Getting recreation and leisure up and running again.

It's not though, is it?

Firstly, The Mousetrap barely needs to be adapted for social distancing, as per Baz's article on its return, so any changes are likely to be minimal and barely noticeable.

Secondly, labelling social distancing on stage as a gimmick suggests it's a marketing device intended to attract attention or publicity.

No one is going to be plotting the show's return on the basis that audiences will be flocking to see two characters who would usually be stood one metre apart inch towards one metre plus! Equally, very few theatregoers are going to be eagerly booking tickets to experience the high excitement of characters exiting stage left without an embrace where there might usually be one.

While some regular theatregoers might be curious about seeing a socially distanced auditorium, social distancing on stage is a means of being able to operate the show safely for those in the cast and therefore increase the prospect of receiving Government permission to reopen.

If that means The Mousetrap is one of very few (perhaps the only) major West End show being staged for a limited time, then that may obviously increase footfall and attract initial media attention, but that still doesn't make social distancing on stage a gimmick in itself.

Google 'Ross Kemp face mask'. 😷

Sad news from The Stage:

Let's hope it's enough to stave off complete disaster. I keep thinking about Tunbridge Wells Wetherspoons in what was once the opera house. It's a nice pub as Spoons go, but I really don't want to walk around London in a years time and see theatres I have fond memories of being turned into pubs, flats, offices, etc...

That's not necessarily true under current circumstances though - the govt is printing money and extending national debt at a pace, which is what you have to do if you shut down the economy temporarily and want something to be left to restart on the other side. So it's an addition to other spending not instead of other spending in this particular situation.

The comparatively small amount of cash the creative sector would need to help it limp through to the other side is a minute drop in the massive ocean of debt that covid will leave us (and most other countries) with. And, as all of us here know very well, it will repay itself many many times over - it's not charity, it's a sensible investment in a big long-term income generator. 

True unfortunately

I think you're right with one exception. If they feared a second lockdown as a result of July 4th, they wouldn't proceed with it. They're stalling because anything they do this time round, they have to do again in winter when the real second wave is likely to affect us on a bigger scale.
And efforts to get theatres open this summer are almost futile as they'd likely be shut again by winter.

So apart from getting lashed at the pub first thing on Saturday morning what are people planning this weekend? A hairdo? A restaurant? Seeing someone you haven’t seen?

I noticed some bloke on one of the gay apps with the profile name “My bubble is open” so I suspect I know what he’s planning! 😝

Yeah I'm booked in for a hair cut. A month ago my niece said I looked like Boris Johnson, and I thought she liked me. Looks like Grizzly Adams now

£10 million of funding to help Scotland's theatres and performing arts venues has been announced by the Scottish Culture Secretary.



The main aims of the funding are to:

• Remove the threat of insolvency prior to the end of March 2021;
  
• Allow for specialist/core staff to return from furlough or avoid redundancy to work on future sustainability plans;
  
• Increase the opportunities for commissioning and employment of freelance artists and creative practitioners.