"I've never seen anything like it": Hippodrome Director describes theatre's return after 525 days
The Bristol Hippodrome had been forced to close for well over a year because of the pandemic
Last updated 26th Aug 2021
The man in charge of the Bristol Hippodrome says last night's reopening (25/08) was one of the most momentous days of his life.
The theatre had been shut for 525 days because of the pandemic, but finally hosted an audience again on Wednesday for a performance of Beauty and the Beast.
In a post on twitter ahead of the performance, the theatre celebrated by boasting it has survived 109 years, two world wars, one major fire and now a global pandemic as well.
"Nothing stops The Bristol Hippodrome," the post read.
"Probably for me it was one of the most momentous days of my life," theatre director Ben Phillips told us.
"We'd been shut for 525 days and that's not the nicest thing to happen.
"To be opening, it was very, there was a lot of nerves, a lot of anxiety because we had been shut for such a long time, it's a brand new production, its never been in front of a paid audience before, so there was a lot of things that could have gone wrong, but I'm delighted to say nothing went wrong.
"It was a great night."
Managing the pandemic
Continuing, Ben described the reopening as "a return to my normality," explaining that for much of the pandemic, himself and one other person had been the only staff on site at the theatre.
"When we shut it was the 18 March 2020 and we all thought we'd be back in a couple of months," he said.
"We were due to reopen with a show in September and when that was cancelled that was tough, but for me the toughest thing weirdly was, we were due to do pantomime this Christmas and we got I think a week away from opening and that, when it didn't because the rules on Covid emissions changed, was a huge kick in the teeth.
"In many ways it kind of derailed us because we were so ready to go and then we just thought, is this ever going to end? Are we ever going to know normality again?
"The day I was told that panto couldn't go ahead was probably my toughest time during that whole period."
The reopening atmosphere
"I've never known anything like it," Ben said.
"Because we had new technology, e-tickets, I was on the doors to make sure that was all working brilliantly, so I was scanning people in as they were coming in and they were just so excited to be here.
"Then just before the show started I went into the auditorium to watch because the director did a bit of a speech and the applause was absolutely amazing and that was just at a director's speech so can you imagine what it was like at the end of the show?
"It was unbelievable."
Going forward
Beauty and the Beast is on at the Hippodrome until Saturday 18 September with performances most evenings at 7:30pm.
On several days there are also early performances at 2:30pm and Ben admitted it is strange suddenly being busy again.
"We're day two and it's like, oh my god we've got to do this all over again," he said.
"I don't think I'd thought past last night.
"The run of Beauty and the Beast, it's virtually sold out most performances, there are some tickets about, but that's eight shows a week and that takes us through September, and then straight after that there's Grease and other shows.
"It's just, oh ok we've got to just keep going now.
"That's been a bit of a weird eye opener.
"I wasn't expecting to be surprised by the obvious but I am today."
If you want to try and book tickets for any upcoming shows at the Hippodrome, you can do so here.