Christmas
My hesitancy was shared by institutions, too, for a number of pantos were affected by schools cancelling block bookings so some matinées were completely lost whilst others played to half-full houses. And when you consider that pantos and Christmas shows keep theatres going for the rest of the year and that this followed twelve months during which pantos and so many other productions were cancelled, the financial impact on theatres has been huge.
Then along came Omicron and its effects.
One of the first to suffer was the Northern Stage production of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice which cancelled all performances.
In Durham, The Adventures of Robin Hood at the Gala lost a day of performances when Kylie Ann Ford (Friar Tuck) had to step in to take over from comic Paul Hartley and she was replaced by Lucy Marie Curry.
The same happened with Rapunzel at The Customs House in South Shields when Beth Clarke (Rapunzel) had to be replaced (with the same notice) by Georgina Whale-Spencer. Later, The Customs House was struck again with more cast members going down with the virus and another day was lost.
At the same time, Alphabetti announced the cancellation of all performances of Santa Must Die!. On the day on which this feature went online, both performances of The BonBons Cabaret NYE Bonanza! on 31 December were cancelled.
In addition, all performances of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at Newcastle Theatre Royal from 21 to 27 December were cancelled.
December certainly wasn’t The Customs House’s month! On 22nd, power failed just as the show was about to begin and the building had to be evacuated. Overnight repairs by electrical engineers damaged a water main so all morning shows on 23rd were lost but resumed on the afternoon.
Then on 26 December, due to cast injury, all remaining performances of The Remarkable Robin Armstrong’s Extraordinary Christmas Adventure at the Queen's Hall in Hexham had to be cancelled.
Let’s just hope nothing else will happen for many shows run into January and some even later.
So next we clearly must talk about North East theatres’ finances in 2021.