Six week Salisbury Playhouse season kicks off tonight
The theatre say they can't wait to welcome people back.
The socially distanced, six week season at Salisbury Playhouse starts tonight (Wednesday 14th October) with a flamenco dance show.
It's the first public performance for six months, after a couple of shows with an invited audience over the past few weeks.
It starts a short run of shows up until November 21st as Wiltshire Creative try to provide the city with a bit of light relief during a difficult time due to the pandemic.
Gareth Machin, Artistic Director of Wiltshire Creative, said:
"We are delighted that we have found a way of offering a season of performances safely this autumn. We’ve all been missing the thrill of live performance and we’re excited that this dynamic programme of dance, music, theatre, comedy and film will enable us to begin welcoming audiences back to Salisbury Playhouse again."
Raices Flamencas returns to Salisbury Playhouse at 7:30pm tonight to kick off the new season.
They performed their flamenco dance show at the 2019 Salisbury International Arts Festival to a sold out crowd.
That's followed by an Elton John tribute act for a few nights from tomorrow.
For a full listing of dance, comedy, music and film showings, visit the Wiltshire Creative website.
SAFETY PROCEDURES
In order to safely reopen to the public, they have had to put a number of changes in place.
These include:
- Reducing capacity from 512 to 148
- Paperless ticketing
- A one-way system
- Enhanced cleaning
- Mandatory face coverings
- Performances without intervals
- Advance ordering of refreshments
VITAL FUNDING
It was announced on Monday (12th) that Wiltshire Creative would be receving a grant from the Government.
They're going to be getting ÂŁ446,968 from the Culture Recovery Fund, which 1,385 arts venues have got a share of.
It's hoped this money will allow performances to restart, venues to plan for reopening and to protect jobs and create opportunities for freelancers.
Wiltshire Creative External Relations Director Helen Taylor said:
"The whole team has been working really hard to make sure that our audiences can return to enjoying performances and screenings safely and our social distancing adjustments now allow for lots of leg room and tables for refreshments, designed by our workshop team. Some have likened it to a first class upgrade!"