every other time people have got back to normal once the risk has passed and there's no reason things should be any different this time. I agree, tourism always seems to bounce back fairly quickly after a major event like a pandemic or terrorism. I think this idea that everyone will not travel anymore to foreign countries for holidays is just ludicrous. By the time it does countries will have new economies and wont want visitors.
Plenty of places are going to be closed societies forever.
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Post by basdfg on May 3, 2020 18:38:19 GMT
BBC has a UK tourism figure predicting staycations will be the new norm as people will never return to holidaying abroad anywhere like before. Not sure it will be that bad. Really? Because the article I read says that although people are likely to wait a few months before booking foreign holidays it's generally expected that things will get back to normal within three or four years. On top of that it's likely that prices will be very low at first precisely to encourage people to get over their "you go first" reluctance, so the general expectation is that everything will pick up fairly quickly. And why shouldn't it pick up quickly? This is far from the first pandemic the world has seen. It's not even the first pandemic the world has seen this century, though many people forget that because H1N1 didn't have much of an effect on the UK. Once the risk is over it's over. Every other time people have got back to normal once the risk has passed and there's no reason things should be any different this time. People in the uk are getting more and more nationlist - easy to see soon it being seen as unpatriotic to not take your main holiday in the uk. |
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Post by richey on May 3, 2020 19:16:23 GMT
Is it me or is this thread drifting off topic?
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Post by sph on May 3, 2020 19:39:21 GMT
Is it me or is this thread drifting off topic? I think tourism is a large enough part of the success of the theatre industry, particularly in London and New York, to warrant discussion on its potential rise or fall in the coming few years. The topic here is quite broad. How will theatre function? If the tourists stop coming it will have a huge effect on the West End and Broadway. Productions may close early and the big tourist-y moneymakers like Phantom and Mamma Mia may have a slightly tougher time. It'll be much, much harder to fund and open new plays and musicals in the West End too. I agree about the theatre not opening until next year, there are just no practical things you can really do to open the building until social distancing is no more. The actual scope of getting the wheels turning again will be immense though. Many theatres and companies will have lost staff and cast and crew by then as they'll have had to let them go, so they'd need to rehire and train entire teams of people potentially before anything happens. |
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Post by duncan on May 3, 2020 20:31:21 GMT
Tourism will be back, the airlines are saying it'll take at least 5 years to get back to a pre-lockdown level of travel.
Tourism, theatre, pubs, restaurants etc are all going to be only fully reopening subject to a vaccine or herd immunity. Anyone expecting "normal" theatre going in the next 18 months or so is being very optimistic.
The big impact when theatre reopens is going to be what they are actually going to be able to produce alongside reduced capacity and social distancing (on and off stage).
Big casts are probably going to be out so that puts serious questions marks over musicals, we're likely to not see the likes of Dench, McKellan, Pryce, Atkins et al on the stage for some considerable time if ever again owing to their age.
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