Stage
Cursed openings
Stop-start theatre performances are leaving actors and audiences in a state of uncertainty
by KATE MALTBY
© MARC BRENNER
In spring 2020 Julian Bird, CEO of UK Theatre and the Society of London Theatres, held a Zoom call to pool producers’ forecasts for what audiences would want from theatre after the pandemic.The UK was a few weeks into its first lockdown and there was hope for the Christmas season.
According to attendees on the call, Bird was cautious and conservative. When theatres did reopen, audiences were still likely to view them as a health risk: only the most committed would rush back. West End theatre-goers are an elderly demographic—no one could predict whether the coughsweet generation would be extra careful or would gleefully make the most of their priority in the vaccine queue. Whoever did make it back, said Bird, would want a good knees-up: musicals and broad comedies.