These past few days have been awful and the situation is only getting worse. I find it heartbreaking to watch our industry be decimated in a way that is beyond our control.
We had to cancel yesterday evening’s performance of Cinderella with three hours’ notice.
On Thursday, five more company members tested positive. We’re a very large production and every cancelled show is devastating, but we simply can’t rehearse around the gaps in the cast and cover the performance.
Of course, the entire industry is having the same nightmare — from huge extravaganzas such as Cinderella, with a massive cast and endless costume changes, to small and local theatres, many showing our beloved pantomimes, in city centres up and down the country.
It is simply heartbreaking for me to see our industry decimated by a situation beyond all of our control, writes Andrew Lloyd Webber
This is not to mention the thousands of bars, restaurants, cafés, bars, and other establishments that depend on us for bringing people into cities.
My age is almost 74. I’m desperate to return to writing. For the past year and half I’ve been advocating for commercial theatre.
In the end I came to the conclusion, however that nobody in Government is listening. Certainly not the new Culture Secretary, Nadine Dorries, who has made it abundantly clear that she doesn’t think commercial theatre needs any support.
It’s a difficult message for all the industries, jobs and people who are now lurching from day to day to hear from someone who is supposed to be a Tory minister representing the arts.
To see the industry being decimated is heartbreaking. We had to cancel yesterday evening’s performance of Cinderella with three hours’ notice