Well, what a surprising situation we find ourselves in. As from yesterday, 16th March, the Government’s advice is to avoid “unnecessary gatherings”, so live theatre has been shut down. I was due to travel up to North Yorkshire today, for a batch of five shows. There have been a number of phone calls and emails over the past week with the village hall organisers, and four out of the five were all set to continue with the show…until yesterday’s announcement. One village hall was already wavering. Luckily for us all, the final decision to cancel at the last minute was taken by the rural arts scheme under whose banner four out of the five shows were being performed. And they had no choice but to cancel, once the Government made its pronouncement.
So…huge apologies to everyone who was going to come and see the shows in Yorkshire, and also the cancelled shows in Denbigh and Grassington. And huge commiserations to the organisers who have now got to try to contact audience members, return tickets, and sort everything out. I do hope we can all have another go when everything has calmed down.
These are strange times for performers….as well as many, many other people whose jobs have suddenly disappeared for an unknown length of time. I am lucky, as I am not the only bread-winner in my household. My heart goes out to all those people who are wondering how on earth they are going to pay the bills over the next few weeks.
I now have an unexpected block of time on my hands….and can get the final (I hope) draft of my new play sorted out. No “I don’t have time” excuses left!
See you all on the other side of this virus……best of luck to us all!
