Britain’s beleaguered theatre industry is calling on the Government to maintain its furlough scheme until the curtains rise once more on stages across the country – and to consider grants to help them reopen once lockdown is lifted.
Since theatres were ordered to close their doors last month, ahead of the wider national lockdown, most have had almost no revenue and have been faced with paying out wages, ticket refunds and other costs.
Julian Bird, chief executive of UK Theatre, says more than half of staff in the sector are being furloughed but warns: “The single biggest risk is that the Government does not stand behind that furloughing scheme until our industry is able to open.”
Failing to do so would risk some theatres and companies going to the wall and wasting the funds spent, he says.
UK Theatre also wants more help for freelancers and self-employed, and grants for theatres that are not in a position to take out loans.
“Once we get through the crisis, then we can start to work out what the recovery looks like,” Bird adds.
Surviving the weeks and months ahead will be the greatest challenge for the UK’s theatre managers, particularly for venues that get little or no public subsidies, as most work on wafer-thin margins and have very few reserves.
The Old Vic is in a precarious position because it gets no regular Arts Council funding, with two thirds of its £13m annual revenue coming from ticket sales and the rest from donations, says artistic director Matthew Warchus.
It was forced to cancel the last two weeks of Endgame, starring Daniel Radcliffe and Alan Cumming, and postpone its sold-out forthcoming production 4,000 Miles.
The theatre has furloughed two thirds of staff – who have taken a voluntary 20pc pay cut for six months – and slashed costs as much as possible.
Executive director Kate Varah says reserves are being used to cover outgoings but warns: “There will come a point in the autumn where we cannot do that any more.”
Just down the road in Southwark, the Menier Chocolate Factory’s founder and artistic director David Babani says the past few weeks have been “incredibly tough”, with all but two of his 24 permanent staff furloughed. “It’s horrific – we seem to qualify for absolutely no government support apart from a business rates holiday. It’s pretty terrifying – we are left to fend for ourselves.”
While able to apply for a business interruption loan, Babani is reluctant to do so: “We need help with VAT and other forms of tax; we need help that’s going to be meaningful as an industry – not get yourselves in debt.”
Babani, whose theatre’s award-winning productions regularly transfer to the West End and even Broadway, was also scathing about the unwillingness of his insurer to pay out because the policy does not cover communicable diseases. He hoped to weather the storm and eventually reopen, but doing so will be “not without the kindness of strangers and the kindness of our audience”.
The shutdown could not have come at a worse time for the Jermyn Street Theatre in Piccadilly, where a production of The Tempest starring Michael Pennington had just opened.
Artistic director Tom Littler says it lost not only revenue from ticket sales at that venue, but also those from a forthcoming tour – a sum close to 10pc of its annual £800,000 turnover.
Like the Old Vic, the theatre gets no government subsidies so relies on box office, touring and donations and is facing the loss of 95pc of revenues, he said. “We are really small so we can slash costs – as long as we can raise some money and get some grants or emergency funds from the Arts Council – that would go a long way for us.”
About £25,000 has been donated so far, partly by ticket holders waiving refunds.
Littler is hoping for a rent holiday – not just deferment – for both the theatre and office space, all of which costs £95,000 a year paid through the restaurant above it to the Crown Estate. “It seems to be that it will become morally untenable if everybody is suffering except landlords … we hope they will be nice to us.”
The Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond has been left with a “massive hole in our business”, says artistic director Paul Miller, with the hit running to hundreds of thousands of pounds.
It, too, has furloughed staff but has taken out a business interruption loan through Royal Bank of Scotland, which he says has proved a remarkably smooth process.
“We are a viable business with a small but very committed team.
“In order to reopen we have to keep the team together and we have a duty of care to our staff.”
Miller hopes the theatre can reopen in September but is modelling for either October or November as well.
“It is uniquely painful, but there will be performances again at the Orange Tree – it’s just a matter of time.”
Its recovery plan for the next 15 months involved spending £440,000 on wages and fees to freelancers.
“We need support in the short term in order to employ all those people in the medium to long term,” Miller adds. Outside the capital, one of the key regional theatres – the Nottingham Playhouse – estimates it is down about £500,000 just weeks into the shutdown.
Stephanie Sirr, chief executive, says being able to furlough 78 staff had been an “absolute godsend” because it allows operations to be paused without losing the entire team.
“It’s buying that time so we can work out how to reopen.”
She has no less than 11 different scenarios about how to bring the lights back on and says many theatres will need some form of government start-up funding to help them get back up and running.
“We make the best theatre in the world in the UK … the return on investment for culture is already tremendous. In pounds and pence it won’t take as much as you might think to solve. It will definitely need something specific to get back on its feet.”