Sir Nicholas Hytner Says Pantomime Season 'Won't Happen' This Year Due to the Health Crisis

Theatre director Sir Nicholas Hytner says that the pantomime season "won't happen" this year, due to the health crisis, The Daily Mail reports.

"This is the time of year when theatres have to start spending on their Christmas shows, it has to start now, and nobody can do that because there's been no box office for the last three months, so there's no cash," Hytner said.

Hytner says that the loss of panto season will put the industry in a worse financial situation.

"Panto season is when entire families go to the theatre and when theatres make the money at the box office that sustains them through the rest of the year," he said.

Hytner does not seem to believe that productions can viably return until social distancing measures are lifted.

"Even with the one-metre social distance, the maximum capacity any of us would be able to manage even if we had a go would be around about 25 per cent to 30 per cent, which simply isn't enough to run a big show or an opera or a ballet," he said. "Most of that won't be able to happen until the other side of social distancing and, honestly, the entire arts sector is on the brink of ruin and that's not just the theatres."

Read more on The Daily Mail.

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