Balancing the long established financial pressures to reopen at full capacity now that Welsh Government regulations allow, brings many considerations and challenges for Welsh theatres and performing arts venues who at their heart know building audience confidence is imperative for the sector to survive.

Creu Cymru, Wales’ Performing arts sector alliance that champions and connects people, audiences and communities, is clear that the vast majority of its members, who represent virtually all of the nation’s professionally run theatres, arts centres and producing companies are facing complex commercial, programming, staffing and health and safety challenges as they prepare to fully reopen for the first time since the March 2020 nationwide, pandemic-enforced closures.

Louise Miles-Payne, Director, Creu Cymru explains “While most theatres across Wales are delighted to be preparing for their long-awaited reopening, our recent poll showed that venues of all scales unanimously reported their concerns around the competing financial pressures to reopen at full capacity as regulations allow, while many feel continuing with social distancing and therefore lower audience numbers is likely to remain the only viable route to achieving vital audience confidence. As we represent the sector in Wales, encouraging customers to make use of the free to access lateral flow tests that can be sent to your home and carried out in your own time. Knowing that you are safe before you go to a performance helps protects those around you and will keep the magic of theatre alive. We will be promoting this message through our ‘Testing, Testing 123 campaign’ launching Tues 31 August.”

However, historic commercial arrangements with promoters often means the venue is in a difficult position. Angela Gould, Programmer and Audience Development Manager, RCT Theatres said “Trying to reschedule previously cancelled shows that had sold out at full capacity is difficult as many venues may still feel a way off fully reopening their spaces. They need to honour contractual agreements while doing what they feel is best for their audiences while still making the show financially viable.”

Adapting to need for fluid planning is problematic as theatres have to continually plan for different scenarios. The marketing of performances is a particular challenge as many Creu Cymru members reported that ‘shows keep dropping out for various reasons such as ticket sales are not where they should be, there’s not enough lead time to market shows properly, a feeling we can’t market shows confidently as we can’t guarantee they’ll go ahead and are wary of losing the trust of our audiences.  Some promoters decide there is too much of a financial risk, for example will Christmas pantomimes go ahead or not.’

Managing differing public opinions is something many theatres reported. Louise Miles-Payne, Director, continued “Welsh theatres told us they anticipate some audience members will want the freedom to remove masks when seated while that may deter others from returning. Managing perceptions of both promoters and the public will be unchartered territory for many venues as some people will have an expectation that everything is resuming and working to normal, and at the same time some audience members may be shocked when performances are not going ahead and can’t understand why things get rescheduled. Therefore theatres are in a difficult position managing the different expectations and realities of all parties.”

Producing companies in some respects have greater control and flexibility over their choice of space for performances and how they can create a solution they feel best works for their performers and audiences. Paul Kaynes, Chief Executive, National Dance Company Wales said “It’s clear we need to continue to be agile in this period, so we’ve offered venues outdoor performances option. Many were building stages in their car parks and green spaces and we had an exciting programme to offer outdoor audiences, especially those new to dance. This is the stepping-stone for many audiences to access live performance again before we ask them to take the leap back indoors. We’re planning to make that leap in the autumn, mostly performing twice in an evening instead of once, to enable at least some socially distanced performances for those who are seeking them.”

The first show to welcome back a full capacity audience in Wales will be Jimmy Carr at St David’s Hall Cardiff on the 31^st August. Cardiff Council’s Cabinet Member for Culture, Venues & Events, Councillor Peter Bradbury said: “We are delighted that the first live show with a full indoor capacity audience in Wales will be at St David’s Hall, and especially with such a high-profile name in Jimmy Carr. Over the last 18 months, we have missed live entertainment so much and come to realise what a crucial part it plays in our social lives

Boy is it good to get back to the theatre, and new production ‘Curtain Up’ at Theatr Clwyd certainly didn’t disappoint!

it took me back to my A level Drama days with it’s intimate theatre in the round setting. 5 short plays commissioned during Lockdown, with 10 different actors, playing different roles and using props selected by audience participation. Very random but added to the comedy highlights!

You could see the sheer joy the actors got out of performing again and it felt quite emotional to see them do their thing and applaud their efforts after such a troubling time for all artists.

Curtain Up will be at Theatre Clwyd until 4th September, with each week a different 5 plays being performed by different actors and of course different props, meaning you’ll get a new show every time! If you love old school dramatics, you’ll love this!

