Page 7 | The Xmas pantos are being cancelled

TBHno · 2020-08-05T17:09:21+00:00

1st world problem , I know... My local theatre has just cancelled their Xmas panto [sad] Panto is something I look forward to every Christmas. As a kid, I even performed in them a few times. Seeing one in the run-up to xmas is a big part of the hype for me. Seeing the kids get all dressed up and excited is great too. It's one of those things that has to be live because the participation is a big part of it. Xmas just won't be the same.

SirSamuelVimesBlackboardMonito · 05/08/2020 22:21

@saltycat my immediate family are in no danger from covid. My town has had one death. One. Not this week, in total. We're young, healthy, our risk of death is basically zero. So I don't need to protect my immediate family from Covid-19. What I need to - but can't - protect my immediate family from is the economic disaster around the corner because we are shutting down industry after industry in pursuit of a level of safety that has never existed and that I didn't ask for.

bookworm14 · 05/08/2020 22:21

God, the dismissive sanctimony on this thread.

If this situation continues much longer, the arts sector simply will not survive. The Southbank Centre - one of the largest arts venues in the UK - has just made almost 70% of its workforce redundant. The Albert Hall will likely go the same way. And if that’s what’s happening at huge, established venues, imagine what’s happening to small, local theatres, galleries etc. It’s all very well handwaving about food banks, but we are doing damage that it will not be possible to recover from.

Socialdistancing · 05/08/2020 22:22

It’s really sad. We don’t tend to go to the Panto but do visit the theatre pretty regularly so I’m gutted for all the people who work there.
Also really sad about carol services and nativity plays

GlummyMcGlummerson · 05/08/2020 22:24

@bookworm14

God, the dismissive sanctimony on this thread.

If this situation continues much longer, the arts sector simply will not survive. The Southbank Centre - one of the largest arts venues in the UK - has just made almost 70% of its workforce redundant. The Albert Hall will likely go the same way. And if that’s what’s happening at huge, established venues, imagine what’s happening to small, local theatres, galleries etc. It’s all very well handwaving about food banks, but we are doing damage that it will not be possible to recover from.

This with bells on.

Although I despise pantomimes, the arts industry has suffered enough and I'm very worried that performances will be a thing of the past there are huge links to the arts and mental health. I work in a school and if there were no drama classes (which there may not be in the coming term due to COVID) I can think of at least half a dozen pupils who simply won't show up to school. They are troubled kids and drama is the glue that keeps them coming to school.

LemonadeAndDaisyChains · 05/08/2020 22:25

I absolutely love panto, and we go every year.
Have tickets for this year too, haven't heard it's been cancelled yet so hope ours is still going ahead!

saltycat · 05/08/2020 22:26

As said earlier, my brother is a Muso backed up many a huge gig.

He has got a job on a delivery truck now with his D license.

The irony is that most deliveries are to pubs. lol. But he is happy to do it.

Willowmartha1 · 05/08/2020 22:29

"Oh no they're not" !

saltycat · 05/08/2020 22:42

We could talk all night about how our livelihoods have been affected.

The panto will survive like most things eventually, but it is not essential.

bookworm14 · 05/08/2020 22:45

It’s not just about the fucking Panto. It’s the whole arts industry. It will not survive. I am not just going to shrug my shoulders and say ‘oh well’ - it’s a huge, irreplaceable part of the UK’s culture.

LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett · 05/08/2020 22:47

Panto is the engine room of regional theatre, the training ground for actors and performers and crews, the 'banker' that keeps most professionals going for the rest of the year and the breeding ground for future audiences. I've not cried at a lot of non-personal Covid stuff, but the Kings in Edinburgh cancelling their panto in the middle of a non-festival season in Edinburgh more or less finished me off today.

Theluggage15 · 05/08/2020 22:48

‘We will adapt’ said by someone who’s not going to suffer like all the thousands of people in this industry. Sanctimonious shit. It’s just a completely selfish attitude seen again and again during this crisis. It may not matter to you but most people see their jobs as fucking essential, not something they do for a laugh. Not essential to you, you mean. Presumably you don’t need to worry about money, how nice.

Funnily enough the arts industry is essential to this country and here’s a bit of news, unless you’re a multi millionaire, everyone is going to suffer in the economic shit storm coming.

LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett · 05/08/2020 22:52

Those being a teeny bit toffee nosed about panto (it's OK, I am not a panto fan either) - you know your terribly niace 'traditional Christmas plays' and 'lovely classical music concerts' are going to be cancelled too, aye?

And performing arts workers are being hit harder, faster because many of them are self-employed and didn't qualify for the govt's self-employed help, to the lovely poster who was worried about their foodbank use. They'll be there first.

bookworm14 · 05/08/2020 22:53

Exactly, Theluggage15. How dare anyone be so glib about the wholesale destruction of an entire industry?

Comefromaway · 05/08/2020 22:54

The pubs are not necessary to me. It makes me angry that people crowding in pubs(16 infections linked to one in my county in the past week) are going to impact on my kids going back to college and to the theatres being able to re-open

Lots of stuff that isn’t essential has been allowed to re-open. The theatre industry is a huge part of the UK economy.

