Theatre Royal Winchester postpones panto over ongoing Covid-19 concerns
THE Theatre Royal Winchester has announced its Aladdin pantomime has been postponed until next Christmas.
However, theatre bosses have said they still hope to run ‘alternative Christmas shows’ to help entertain families.
Deryck Newland, chief executive of Play to the Crowd, the charity that runs the theatre, said: ‘We’ve had to take this heartbreaking decision to postpone Aladdin due to the continuing uncertainty around when theatres can re-open without social distancing.
‘Whilst social distancing is in place we are unable to take the financial risk of producing a full scale pantomime.
‘The government has advised that no further guidance or decision will be made around social distancing for theatres until November, which is too late.
‘The good news is that we are working with our fabulous creative team behind our hugely successful pantomimes on an alternative Christmas show for Winchester this year. We will announce further details of this in due course.’
The theatre will be contacting ticket holders in the coming weeks with the option of moving tickets to next year’s show.
The impact of the coronavirus has been ‘devastating’ for the theatre who have launched a ‘survival appeal’ to safeguard the future of live performances.
See the appeal at theatreroyalwinchester.co.uk