Chichester Festival Theatre remains confident something might be possible this year

Having originally hoped for a July start to the summer season, last week Daniel and CFT executive director Kathy Bourne sadly took the decision to pull all the remaining shows – the first time in its history that the venue won’t have a summer festival.

“We are devastated, but at the same time we had no option. The safety of our audiences and staff and performers comes first, and all the indications are the social distancing is going to be with us for a little while yet.

“But the minute we are allowed to reopen, we will. We will be thinking outside the box and we will be doing something, whether it be concerts or cabaret or comedy. But for now we just felt that we had to.”

The resilience of the whole CFT was a factor: “Some of our productions are very expensive, and we were just about to have to push the button on them without the certainly that they would be able to happen. We had to cancel it, and our supporters online and in person have been very, very kind.”

When permission to open comes, as Daniel says, the permission will come with guidelines around safety. His hope is that those guidelines will be crystal clear: “But the moment we can open and know that we are safe, we will.”

It is possible that those guidelines will include social distancing within the theatre: “It is something that we are considering, what that would look like. But that would mean taking a massive hit at the box office (as clearly fewer people would be allowed in), and so we would have to balance that income with the kind of show that we might be able to offer.

“And that’s where the idea of the Spiegeltent (a temporary third venue on the site last year) could come into its own. It is something that is very light on its feet.”

Last year, it offered a huge variety of one-night performances, plays, music and comedy: “So we would be thinking about using that model of the Spiegeltent, and we would probably be looking to use that model in the Minerva first of all.”

The indications are that the smaller venues could be permitted to open first, before the larger venues (ie the main house): “So if we are only allowed smaller gatherings, then perhaps we could open the Minerva – and I am sure people will be desperate for some joy by then in their lives. The organisation is doing some wonderful stuff online, but we hope we might be able to complement that in the Minerva.”

Daniel is confident people will be ready to return to the venue just as soon as they can. He points to theatre industry research which has been asking people about their post-COVID intentions: “And the vast majority are saying that if they were advised that they could come to the theatre, then they would come to the theatre. People are saying that if the measures are in place that would make them feel safe, then they would return.”

The CFT is in touch with the key regional theatres – and everyone is pooling their thoughts: “We are learning about the wonderful places in South Korea where they have got temperature checking, and if that is one of the things that we have to put in place in order to be able to open, then we will put it in place. I am definitely clinging to the hope of some theatre this year.

“We have just got to travel hopefully and to be flexible so that we can be ready as soon as we need to be and so that we can react as quickly as we possibly can.”

The hope is for a revised shorter programme of work from autumn 2020, including Pinocchio over the Christmas period. Daniel is also working on a new schedule for 2021 which he hopes will include some of the planned Festival 2020 shows, including South Pacific and The Unfriend.

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