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Post by NeilVHughes on Jul 17, 2020 11:21:30 GMT
Paradox?
Investing £3bn in the NHS to prepare for the second wave / significant return to normality from November
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Post by n1david on Jul 17, 2020 11:29:03 GMT
This is good news, I wonder which West end shows will actually open in the next couple of months though? None I expect, given that audience numbers are still going to be massively restricted. But it opens up some more opportunities for small-scale and experimental work, so we might see some more of that coming along in the autumn. |
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Post by Jon on Jul 17, 2020 11:33:31 GMT
The Sheffield Crucible is one of the pilot venues for the snooker so it’ll actually have the dubious honour of being the first theatre that reopens
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Post by TallPaul on Jul 17, 2020 11:35:49 GMT
People laughed at me when I suggested the World Snooker Championships could act as a pilot for the reopening of theatres. Well they aren't laughing now! 🤣
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Post by theatremadness on Jul 17, 2020 11:50:07 GMT
As wonderful as it is to have some more positive news, I don't think this is as cut and dry as some forum members are making it out to be. Don’t get me wrong, my first thought was OMG are we getting theatre back this year?!?! But then you see COVID secure and social distancing. Theatres have told us over and over again that putting on shows with social distancing is not financially viable. Obviously it is for some (Mousetrap and Regent's Park), but realistically, how many theatres in England can actually reopen under this model? Next....as I’ve always worried about with this government, is it actually safe? Are these COVID secure measures and socially distancing enough? There is no cure, no vaccine. We are repeatedly told how much more of a risk it is indoors than outdoors. Why does this suddenly change in 2 weeks? With the news that outdoor drive-in events getting cancelled all over the place - HOW is allowing indoor performances in 2 weeks even imaginable?! Even with social distancing. Insurance obviously plays a big part here but so does ticket sales. Will there be enough people (this board excluded) that feel safe enough to sit in a theatre, even at a distance? Other questions: does the social distancing also apply to cast/crew/orchestra? Is singing still a high risk? A glimmer of hope is not to be sniffed at but this is why I’ve always thought that FINANCIAL SUPPORT is far more important than dates with models that are not financially viable. However, if there are theatres out there that CAN put on socially distanced, covid safe performances, they must be jumping for joy right now. Let's just hope there is an audience.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2020 11:53:05 GMT
Shifting responsibility to the theatre: if they go bankrupt, not the govt fault! This is the whole plan, to avoid responsibility. Now we know that they ignored SAGE advice to lock down earlier, resulting in their being responsible for thousands more deaths and people seriously ill, they will never escape the fact that they caused immense pain and distress, though. If anything happens again, they must be held to account, none of this ‘personal responsibility’ crap. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2020 11:57:48 GMT
Is that Andrew Ryan as the Dame on the website. It looks very much like his profile? |
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Post by firefingers on Jul 17, 2020 12:29:18 GMT
Is that Andrew Ryan as the Dame on the website. It looks very much like his profile? I thought that at first (and I've worked with Andrew!) but no its Marc Seymour. I suspect Andrew will be locked in with Qdos for anything they may want to do. |
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Post by Dawnstar on Jul 17, 2020 12:38:57 GMT
Will there be enough people (this board excluded) that feel safe enough to sit in a theatre, even at a distance? I wouldn't exclude this board, as based on comments on here in the last few months it didn't sound like everyone will be rushing back. I'm currently dithering over whether I'd feel safe enought to go to Regent's Park at the end of August, & I'm only considering that because it's one of my absolute favourite shows (MMN, not JCS!). I'm not sure anything would tempt me to an indoor theatre in the next few months. |
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Post by baguette on Jul 17, 2020 12:41:40 GMT
If cinemas are still getting a bit less than 1 million ticket sales a week here in France (we are in week 4 of re-opening), does that suggest there's some appetite for sitting indoors for entertainment?
I had missed this bit from Boris but it was reported in the Stage
Johnson also said it may be "conceivably possible" to move away from social distancing measures such as the one-metre rule by November at the earliest, which will be "entirely conditional on our ability to keep the virus under control".
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is currently working with the sector on pilots of performances which will inform the final guidance for venues.
These will include the London Symphony Orchestra at St Luke’s in London, with further events to be announced.
