Theaters of London Open again to Live Audiences

Theaters of London Open again to Live Audiences
May 18, 2021, 7:03 am

By Sarah Mills

Actress Barbara Drennan, who lines up outside London's St Martin Theater, eagerly awaits to attend one of the first shows in the West End as England eaes COVID restrictions.

It's been more than a year since Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap" welcomed the audience.

“I just think there’s a richness that it brings to people’s lives that as much as box sets and Netflix have looked after us, there’s nothing like this ... and getting caught in some escapism,” she said.

“And I think after the year that we’ve had, we all desperately need to get back to that.”

After being empty for months, indoor entertainment venues in England can now once again receive audiences live, albeit with a capacity of 50% to allow social distancing and with security measures.

The murder mystery thriller "The Mousetrap", which calls itself as the "oldest play in the world", is in its 69th year and shows its 28,200th performance on Monday.

“I’ve always thought that it was really important symbolically that ‘The Mousetrap’ re-open the West End,” producer Adam Spiegel told Reuters.

“So although financially this is unsustainable for a long period of time, I made the decision that I thought it was worth doing first of all to get everyone back to work and secondly to say right the West End is open for business again.”

In March 2020, the lockdown forced theaters to close the curtains. Some opened again briefly during a temporary easing of lockdowns in late 2020.

About a third of London's theatres will open again this week, namely smaller productions at lower costs. Major musicals, which cannot accomdate to run at 50% capacity, are waiting for the final phase of PM Johnson's roadmap of the lockdown, planned for June 21 to open again from the summer.

In New York, the Broadway shows will return from mid-September.

In order to adapt to the new situation, "The Mousetrap" has two actors, "Marple" and "Poirot", called after the Christie's famous characters- in case an actor should falls ill with COVID.

“The excitement is there,” actor Derek Griffiths said ahead of Monday’s opening. “The anxiousness is there and the hope that everything will go well.”

Source: Reuters

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