Curtain up on London's Arts Scene with Theatre, Concerts and Exhibitions

The capital s creative industries are back in business today — and are desperately trying to make up for lost time and money in this crucial Christmas period.

Release time : 2020-12-09 10:12:28

source : standard.co.uk

The capital's creative industries are back in business today — and are desperately trying to make up for lost time and money in this crucial Christmas period. Despite the hope of a return to normality brought by the vaccine rollout beginning next week, many arts organisations still face closure or extreme financial pressure due to months of lockdown measures.

Here is how you can support the arts in London under Tier 2 regulations.

THEATRES

Among the hardest hit are London’s theatres with their traditional bumper Christmas season badly affected by the limits capping audiences at 1,000 people or 50 per cent, whichever is less.

The audience cap is already coming under pressure from the industry who say it is crippling their finances and want it raised further.

West End legend Michael Ball said the “arbitrary” limits must be “revisited” by the Government. Ball, who is appearing in the new staged concert version of Les Miserables opening on Friday (5th) opposite Carrie Hope Fletcher and Alfie Boe, said he would not return to work if he did not think it was safe. He said: “I’ve seen the extraordinary amount of time, ingenuity and financial investment that has gone into ensuring our theatres are safe to return to for both audiences and the people who work in them. “I wouldn’t want to return to them myself if I wasn’t confident every precaution had been taken but every venue is different and a random figure of a maximum 50% is, in my opinion, too arbitrary and should be revisited. “Of course I want as many people as possible to enjoy the wonderful work that has gone on in my industry safely and to show that we are responsible, indomitable and most definitely viable.”

Nica Burns, who owns several West End theatres including the Apollo and the Garrick, opened her venues at a loss before the second lockdown and said she too wanted to see the capacity raised.

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