Is that saying Stage 5 has a 'not before' 1 November date?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2020 12:49:16 GMT
Paradox? Investing £3bn in the NHS to prepare for the second wave / significant return to normality from November Where's the paradox? The initial wave of infections that caused so many problems throughout the world was severe because nobody was prepared for it. Right now we're in a position where it's under control so we should be planning to open things up if everything goes well, but at the same time we also need to have the money set aside in case things don't go well. To be taken by surprise a second time would be disastrous. Nobody can predict exactly what the future can bring, so surely the right thing to do is to plan for multiple eventualities? The way you phrase it makes it look as though you think they should have an unerring knowledge of how the future will pan out and be backing a single horse no matter how many people might die if they're wrong. That's the Trump approach. |
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Post by Jon on Jul 17, 2020 13:38:15 GMT
I wouldn't be surprised if SFP at the Ambassadors is one of the first things to reopen as well as things like The Woman in Black.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2020 13:44:58 GMT
Massive pinch of salt required with this news.
Earlier this week outdoor drive-in shows were wiped out with cancellations due to hotspot virus fears.
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Post by couldileaveyou on Jul 17, 2020 13:51:00 GMT
Dear Evan Hansen has just postponed all future performances and, unlike BOM or Mamma Mia, you can't even buy DEH tickets for 2021. It's not looking that rosy for the West End
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Post by sf on Jul 17, 2020 14:18:46 GMT
Shifting responsibility to the theatre: if they go bankrupt, not the govt fault!
Absolutely. It's disgusting, but it's this government's modus operandi: their messaging in just about every area now is designed more or less solely to give themselves plausible deniability.
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Post by couldileaveyou on Jul 17, 2020 14:22:26 GMT
Shifting responsibility to the theatre: if they go bankrupt, not the govt fault!
Absolutely. It's disgusting, but it's this government's modus operandi: their messaging in just about every area now is designed more or less solely to give themselves plausible deniability.
Yeah it's pretty much March all over again. West End is not financially viable until social distancing is a thing, but now the responsibility is back to the single theatres and no longer the government. |
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Post by couldileaveyou on Jul 17, 2020 14:26:41 GMT
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Post by Jon on Jul 17, 2020 14:30:40 GMT
November is what Baz mentioned a week or two ago.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2020 15:39:14 GMT
Is that Andrew Ryan as the Dame on the website. It looks very much like his profile? I thought that at first (and I've worked with Andrew!) but no its Marc Seymour. I suspect Andrew will be locked in with Qdos for anything they may want to do. Yes Andrew has been an excellent Dame in the B'ham Panto for many years. I cannot recall if he said he was returning this year ( fingers crossed). But they do lookalike in costume ( probably the narrow nose ). I'll have to check out what Mark looks like out of the frocks. That's for pointing out who it was too. |
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Post by Rory on Jul 17, 2020 16:45:56 GMT
It is good to have a move in the right direction and a timeframe to aim for. Stage 5 is the panacea but we're not there yet (November at the earliest although I suspect it may be next year to get over any potential Winter spike).
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Post by djp on Jul 18, 2020 1:18:57 GMT
Absolutely. It's disgusting, but it's this government's modus operandi: their messaging in just about every area now is designed more or less solely to give themselves plausible deniability.
Yeah it's pretty much March all over again. West End is not financially viable until social distancing is a thing, but now the responsibility is back to the single theatres and no longer the government. As indeed it has to be. Government doesn't know what can be put on with the economics of a 30% audience, and involves a small cast who can keep apart- seemingly the Mousetrap thinks they can. And there may be other shows with a small cast that can work in a distanced regional theatre - plenty of plays and some musicals there seem to run on 40% anyway.
Producers demanding to know when things will be back to normal just don't seem to get what we are dealing with - we could have a vaccine by October, or a second wave of Covid 19. Government doesn't know which, so obviously can't tell them.
And putting a London show on looks an enormous risk given the audience may not turn up, the overseas and out of town audience that buy many/most? of the £70-150 seats will be hardest to get back, and the failure to contain the virus in the US , South America, Russia, India, Africa, and Middle East, means its going to be very difficult to stop us being reinfected from those areas. London is more exposed to travelers to those countries, and even if the tourists come back we may regret it. We need one of the 23 vaccine trials ongoing to produce a working one.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2020 7:25:27 GMT
I know I have said it before, but now really is the time to see what CAN be done. A time for ambition and a time for trying stuff. Pretty much every industry in the UK has been affected - things aren't the same as before for anyone. Theatres have some money coming. And they have a date when it will be legal to open. Time for some creative thinking! This really is positive news.
