Theatres in England given green light to reopen from May 17

Theatres across England have been given the green light to reopen from May 17 under the next stage of the government’s roadmap.

Venues will be able to open with social distancing, with capacities capped at 50% or 1,000 people for indoor shows, and 50% or 4,000 people outdoors.

For many theatres it will mark the first time they have been able to open their doors in more than a year, with theatre bosses now looking forward to the possibility of social distancing being removed completely by June 21, the next date in the roadmap.

Among those reopening on May 17 are the Royal and Derngate in Northampton, the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry, and York Theatre Royal. In London, the Jermyn Street Theatre, Southwark Playhouse, the Bush Theatre, Sadler’s Wells and the Royal Opera House will all reopen their doors on May 17, alongside the West End production of The Mousetrap.

Later in the week, other venues around the UK including the Mill at Sonning, the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough and Shakespeare’s Globe will reopen, alongside West End productions including Six at the Lyric Theatre and Les Misérables – The Staged Concert.

Prime minister Boris Johnson said theatres would be able to reopen on May 17, and added that the country was "on track" to move to Step 4 of the roadmap on June 21, under which social distancing would be removed.

"Today we are announcing the single biggest step in our roadmap and it will allow us to do many of the things we have yearned to do for a long time," he said.

In other parts of the UK, theatres are hopeful for similar movement in terms of reopening.

In Scotland, under plans last updated in April and set to be confirmed this week, the country will move into Level 2 on May 17, when theatres and other performing arts venues will be allowed to open with up to 100 seated patrons or 50 standing. However, they will have to observe strict two-metre distancing.

For indoor performances, theatre managers have already pointed out that the two-metre physical distancing requirement is prohibitive, capping audiences at about 10% of existing capacity and hindering reopening efforts.

While the cap on audience numbers is set to rise over the different levels, there is currently no variation for the physical-distancing rule. This is a particular issue for festivals, with Edinburgh Festival Fringe venues saying the event will not go ahead with social distancing in place.

Venues in Wales may be able to reopen from May 17 also, but this is subject to a review expected later this week.

In Northern Ireland, however, nothing has been confirmed, with leaders hopeful of an announcement later in the week. Venues have been looking at the autumn for possible reopening.

Meanwhile, other England venues announcing reopening plans this week include London’s Young Vic, which will resume performances on July 9, and the Watermill Theatre in Newbury, which will have outdoor shows from May 21. Matilda the Musical will begin performances again at the Cambridge Theatre in London from September.