We recently published a new article on the return to physical Theatre performnces. In response to this article Get the Chance critic Kevin Johnson shares Theatre means to him.

Theatre was never part of my life growing up, only books, television, music & cinema, and the nearest one was ten miles away. Then one day I read in a newspaper that Ben Kingsley, who’d just won the Oscar for Gandhi,  was going to do a one-man show in London. For some reason I decided that I wanted to see that. A trip to London back then wasn’t simple, tickets had to be booked either by post or over the phone, months in advance in the days before the internet, and it meant an overnight stay, but luckily I had family there, so at least I didn’t need a hotel. I couldn’t have picked a more intimidating venue for my first play: The Theatre Royal Haymarket is the third oldest in London, built in 1720, and unlike most theatres in the capital which are huddled together in busy streets, it stands alone on a major thoroughfare, giving it plenty of space to be appreciated. This was due to a massive renewal scheme in 1820 sanctioned by the Prince Regent and overseen by architect John Nash. The buildings on either side are painted white, and although not part of the theatre itself they make it look much bigger than it is, while six giant Greco-Roman columns hold up a portico above the door like a temple. Inside it is even more intimidating, with murals on the walls and ceiling, and the main colour throughout is gold.

The Haymarket is on the upper scale of London theatres, both in its appearance, capacity  and in the quality of plays and actors performing there, and this permeates most aspects of the venue. During the interval, for example, as well as drinks from the bar, staff roam around with trays offering small bottles of wine and champagne, and the programmes for the plays are the classiest I have ever seen: the covers are a shiny black with the names picked out in – what else – but gold. 

The play was based on the real 19^th century actor Edmund Kean, who had also appeared at the Haymarket in his heyday. He was an actor of great renown, both for his talent and also his scandalous lifestyle. The poet Coleridge said that watching Kean act was like “reading Shakespeare by flashes of lightning”, for me, watching Ben Kingsley act was similarly mesmerising. I had always liked comedy, and there was plenty in this play, but what I had never experienced before was the sheer weight of silence, the heaviness of pause that a great actor can bring to a performance.

It wasn’t just me, the whole audience was enthralled, and you really could have heard a pin drop. That was the moment I became fascinated by the theatre, and I still am. It has brought me so many incredible memories over the years.

I was soon a regular at my nearest theatre, the Grand in Swansea, which actually has a bigger capacity than the Haymarket. The ‘Royal’ in its name I later found out meant that the theatre had received a licence from the reigning monarch to perform serious drama, whilst others could only perform lighter plays, comedies and variety.

The Grand has a pedigree too, founded in 1897, and I’ve seen many amazing moments there: Timothy West in Death of a Salesmen holding a whole audience in the palm of his hand. Other great memories include Anthony Hopkins in Pravda at the National Theatre doing an entire play with his voice in a much deeper, gravelly tone than I would have thought possible. His two Oscars notwithstanding, he is one of the finest actors I have ever seen. The National Theatre of Scotland touring with Black Watch at the Barbican, a play about the Scottish Regiment in Iraq, with songs, routines, even a mime, seemed to have everything but the kitchen sink yet was phenomenal, and one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen. Billy Piper in Yerma at the Young Vic, giving one of the greatest portrayals of human pain and the desire to be a mother ever seen onstage: Sophie Melville at the Sherman in Cardiff in Gary Owens’ Iphigenia In Splott, a searing one-woman monologue which put her in direct competition with Billy Piper for the Evening Standard Award.

But ironically the best play I’ve ever seen occurred much closer to home than any of the others, in fact I was even a member of the cast: that was The Passion in Port Talbot. Performed over three days in Easter 2011, it was a passion play with a cast of nearly a thousand locals, a small band of professional actors, and Michael Sheen in the lead. It had an audience of nearly 20,000 in total, plus many more watching online, and was described by the Guardian as ‘one of the outstanding theatrical events not only of this year, but of the decade’. Sheen co-directed it with Bill Mitchell of Cornish company Wildworks, and they did an award-winning job. Written by Welsh poet Owen Sheers, it was simultaneously filmed as ‘The Gospel of Us’.

So if you haven’t already, give theatre a try, you may be as pleasantly surprised as I was and it could lead to a lifetime of great memories.

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