And I do believe a profit can be made - shows don't need to be full to make money (Kenwright's Joseph anyone?!). I don't think anyone is expecting for the first show to open being on a financial scale of Adelphi Sunset! Simple shows, concert versions etc etc.
And in terms of audience demand, I think it will be MASSIVE in the first instance. Think of it mathematically. Say there were 100 shows in London before this happened and 1 person can go to each show (I know this is nonsense - it's to make the numbers simple). 100% of people want to go to a show. 1 goes to each. Supply meets demand.
The most negative predictions say only 10-20% of people would feel safe at the theatre now, and 80-90% wouldn't. Let's take a worse case scenario - only 10% want to go to the theatre now.
BUT zero out of the 100 shows are currently open. When the 1st one opens, you have 10 people for 1 show. So demand is 10 times higher than it was before as the supply has decreased more than the demand has. And so on....
This is clearly massively oversimplified but you get the idea. The choice and number of shows has been decimated. So demand for the first to open will be huge. Even if the vast majority of former theatre goers no longer want to go!
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Post by basdfg on Jul 18, 2020 11:15:18 GMT
I think a big problem is getting insurance to cover the risks - shows with limited costs will return first. I also imagine it be easier to get them started if performers were paid per performance to remove costs if forced to cancel performances.
I imagine Panto's will be deciding if they can afford to open on 50-75% capacity - if they can then the ability to sell more tickets later on will be a great a bonus but 100% capacity by Christmas is only an ambition and by no means a certainty and is too much of a financial gamble for most productions.
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Post by Jon on Jul 18, 2020 13:13:27 GMT
I think the fact the art galleries have been sold out shows that people are gagging to go out to cultural events.
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Post by baguette on Jul 18, 2020 14:05:14 GMT
I know I have said it before, but now really is the time to see what CAN be done. A time for ambition and a time for trying stuff. Pretty much every industry in the UK has been affected - things aren't the same as before for anyone. Theatres have some money coming. And they have a date when it will be legal to open. Time for some creative thinking! This really is positive news. And I do believe a profit can be made - shows don't need to be full to make money (Kenwright's Joseph anyone?!). I don't think anyone is expecting for the first show to open being on a financial scale of Adelphi Sunset! Simple shows, concert versions etc etc. And in terms of audience demand, I think it will be MASSIVE in the first instance. Think of it mathematically. Say there were 100 shows in London before this happened and 1 person can go to each show (I know this is nonsense - it's to make the numbers simple). 100% of people want to go to a show. 1 goes to each. Supply meets demand. The most negative predictions say only 10-20% of people would feel safe at the theatre now, and 80-90% wouldn't. Let's take a worse case scenario - only 10% want to go to the theatre now. BUT zero out of the 100 shows are currently open. When the 1st one opens, you have 10 people for 1 show. So demand is 10 times higher than it was before as the supply has decreased more than the demand has. And so on.... This is clearly massively oversimplified but you get the idea. The choice and number of shows has been decimated. So demand for the first to open will be huge. Even if the vast majority of former theatre goers no longer want to go! In the Stage today, we have a long list of producers and theatre owners asking for a concrete Stage 5 date and 'warning that operating with reduced capacity will not be viable, Nicholas Allot of Cameron Mackingtosh is typical of the response: It seems that traditional theatre operators and in particular producers of musicals and large plays, who need full houses to be viable, will continue to wait for advice on the next and fifth step, which we are told today is likely to be given in November at the earliest.”Curve chief executive Chris Stafford welcomed the news, but said socially distanced performances would not work for his theatre financially, as it would need to average 75% capacity to break even. Birmingham Hippodrome's executive said they would eat through even more of their reserves to open under this guidance. David Hutchinson of Selladoor was more pragmatic: While acknowledging that he could not run “a sustainable commercial model until social distancing is no longer required in auditoriums”, he said he would “innovate in this interim period and work with resourceful creative theatremakers to find ways to build a bridging programme”. I feel as if I've wandered into a twilight zone where every production plays to a full house 8 shows a week.. |
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