Beloved theatres dreaming of dramatic encore following coronavirus closures

As Covid-19 swept closer to these shores, he didn’t wait for a Government announcement. The Wolverhampton Wanderers fan who became an icon as frontman of Led Zeppelin had been due to play a show at Shrewsbury’s Theatre Severn on Monday March 17 with his present band, Saving Grace.

Featuring Robert Plant and Suzi Dian on vocals, Oli Jefferson on percussion, Tony Kelsey on mandolin, baritone and acoustic guitars and Matt Worley on banjo, acoustic and baritone guitars, the show had sold out in minutes.

And yet the Black Country singer was uncertain. He’d read reports about the transmissibility of Covid-19 and as a high risk male aged over 70, he didn’t want to take any chances. He phoned his agent and asked for the show to be pulled. David Jack, venue manager at Theatre Severn, was entirely sympathetic. He’d been looking forward to welcoming one of the region’s true rock legends to the venue but accepted that health ought to be the first priority. Ticket holders were contacted and the show was put on ice.

That Monday, at a time when fans would have been preparing to visit Theatre Severn, Boris Johnson took to the podium at Downing Street and warned the nation to avoid pubs, restaurants, bars and theatres. He didn’t close them down – but his words were a death knell. Within five days, the Government had stepped in with a rescue package, allowing venues to furlough workers as all were ordered to close.

The effect on theatres across the region was devastating. The Grand Theatre, in Wolverhampton, announced it would close from Monday March 23 at 4pm, in accordance with Government and Public Health recommendations.

CEO and Artistic Director Adrian Jackson thanked loyal patrons who had been overwhelmingly supportive during a difficult time. He said: “I cannot put into words how grateful we all are for the generous donations and well wishes the theatre has received.

“I would also like to thank our dedicated staff who have worked tirelessly to contact as many patrons as possible, and continued to provide first class customer service.”

He assured ticket holders that they would receive refunds and struck a defiant tone about the future, pledging to return, declaring: “The Grand Theatre has been open throughout the reign of six Monarchs and 28 Prime Ministers. It has also survived two World Wars and with your fantastic support, the team and I will do everything we can to ensure it survives COVID-19.”

To the south, in Birmingham, Sean Foley ought to have been celebrating one of the most important anniversaries of his career. The man who had enjoyed a string of West End successes, won two Olivier Awards and worked with such theatrical big-hitters as Kenneth Branagh had just completed his first week as Artistic Director at the Birmingham REP. He’d been appointed on March 19 2019 and after one year in post had been looking to freshen up its programme and had exciting plans in place. And then lockdown struck.

“We were staggered. Getting back on our feet will be a really big challenge for us. When we get to re-open, we have a fantastic set of shows to re-open with and are looking forward to welcoming people back. We are conscious that there will be some nervousness.

“Right now, we need a good steer from Government and local Government from everybody involved in terms of relaunching our business.

“If you shut a shop, as soon as the Government lifts restrictions, you can reopen. You can’t do that as a theatre. Wherever you left of, you have to rehire and refit. To get your product to market takes a couple of months, that’s the specific thing we’re trying to work out now; how will we cope during those 2-3 months after the curfew ends when we need to hire staff but have zero income?

“That lead time is unavoidable. We’ve gone into hibernation with a skeleton staff. Nearly everyone is on the Government’s furlough scheme, if we didn’t have it we’d have gone bust because there’s 120 people with a lot of salaries and wages and no money coming in.”

The region’s biggest theatre, the Birmingham Hippodrome, found itself in the same boat. It welcomes 840,000 people a year and overnight those figures dried up. Ben Wooldridge, the venue’s press manager, said staff were determined. “This is just the interval. Since opening its doors in 1899, the iconic city centre venue has faced challenges, closures and wars, but the curtain always rose again.”

The figures for local theatres were heart-breaking. In Shrewsbury, more than 40,000 people had booked tickets for shows which have been now been rescheduled or cancelled. 74 shows, comprising more than 100 performances, were rescheduled. A further 21 shows were cancelled. Venue manager David Jack said: “That press conference on the Monday March 17 left me open-mouthed. I wasn’t watching it live but a colleague in the office next door was. He called me in to listen to it. I thought the restrictions would only be for vulnerable groups but when I watched it back I couldn’t believe it.

