Why postponement of some - but not all - of our 2020 panto season is our only option

Imagine Theatre has started to postpone some of its 2020 pantomime season by a year. Many of the shows which were planned for 2020 will now happen in 2021.

We completely understand the importance of pantomime to families, theatres and the local communities as well as the cast and crew members that we employ every year. It is a uniquely British collaboration. Panto is at the very heart of our community at Christmas time, with families all over the UK coming together to make memories that last a lifetime.

We know that the finances from panto are the lifeblood of many UK Theatres, from ticket monies to bar spend and merchandise, it is the single biggest production that many venues stage each year, often seeing more than 1/3 of their annual footfall over a 4 week period.  That’s why, alongside making these big decisions, we wanted to reassure everyone that where we are making these announcements, we are not cancelling completely but are POSTPONING the shows until 2021. In addition, we are also looking at whether there are any alternative options open to us. We will keep you posted as these thoughts develop and progress.

We’re sure many of you will be asking “surely it’s too soon to make a decision like this?” and “it’s only July, why are decisions being made so early?” so we thought we’d write another blog to explain why this is rapidly becoming the only course of action available to us in some venues, and the thoughts and reasoning behind it. We appreciate and understand that some of you will agree and some of you will disagree, but what we do want to explain is that these decisions took weeks and weeks to come to and were very carefully thought through from so many different angles and in full discussion and agreement with every single affected venue. Postponing a pantomime production is not a decision to be taken lightly, and we’re utterly heartbroken.

·         Surely it doesn’t take that long to prep for panto? Well, quite simply it does. Pantomime is on a constant 18-month cycle. Decisions about pantos 16 months away are taken in the August/ September of the previous year. What title? What dates? What ticket prices? What style of artwork? What profile of celebrities and performers do we need to approach? Etc This work is then completed ready for a show to go on sale as the previous year’s production opens.

The work on any particular pantomime really starts to ramp up from February of the year of the production and by the end of March, we’re firmly into the swing of pre-production meetings, casting, scripting, costumes, musical choices, marketing etc. But this year, that ground to a halt in mid-March and hasn’t been picked back up again. We’ve lost 4 months of the key preparation period and in line with all the majority of other producers and venues, have our entire team on Furlough.

·         No matter what we thought of, we found a barrier –  We drew up an enormous list of barriers and problems to try and solve, but no matter what we did, every single one of them, even with a solution in place, led to another barrier or potential problem. We touched upon many of them in our previous blog, but even the simplest of questions like ‘how do we keep actors and crew members socially distanced to the current government guidelines in the limited wing spaces theatres have whilst still fitting in all the scenery, props and special effects’ was a show stopper, without all of the same questions about social distancing in dressing rooms, in the auditoriums etc

·         The government has issued their roadmap but it has no timelines within it – As of July 2020, we have a roadmap of how we might return to theatres reopening and to full auditoriums, but there are no dates associated with these. We might start to prep for a full panto season, but then find that a theatre that we were due to perform in is unable to reopen for a number of reasons, or indeed the whole industry remains closed into 2021. We need guidance on timescales and rules to help us understand how the roadmap might be rolled out. There is a plan but we don’t know when it will be possible to go back into a theatre.

·         Social Distancing just doesn’t work for theatre - current guidelines state that social distancing will remain in place in auditoriums under phase 4. This means that capacity is currently believed to be cut to between around 30% to 40% of usual. Pantomime relies on playing to 80%+ capacities, 2 shows per day, 12 shows per week, to make it financially viable. With social distancing, that’s just not possible.

Plus, to make a venue Covid-19 compliant, it is looking like additional Front of House staffing will be needed for cleaning, temperature checking and so on – we’ve even heard one venue talk of the cost of their FOH staff and cleaners going up three fold. This actually makes the show more expensive for a venue to stage, but with less income coming in from box office. So quite simply, it becomes financially unviable for both the producer and the venue.

But most critically of all, we need to put the health and welfare of our casts, crew and audience members first – and if there were to be a breakout of Covid-19 in a theatre and it were to become a ‘hot spot’ then this could potentially be hugely damaging to the health of any individuals concerned. That is not a risk we’re prepared to take.

·         There is a financial rescue package that has been announced – but it doesn’t solve the problems that the virus presents, it simply provides what we hope will be enough money to help the industry survive. We don’t yet know how that package will be distributed and when.

