Victorian Theatres Smashed Again

Artists have reacted with depair at Victoria's latest lockdown with the timing of the restrictions coming at the worst time for many productions.

David Spicer reports.

Disney's Frozen had only just opened on Wednesday night (July 14, 2021), and like all other theatre is now closed until Tuesday night, when the five-day lockdown is scheduled (for now) to finish.

Performer Queenie van de Zandt wrote about her experience in an independent production of Next to Normal.

"What was supposed to be our first preview of Next to Normal is now quite possibly our closing night.

"Here’s hoping we get to perform this beautiful show next week again but if not - we are making the most of this night - where we finally get to share this story with our sold-out audience."

The Ballarat Lyric Theatre Company opened its production of We Will Rock You on Thursday night. "We celebrated our opening night to a FULL HOUSE tonight. Although there will be a temporary hiatus, we'll be back to rock your socks off real soon!"

Jennifer Sarah writes: " I am Artistic Director of the Melbourne Shakespeare Company. Our production of King Lear (which was sold out before our first preview) was forced to close on opening night back in May when the 4th lockdown started.

"We remounted the production from 20th July to 1st Aug and are now having to cancel our first two shows (we need at least 2 days to bump in) and possibly even more. It's just devastating for everyone involved on an emotional, practical and financial level."

(More to come.)