Another week, another nightmare of cancellations, chaos and catastrophe for London’s theatres as the Government’s scaremongering devastates West End audiences and Covid takes its toll on both cast and crew.
There have been shows all across the capital. And then it was over. And so on. Until no one knows whether they’re coming or going.
Andrew Lloyd Webber had to cancel last night’s performance of Cinderella after five more company members tested positive for Covid.
The Lion King and Cabaret — the new (up to) £310-a-ticket extravaganza — have both been closed for several performances this week due to ‘Covid-enforced absences’. Both performed last night.
The Lion King has been closed for several performances this week due to ‘Covid-enforced absences’
Life Of Pi at Wyndham’s Theatre cancelled five shows from December 9 to 13. Moulin Rouge! After a 10-day Covid-enforced break, Hamilton was reopened on Monday.
Others, including The Rhythmics — a sort of ‘Calendar Girls meets The Full Monty’ — are done for, closed for good after ‘disruption caused by ongoing illness and Covid-19-related absences in the company’.
It’s not just London. Everywhere from Brighton to Milton Keynes and Coventry, to Pembrokeshire, Pantos have been cancelled. Closed doors. Programmes pulped. Christmas staff were laid off and ice creams thrown out.
This is all a complete nightmare.
But even worse, and thanks to the Government’s scaremongering about ‘tidal waves’ of Omicron, now the audiences — once so loyal and stead- fast — are vanishing.
Christmas sales usually represent the ‘fat’ that carries many theatres through the rest of the year. But the Government’s endless mixed messages and threats of ‘record-breaking’ infection rates have seen this year’s bookings hit for six.
Life Of Pi at Wyndham’s Theatre cancelled five shows from December 9 to 13. Moulin Rouge! Hamilton will be closed for the foreseeable future.
Omicron became a threat so SeatPlan, the ticket agency for the theatre, experienced a 30% decline in its sales within minutes. They fell again after Boris announced his threat.
In addition to all this, reports from the industry suggest that half of those who have purchased tickets in advance do not plan on attending the show. However, refunds are possible for general twitchiness. (Theatres can give refunds or exchanges when someone can’t attend because they either have Covid or have been forced to isolate).
The truth is that the figures just don’t add up for theatre companies any more. A decimated audience doesn’t inspire confidence. Cancelled shows cost money — about £30,000 a week to keep a 1,000-seater West End theatre closed. And far more for the really big shows — a cancelled Cinderella costs £80,000 a night.
Andrew Lloyd Webber had to cancel last night’s performance of Cinderella after five more company members tested positive for Covid
Cabaret — the new (up to) £310-a-ticket extravaganza — has been closed for several performances this week due to ‘Covid-enforced absences’
It is ironic that it looked so promising just a few weeks ago. Bookings were up, spirits were high and London’s West End was showing signs of bouncing back after the financial damage caused by Covid.
According to a spokesperson from the Society of London Theatre, and UK Theatre, recent sales were strong but not at 2019 levels. From all parts of the world, audiences were returning from abroad.
Even Lord Lloyd-Webber — who saw his new musical Cinderella delayed for a year and a half and had ploughed in £1 million a month of his own money to keep his seven London theatres afloat — was feeling cautiously optimistic.
It’s not anymore.
The depressing sense of deja vu to it all doesn’t help.
On December 15, 2020 — just as Boris was assuring us that Christmas rules would be relaxed (something he backtracked on just three days later) — the West End was flattened by London’s move to Tier 3.
It was shut down by the government overnight.
This year, it seems the tactic is to scare people so witless about the risks that they won’t dare go to the theatre. ‘Closure by stealth’ is what industry insiders call it.
Which must be terribly frustrating because, over the past 18 months, London’s theatres couldn’t have done more to demonstrate that with masks, vaccine certificates, lateral flow tests and myriad carefully thought-out Covid safety measures in place, the audience couldn’t be better protected.
In fact, the theatre world actively supported Boris’s Plan B — with mandatory masks and vaccination passes. Although Covid passes may not be mandatory yet, many theatres have already implemented them. Why would they not? Protect their customers with every means possible
Here, for those who refuse to be cowed and are determined to support the industry, we provide a guide of what’s on, what’s off, what’s coming back and what’s not — for this week, anyway!
Shows across the nation are being victimized
After positive tests by members of the Cabaret, yesterday’s performance at Kit Kat Club was cancelled.
Moulin Rouge! The Piccadilly theater reopened Monday, following a ten day Covid-enforced shutdown.
Cinderella’s performance was cancelled last night. No news yet on tonight’s performance.
The Royal Shakespeare Company’s Comedy Of Errors at the Barbican has cancelled everything until December 22.
Hex at the National Theatre is a new major musical that’s based on Sleeping Beauty. The press night has been delayed once before being moved to 2022.
The Lion King, at the Lyceum, has been off since Tuesday and yesterday announced further cancellations due to ‘ongoing Covid-enforced absences’ among cast and crew.
Hamilton, at Victoria Palace Theatre, had been due to resume following the cancellation of Wednesday’s evening show, but yesterday it was announced that producers were not able to make it work.
Hex’s press night at National Theatre has been rescheduled for 2022.
Life Of Pi at Wyndham’s Theatre pulled five shows from December 9 to 13.
London’s Southwark Playhouse has closed its new musical The Rhythmics — described as Calendar Girls meets The Full Monty — three weeks early, after ‘disruption caused by ongoing illness and Covid-related absences in the company’.
The Curious Incident Of The Dog At Night at Troubadour in Wembley Park was cancelled until today.
Performances of The Donmar Warehouse’s Force Majeure, starring Rory Kinnear, were cancelled this week from Tuesday to Thursday, due to cases of Covid-19 in the company.
Maria Callas Letters And Memoirs at Her Majesty’s theatre, has been postponed until April 2022. Theatregoers with tickets for the Book Of Mormon at the Manchester Palace were given 90 minutes’ notice that Tuesday and Wednesday evening shows had been cancelled this week.
Pantomime pandemonium has also spread throughout the country.
The Brighton Centre’s Aladdin, starring Anita Dobson, has been postponed until 2022 due to ‘the uncertainty and risk surrounding the Omicron variant of Covid-19’.
Peter Pan, The Chrysalis Theatre Milton Keynes, was cancelled following positive tests by junior cast members.
Performances of Beauty And The Beast at Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre have been suspended since December 8 and will not resume until December 18, at the earliest.
Jack And The Beanstalk from the Big Pembrokeshire Panto in Tenby, due to star The Only Way Is Essex’s James Argent, has been cancelled.
Rapunzel will be performed at ADC Theatre, Cambridge.
Jack And The Beanstalk has been cancelled at St Andrews’ Byre Theatre.
This is a disaster for all of the industry.
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Daily Mail
This has been an awful few days, and it continues to get worse. It’s heartbreaking to me that our industry has been decimated by an event beyond our control.
We had to cancel yesterday evening’s performance of Cinderella with three hours’ notice.
The company has tested positive for five additional members, in addition to the three who were present on Thursday. 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.
However, in the end, it seems that not one person in government listens. 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.