Harrogate Theatre faces major job cuts and closure until 2021

In a joint statement from chief executive David Bown and chair of the board Deborah Larwood issued today, the theatre said: "This has been an extremely difficult and very sad decision to make, but we feel it is the most sensible action under the current circumstances; not only to protect the safety of our audiences, volunteers and staff but to safeguard the future of Harrogate Theatre."

Harrogate Theatre has cited a reduction in potential capacity because of social distancing, lack of revenue caused by lockdown and general uncertainty about future rules for the arts sector during the pandemic as the main risks involved should it have decided to attempt to reopen in 2020.

The statement said: "Our business model relies on at least half of our auditorium being occupied to break-even.

"To produce our much-loved pantomime, we need to sell close to 90% of our seats over two months of shows.

"With social distancing in place across this beautiful Victorian building, we can only fill 20% of the auditorium.

"This is not financially viable. Neither can we take the financial risk of paying for and then cancelling shows if the theatre is bouncing in and out of closure, due to possible quarantines or lockdowns.

"Therefore, we are suspending or moving all planned activity for this year at Harrogate Theatre into 2021."

Not only are most of this year's remaining programmes of shows at Harrogate Theatre now being pushed into 2021, talks are now beginning with theatre staff about redundancy.

The statement said: "As a direct result of the pandemic, and the dramatic loss of income associated with it, we have no other choice than to scale back the organisation and reduce our overheads in order to survive.

"This means that we have been forced to make the incredibly hard decision to enter a period of redundancy consultation with our staff.

"At the end of this period we may have to make up to 60% of permanent roles redundant.

As to the future, Harrogate Theatre still needs people to support its emergency appeal if it is ever to emerge from lockdown.

"The majority of shows in our autumn season are moving to next year and Cinderella will be dancing at the ball in 2021.

"If you have tickets for a show during this time, we will contact you to let you know the rescheduled dates of performances.

"As you can imagine, this is a huge task for our small team so please bear with us and where we haven’t been able to find a new date for you, please consider donating your tickets to the theatre.

"To make it through to next year we will still need to continue our emergency fundraising campaign.

"Our audiences and the wider community have been incredibly supportive during these extraordinary times.

"From the kindness of donations to the publicly led fundraisers, we have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and generosity shown towards the theatre.

"We accept our responsibility in this special town and must continue doing all we can to secure the future of the theatre.

"Thank you all for your help and commitment so far."

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