Titchfield theatre boss says venue ready to reopen - but government's plan is 'ludicrous'

Titchfield Festival Theatre, in St Margaret’s Lane, is ‘ready to reopen’, according to Kevin Fraser.

On Tuesday, prime minister Boris Johnson announced that theatres and music halls can reopen from July 4 – but no live performances will be permitted.

The decision to prohibit any live performances is ‘extremely disappointing’, according to the artistic director of the theatre.

Kevin said: ‘It’s ludicrous.

‘We were really hopeful we could reopen to live audiences.

‘The fact of the matter is the advice is constantly changing - it changes at the drop of a hat.

‘The last advice was that theatres would be opening on July 4.

‘So we put in place a series of measures so we could open safely, we bought the sanitiser which works across the whole theatre space.

‘We can’t put in any more – we are probably safer than a hospital.’

The theatre is one of the first in the country to install an ozone sanitiser – costing more than £10,000 – to curtail the spread of germs and viruses across the venue, as well as installing thermal camera, a one-way system, and buying PPE equipment for staff.

The auditorium has had its seating capacity cut from 200 to as few as 60 seats to accommodate social distancing restrictions when live audiences return.

A production of Frankie And Johnny In The Clair De Lune was due to play in front of audiences from July 13 – but Kevin is facing refunding tickets and live streaming the show for free.

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He said: ‘We are still hoping to open on July 13, because things are changing week on week.

‘We’re going to keep that as a potential public performance.

‘There is an appetite there - we put these shows up on Monday and they are already selling.

‘If we can’t do that, we will refund money and live stream the production.

The theatre has spent more than £60,000 on camera and equipment to live stream its content should restrictions on live audiences remain in place.

Kevin added: ‘We have four shows that are ready to go.

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