·         “Panto Flu” does the rounds most years– with 2 shows a day, 12 shows per week there is an inevitability within the panto world that at some point within the run, someone in the cast will get ‘panto-flu’ and this can often spread to some other members of the company. Whilst we do our best to minimise this and all health and safety precautions are taken to minimise spread, usually the company keeps performing and battles through. We’ve known of star names with emergency dentists in their dressing rooms, isolation rooms for cast members who are not well, and swathes of juvenile ensemble not coming in because there is a sickness bug going round their school and we need to keep it out of the building, but up until now the show has always been able to go on.

But not this year. The moment anyone shows any sign of illness, we would have to send them home – and potentially the whole team working on the show. Once we lose 2 or 3 of the main cast or crew, the shows become unviable to run as there is only limited understudy provision possible on many productions. We’d be into a scenario of full ‘show stop’ for up to 2 weeks if someone were diagnosed with Covid-19, and no chance to recoup any investment and with the inevitable financial impact on the theatres themselves.

·         We can’t easily social distance backstage – ever been backstage in your local (or any) theatre? If so, you’ll know that the space is very limited.  At the best of times, its usually cramped and crowded. With social distancing, it’s impossible.

There is talk of casts going into ‘social bubbles’ but as well as all the logistical challenges this throws up, this could also mean everyone working on the production having to stay away from their families at Christmas.

·         Would the audiences come? - A company called Indigo is currently undertaking surveys of audiences to find out how willing they are to return. Numbers are currently indicating that 2021 seems to be the time when people would be confident to return. Plus, current guidance indicates that school trips may not be possible until 2021 and school groups make up a large percentage of our pantomime audience.

·         Can we get the insurances we need? – Part of the work behind the scenes is on making sure that the all right insurances are in place at the right times. This year, some of the usual insurances we take out are not available to us. This makes the financial risk even greater than usual. If we have to stop the show for any reason or there is a local lockdown, the losses we would incur are enormous with no way of recoupment.

·         We just can’t make the finances stack up – Pantomime works the same way as any production. There is a set of pre-production costs and a set of running costs. For a West End production, there is usually a relatively long period of time to recoup the pre-production costs alongside the running costs. For Pantomime, we have a fixed short amount of time for recoupment, a maximum of 6 weeks. And there is a real danger that we may lose some of that time to the show being closed due to illness should one of the cast test positive for covid-19 and we have to close for deep cleaning or other cast and crew go into quarantine.

Like many businesses, producing theatre is always a risk – but usually it’s a calculated risk and one which has consistent patterns year on year. This year is so different. We just won’ t be able to calculate the risk, either health wise or financially, and that’s not a risk we can take in the current circumstances – and we can only work with the information we currently have to hand on the day we have to make any decision.

So, the safest option for us seems to be to postpone some of our shows for a year and suffer short term loss to ensure our long-term future.

·         The producers have been talking to each other – These are not a decisions we have taken on our own. The pantomime producer’s community has really come together over this, with regular calls and chats with each other. We have all supported each other and worked together to collectively understand what all of this means for all of us and we find ourselves all facing the same problems and dilemmas regardless of scale of the production or venue.

·         There’s hardly any product to programme for the Autumn of 2020 and into early 2021 – for some venues it’s actually going to be easier for them to keep their venue mothballed until the spring of 2021, as there aren’t many shows for them to open for until then. Bigger tours take months to rehearse, and even smaller productions are reluctant to tour when there is no guarantee of an audience. Its more cost effective and safer for theatres to stay closed until the product is there for them to open with.

And we haven’t even mentioned the possibility that there could well be a second spike come the Autumn/ Winter of 2020 which may see us return to some of the lock down restrictions should there be the need, or the localised lockdowns which have started to take place…

The loss of some of our 2020 pantomime season will have an enormous effect on so many people and venues. We are truly sorry that decisions like this have had to be taken – but please rest assured that a huge amount of work has been and is still going on behind the scenes. What was, at the start of all of this, our worst-case scenario of not producing panto has now become the safest and best-case scenario in many places.

We believe that this solution is a short-term pain for a long-term gain. The truth is if all the pantomime producers take enormous risks this year and all go under at the same time, that could potentially be more catastrophic to the theatre and pantomime industry than one Christmas of us not producing some of the shows. It is safer for us to batten down the hatches this Christmas and produce again in 2021 – and pray the support we need is forthcoming.

We are sending all our love and best wishes to everyone who is involved in, performs, loves, creates and/ or watches panto. This year, more than ever, we are one big pantomime family and we will weather this storm and pantomime will come back bigger and stronger than ever in 2021, oh yes it will!

And we hope there will be an alternative offering coming - watch this space…

Take care everyone and stay safe and well.

Sending our best wishes to you all,

Steve and Sarah x