Theatres speak of recovery five years after Covid

Five years since the curtains came down on theatres across the country due to the Covid-19 pandemic, those in the industry have told the BBC it is recovering but challenges remain. What has been the impact and what is the future looking like now?

Within minutes of the announcement by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson on 16 March 2020 that people "should avoid pubs, clubs, theatres and other such social venues", Norwich Theatre Royal cancelled that evening's performance of Les Misérables.

As lockdown took its toll, in the summer its parent group announced it would have to shed 217 staff following "huge financial losses".

"Five years on, it's incredible to sit here and reflect that we have come out of it, and actually this organisation feels stronger than it's ever been," says the theatre's chief executive, Stephen Crocker.

Recalling how he felt at the time, Mr Crocker says: "It was a feeling of shock, I think, and something that was completely and utterly unprecedented.

"This building only closes for about a day and a half every year, so to suddenly stop and in such a way was unheard of."

It was not alone - across the country theatres were all closing their doors.

In Northampton, the Royal & Derngate closed for more than a year between March 2020 and May 2021.

Due to lockdown, it was losing £1m a month. Soon after lights hit the stage again, fears about crumbling concrete forced another closure. It now faces a threat from its grant being cut by a struggling council.

Speaking about when coronavirus hit in the UK, chief executive Jo Gordon says: "I think it was frightening for the whole sector - the resilience that the staff teams had to show, developing partnerships and holding on to each other as we navigated through Covid and out the other side, as quite a changed industry."

Annual grant funding from Arts Council England and West Northamptonshire Council contributes 15% of the theatre's annual income, with it earning the remaining 85% from tickets sales, bars sales and other activities.

Ms Gordon says: "Our audiences are central, their attendance, their coming to see shows, we have to be really smart to keep our pricing accessible and how we encourage repeat attendance."

For actor Josiah Eloi, who grew up in Northampton, the pandemic struck when he was in his final year of a degree.

"I had no idea what was going to happen," he says.

"About two weeks after graduating in 2020, the industry just shut down for the next three years."

The now 25-year-old says the challenge to increase audience numbers remains.

"Getting people to come to live theatre, for smaller venues, theatres just trying to get people out of their living rooms and into theatres, is really tricky."

In December, the Royal & Derngate's locally produced Christmas show ran for the first time since 2019.

The performance was the Jolly Christmas Postman, with Samuel Morgan-Grahame playing the title role.

When Covid hit, Morgan-Graheme, 34, was just finishing a short-run performing in Amélie in the West End.

"My wife was four-months pregnant," he says. "I felt worried because work just dried up overnight and we had to plan for our expanding family."

Theatres are still recovering, he says.

"It feels to me that people are still hesitant to come out and take risks on theatre - especially with things they don't know, or newer stuff or innovative work."

Five years ago, Northampton-based actor and musician Ellen Chivers was performing in a show that was cancelled.

She says: "I guess there was a point where we thought will we all be sat in a theatre together again next to people, but there was the belief it would happen."

The 37-year-old worked at a Royal Mail sorting office in Crick for eight months during lockdown as a parcel sorter, which "felt really good to feel useful".

Only in the past 12 months has she returned to acting. She hopes the industry will keep investing in new talent.

During the Covid pandemic, the Arts Council distributed £2,766,691 through the Emergency Response Funding and the government's Culture Recovery Fund to organisations in the East of England.

In a statement, an Arts Council England spokesperson says the funding was set up to tackle the crisis.

"We know that the pandemic has had a profound impact on the cultural and creative sector, with organisations and practitioners continuing to overcome ongoing challenges such as rising costs.

"We're doing all we can to continue supporting them."

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