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Tier three is a major blow for London’s theatre venues, which had only just been given permission to reopen a few weeks ago
Hannah Reeder | Planet Attractions | 15 Dec 2020
London’s culture scene has been crippled by forced closures Credit: Alex Motoc on Unsplash
Theatres across London have been told they must close again as a result of the British capital becoming a ‘very high risk area’ under the government’s three tier COVID-19 system.
Venues in London’s West End had only recently begun to put on shows again over the past couple of weeks and the arts community was excited to finally welcome back live theatre, with shows such as Six the Musical and Everybody’s Talking About Jamie returning with live audiences.
However, from 16 December, London will enter tier three of Britain’s COVID restrictions system and, as a result, there will no longer be any live performances in any London theatres, which have been ordered to close indefinitely.
Despite there being ‘“no evidence of theatres spreading covid”, according to Julian Bird, chief executive of the Society of London Theatre, some of London’s biggest and most famous theatres such as The Adelphi Theatre on The Strand and the London Palladium, will suffer significant financial losses.
Andrew Lloyd Webber, writer, producer and owner of LW Theatres, expressed his hope that “even a crumb of the £1.57bn (US$2.11bn, €1.73bn) made available for the arts could be given to support the actors, musicians and stage crews who will again be put out of a job.”
Culture secretary Oliver Dowden has acknowledged that the move into tighter restrictions will have “huge impacts on arts”, with the minister saying that a £400m (US$537.4m, €441.8m) culture recovery fund is available to help those affected by the changes.
“We hope that London will come out of tier three very soon and that we get theatres opening again,” said Nica Burns, West End producer and chief executive of Nimax Theatres.
The new restrictions will be re-evaluated after two weeks, with London’s theatres and other culture venues having to wait until then before they learn how the restrictions will continue to affect them.
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