Lockdown’s “flow on effect” for theatre

Parts of New Zealand will be moving to alert level three next week. This means many businesses will be resuming some form of socially distanced work. For Hamilton theatre however, the effects of lockdown will be ongoing.

Sophie Nairn playing June, Hamilton Operatic Society’s, Chicago. Photo: Benjamin Wilson

Deborah Nudds, general manager of The Meteor, says the lockdown “has a flow on effect” for theatre groups. Six Meteor shows have been affected by the lockdown. Out of these, three have been rescheduled. A further eight shows planned for September could be affected as well, depending on how long it takes to get to alert level 2.

With a full-on
end of year programme, Nudds says finding the space to reschedule their events
will be difficult.

Bold
Theatre’s performance of Assassins was one of the shows that has been
rescheduled. This is the second time Assassins has been affected by Covid-19.
Auditions for the show originally took place in March of 2020, with an August
2020 release. Now, Assassins is set to launch in December of 2021.

“We were so close to being show ready,” says Sophie Nairn, who is cast as Lynette Fromme in Assassins.

Nairn said
the announcement of lockdown took a toll on crew morale. They had to plan as if
the show was still going ahead, because of the uncertainty of how long the
lockdown would last.

Clarence St
Theatre and The Meteor have both been in communication with ticket holders.
Nudds said “if people want a refund, we’re happy to provide this, we can’t
refund credit card or ticketing fees unfortunately.”

Both crews have had
zoom meetings to plan for what’s ahead for them.