Life in time of Coronavirus 7

Laura and I went for our daily walk today - decided to do a longer one than usual so we walked to the theatre and back. I quite often walked to work - it takes 28 minutes there - so we were out an hour. It was quite sad to walk past my theatre and see that the posters outside were still advertising the shows that were on the day we had to close. It was 39 Steps and I had bought loads of tickets - as I as going to see it with Janet, Jane and Gill on the Wednesday and Nathan, Laura and N's parents Dilys and Colin at the weekend. It was going to be a treat for Dilys for Mother's Day - but of course it never happened.



We also had tickets for the Birmingham Hippodrome to see The Book of Mormon - for Nathan's birthday treat - but of course that was cancelled too. In fact I am wondering if we will ever see it now. After three months of lockdown many theatres are warning that they are going out of business as they have no income - from  ticket sales, café and bar takings or donations. Among these is Shakespeare's Globe - so if they are struggling I can only imagine what our own New Vic is going through. The problem is that even if theatres do open later in the year - if we still have social distancing rules then that is not financially viable for us to put on shows. In an auditorium that can fit on 500+ people - we would only be allowed 70!

Also, even when rules are relaxed many older people will still not want to risk going out. I would say a large percentage of our regular customers are retired - so I think the revenue would still not be enough to keep the theatre going. I am not sure I will ever work there again! Once the government stop the furlough scheme - will they have the money to pay my wages again?

Theatres in Trouble

In other lockdown news - we have finished the Gothic jigsaw at last! Took 3 of us weeks to do it! There were 1000 pieces - but so many looked the same!
We have another 1000 one - but it is all about the 80s and have lots of words, logos and faces on it. Should be done much quicker!