“The Prime Minister wasn’t telling us to close, but he was telling our customers not to visit us. It was incredible. He couldn’t have done anything worse.”

Mr Jack realised that drastic action was needed and within 24 hours the Shropshire Council-owned venue had closed. “Robert Plant had already called off his own show because he didn’t want to put himself in that environment, which was fair enough. It turned out to be a good decision.

“Our next gig was supposed to have been Ed Byrne on the Tuesday night but it became clear that that couldn’t go ahead so it was quickly postponed and a new date arranged.

“The next couple of weeks was all about frantically rescheduling. We rescheduled more than 100 shows in the first couple of weeks. The majority were rescheduled, about 20 per cent cancelled. The cancelled ones were the community groups, the schools, the colleges, so it was a great shame for them.

“We filled June and July, being optimistic, but now we’re faced a few weeks later with having to reschedule those shows for a second time. That gets even trickier because autumn dates are pretty much gone now. It’s a snowball effect. I’m resisting trying to book any new acts just yet, so I can keep maximum availability when we know. Until we know when this might be over and be open, we can’t programme or plan.”

While theatres were hit hard, performers were also taken off the road. And the promoters, hosts, roadies, technical crew, tour managers and others who keep shows on the road were also out of a job. In an industry that relies heavily on freelance workers, most found themselves missing a huge chunk of their annual wages.

Newport-based Carl Jones is a tour manager and tour host. He works with Ludlow-based actor John Challis, aka Boycie, from Only Fools And Horses. Mr Jones has kept the show on the road for three years, hosting dozens of shows in venues across the UK.

He had been due to go on the road shortly after theatres were close, saying: “It was really disappointing to be taken off the road. So much preparation and planning goes into bringing these shows to life; it’s literally a year’s worth of work.

“There are costs for printing posters and flyers, interviews with newspapers and radio station, marketing work with individual venues. Thousands of pounds had been spent booking hotels and transport, fees had been paid and there was a huge sense of excitement.

“The tour was very quickly rescheduled to autumn, but it seems increasingly unlikely that those dates will proceed. The tour was going to be the most successful ever; there was a 500-seat sell-out among the dates. Now we just have to sit tight and wait.”

Sir Chris Whitty’s announcement that physical distancing will remain in place until the end of the year means theatres have little prospect of re-opening this year. An industry that puts a smile on the faces of hundreds of thousands of local people and generates many millions for the local economy while providing employment to more than 1,000 people is on hold.

David Jack, at Theatre Severn, says venues have looked into whether they could go ahead with shows while implementing social distancing. It simply isn’t possible. To ensure social distancing, a 1,000-seater capacity would drop to 200, and that is before thinking about communal areas like entrances, toilets and ticket offices.

He said: “I think we’ll be one of the last to re-open, along with cinemas, so that’s a concern. We’ve been having discussions and Skype meetings about re-opening with social distancing restrictions in place but we’re struggling to see how that can be workable. It would just be so complicated. One theatre I know that looked at it reduced levels that would be unviable for producers and promoters to sustain. We’d go down to 20 per cent capacity at best. One venue was a 1,000-seater and it would go to 200 or so. But then it’s not as simple as that, you’d have groups of people coming to the venue from different households and people would mix at the bar or elsewhere. With the current restrictions they can’t do that because they’re not from the same households.”

Theatres traditionally attract an elder demographic and venue bosses are concerned that the older generation might not have the confidence to return when restrictions are lifted.

They accept the shutdown will play out over the next 12-18 months, at best. And that means venues from Bridgnorth to Birmingham, from Dudley to Market Drayton, from Lichfield to Stafford and from Telford to Wolverhampton will all have to come up with new plans.

The final word goes to David Jack, in Shrewsbury, who has worked hard to get his theatre to the most successful point in its history.

“It’s disappointing. We were flying. We were on track for a record-breaking year. It was the first time we were going to break 200,000 tickets purely at the theatre in a year. We were looking forward to that. But the main issue is it’s a national crisis and we’re all in the same boat. The main thing is that we all stay healthy. Theatre figures aren’t important compared. We’re keeping our fingers crossed but it’s on a knife edge.”