Weymouth Pavilion optimistic about ‘cautious’ roadmap to re-opening
The show must go on… later in the year
Bosses at Weymouth Pavilion are welcoming the Prime Minister's road map out of the lockdown.
Theatres could reopen on the 17th May at the earliest, under stage three of Boris Johnson’s plan.
The Director of Weymouth Pavilion says the more cautious approach is much better for them.
Director Phil Say told Greatest Hits Radio Dorset:
“I like the idea of a cautious, measured approach to it. I don’t like the idea of opening too fast and then having to close areas back down again.
“Switching on and switching off a theatre is quite a laborious task, what’s much easier is to know that each step we take we don’t have to step back from.”
Phil Say says ticket sales at Weymouth Pavilion haven’t slowed down that much. People are buying tickets far in advance for the latter end of this year and early 2022.
Phil says that shows customers confidence that theatres will be safe by then.
They’ve put in a number of safety measures that will continue to help people feel safe beyond the end of the pandemic. Those include hand sanitising stations and air filtration systems to keep the theatre sanitary.
But the one measure some theatres don’t think they can step up to is social distancing. Last week The Lighthouse, Poole said they would prefer a later return to business that doesn’t include social distancing.
Social distancing measures aren’t due to end until June 21st, meaning there will be at least 5 weeks between opening theatres up again and shortening the gap between us all.
Phil says the Pavilion won’t have any issues with that.
He said:
“We’ve proven that it is viable as far as we’re concerned. We’re quite capable of running a tighter ship, which means that we’re able to still cover costs… and produce and perform good shows that people want to come and see.
“Even though others have decided to close for months and months and months, I’m at the other side of the coin – the glass is always very full rather than half full.”
He added:
“I’m optimistic in the fact that slow and steady is a sensible approach.
“The idea of opening and closing and opening and closing regularly is not one that fills me with any sort of joy at all, and we will get to the point that we’re allowed to reopen again and initially probably socially distance, which we can prove works.
“As and when the vaccine rollout continues we end up near and then at full capacity, and you can bet we’ve got some really good shows.”