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Venues unable to open despite
Government green light
The Government announcement that indoor venues in England
would be able to host shows, with social distancing, from August 15,
but venue operators have said opening remains impossible.
“No venues will be opening under Stage 4 guidance,” said Lucy
Noble, artistic and commercial director of the Royal Albert Hall,
who as chair of the UK’s National Arenas Association represents 23
arenas.
“We cannot open while social distancing is in place because it
does not work financially – so even if it could work practically, it’s
a no goer for us. What we need is a date for Stage 5 – even if that is
conditional, because at the moment venues are making redundancies
because we just don’t know when we’ll be able to open. We are on our
knees.”
Engine No. 4
pioneers distanced
venues
Engine No. 4, a Manchester-based events
production company, has been behind two of
2020’s most high-profile socially distanced
events spaces.
The Virgin Money Unity Arena and
Escape to Freight Island, in Newcastle
and Manchester respectively, were both
spearheaded by Engine No. 4. Both went
live this month, with the former picking up
widespread media attention as the UK’s first
socially distanced outdoor concert venue.
Engine No. 4 would have been producing
events including Parklife, bluedot, Lost
Village, and Kendal Calling festivals this year.
However, cancellations forced them to adapt
and stage new kinds of events.
Jon Drape, a director at Engine No.4 who
led on the Escape to Freight Island build,
said, “Covid-19 has clearly hit this worldclass
industry very hard, from suppliers to
freelancers, so getting Freight Island off the
ground and open was something I was very
passionate about.”
Greenwich Comedy Festival economically viable
with social distancing
Greenwich Comedy Festival
organisers will implement social
distancing without the event’s
capacity being reduced, in order to
ensure the show series is financially
viable.
Due to run from 23 – 27 September,
the seven-show series at London’s
National Maritime Museum will
feature a line-up of comedians
including Bill Bailey, Dylan Moran and
Sara Pascoe.
Run by 57 Festivals, in partnership
with Nick Tearle at E1 Media Agency,
each show will accommodate an
audience of 1,300, the same as in
previous years.
In the past the shows have taken
place within a Big Top tent but this
year it will be an open air event with
the audience sat on chairs in front of a
domed stage.
Says Tearle, “Comedy is something
that is traditionally fairly easy to
manage, people are sitting down,
they are not shouting at each other as
there isn’t loud music – it is a format
that resents itself to working under
the current guidelines. On paper it is a
financially viable event but there are a
lot of unknowns.”
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