BUT

I agree that it isn’t yet safe. Singing is a particular problem. I’m hoping the research Declan Costello is carrying out but at the moment I don’t want to be anywhere near someone who is singing (except my own household) & I don’t want my husband or kids to be either. (Which considering she is a singing teacher, dd training in musical theatre & Ds doing a music Btec is a bit of an issue. )

manicinsomniac · 05/08/2020 22:54

Panto cancellations are tragic and devastating for the Arts - I personally hate panto but it's essential revenue and employment. For some struggling actors it can be the only secure job they get all year.

Lots of my friends are actors and dancers. Nearly all self employed and nearly all facing financial and emotional destruction.

@BooseysMom
I'm a Performing Arts Teacher. My current plans for our Autumn Term shows (N/R Nativity, KS1 Nativity, Lower KS2 Musical, Y7 Pantomime, KS3 Dance Show, Christmas Concert and LAMDA Showcase) are to do them but with lots of provisos:

Productions will go ahead but will be livestreamed - no physical audience.
Singing - solos and duets may be possible 'live'. For chorus songs we will either play the tracks to be danced to (the musical and nativities) or get children to record themselves singing and build it into a virtual choir track to be played (concert and maybe panto)
No dances with more than 6 children on stage at a time.
All speaking parts double cast with each cast getting 1 performance (to help mitigate impact of absence)
Concert may well be all virtual, pre recorded performances - certainly singing, wind and brass performances.
Prepare children for the possibility of cancellation early if it looks at all likely.

ssd · 05/08/2020 22:58

@GlummyMcGlummerson

Being a Scrooge here but I'm pleased. DD always wants to go and I can't bear another year of paying £50 to listen to Bobby Davro's awful innuendos and some prick from the local radio station appropriating womanhood.

Class post

MaxNormal · 05/08/2020 23:03

@Theluggage15 excellent post, really well said.
It's particularly galling when it's swiftly followed by being told we're all in it together. Bollox we are.
On a happier note I see you're a Pratchett fan.

AlecTrevelyan006 · 05/08/2020 23:03

my son is - was - a theatre technician and had worked for the past three years for a medium sized, well established regional theatre. He left in Feb as he was offered a new job as a senior tech at a large city centre theatre. He has never started that job. And quite probably never will. He was unemployed for three months but has actually now got a full time job in a shop, which is better than nothing.

He used to do a bit of freelance sound stuff at festivals and music venues - obviously there was none of that this year and prospect of anymore for a very long time

this year will be the first year since he left school that he's not working on a Panto. I was chatting to him about just the other day. He used to have a bit of a moan about the fact that he'd be doing two shifts a day 6 days a week all through December. But he knows he's going to miss it. At his old theatre Panto brought in a third of their annual income. Now they may not survive past Christmas.

He knows lots of backstage people - a few are still furloughed. Some of have lost their jobs. Some have been made redundant. Some freelancers have literally lost everything.

Lots of venues are never going to reopen. We will soon be living in a cultural wasteland.

runbummyrun · 05/08/2020 23:05

@AlecTrevelyan006 that is tragic reading

AlecTrevelyan006 · 05/08/2020 23:08

my daughter is - was - a receptionist at a four star city centre hotel. Each xmas many of the cast and crew doing the BIG panto stay in the hotel. Not this year. People go the city to go to the panto and some of them stay in the same hotel. Not this year. They make a day out of it, maybe even a weekend. They spend money in the local shops, bars and restaurants. Not this year. And maybe never again.

Lockdownlooks · 05/08/2020 23:09

Very sorry for arts in general. Also on a personal level sorry to lose choirs. I’ve moved and it was a way I hoped to meet new people, also saw a meet-up group going to theatre, ditto evening classes. Some things might go online but hard to build the community ties that will need if there is more lockdown or self isolating.

MsJuniper · 05/08/2020 23:09

One of the issues will be that theatres not only depend on panto sales, but panto advance sales. When I worked in a theatre that did panto, the following year would be on sale when people came to watch the current one. If people have already shelled out, they will have to be refunded from empty coffers.

I love panto - both watching and working on. I love theatre even more. Something this country still does incredibly well.

KimchiLaLa · 05/08/2020 23:10

I feel quite upset as I wanted to take my DD who will just turn 3 beforehand.

Bishoprick · 05/08/2020 23:11

@bookworm14

God, the dismissive sanctimony on this thread.

If this situation continues much longer, the arts sector simply will not survive. The Southbank Centre - one of the largest arts venues in the UK - has just made almost 70% of its workforce redundant. The Albert Hall will likely go the same way. And if that’s what’s happening at huge, established venues, imagine what’s happening to small, local theatres, galleries etc. It’s all very well handwaving about food banks, but we are doing damage that it will not be possible to recover from.

This is so, so, so true. I can't believe I am living in this nightmare. I work in this sector, and one of my children is a professional musician. It is almost unbelievable that this sector would be wiped out, just like that, when less vital 'leisure' activities have been permitted again.

starsparkle08 · 05/08/2020 23:32

It is sad ☹️ big loss for theatres they make their money on this and performers
Sad for those attending too as fun in the build up to Christmas