Theatre industry 'on the brink of ruin' without unprecedented bailout, says Sir Nicholas Hytner

The UK’s theatre industry is on the “brink of ruin”, a leading director has warned, calling on the Government must take action in the next week to prevent “wave upon wave” of bankruptcies in the arts sector.

Sir Nicholas Hytner, who directed Miss Saigon and The History Boys on the West End, said theatres could not survive the pandemic without a Government bailout, even with one-metre social distancing.

“The maximum capacity any of us would be able to manage even if we had a go would be about 25 to 30 per cent, which simply isn’t enough to run a big show or an opera or a ballet,” he told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.

“Honestly, the entire arts centre is on the brink of ruin.

“That’s not just the theatres, that’s the great institutions, museums all over the country, it's the independent commercial sector and it’s the vast community of freelance artists that all producers depend on.”

Sir Nicholas said there was no chance that the Christmas pantomime season could happen this year, “whatever happens to the pandemic”.

“This is the time of year when theatres have to start spending on their Christmas shows, they have 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,” he said.

“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.”

The director called for “massive unprecedented and immediate investment” from the Government to bail out theatres and prevent bankruptcies before the end of the pandemic.

“The word is that the Chancellor gets it,” he said.

“I’m really hopeful that that’s so, but honestly without it, you can expect wave upon wave of not just redundancies but bankruptcies.”

Oliver Dowden, the Culture Secretary, earlier this week hinted the Government was considering a mass bailout of the UK arts industry to keep businesses afloat.

A one metre social distancing rule - which is expected to be announced tomorrow - could help cinemas but would not be sufficient to rescue theatres, he said.

“It will still be immensely challenging for theatres – [they] really do rely, not just in terms of the atmosphere but the profit margins – they work on wafer-thin profit margins – they need lots of people packed in,” he said.

“So I think we may be looking at some time for theatres to be returning to a state where they can perform sensibly, which is why I’ve been discussing what other support we can provide them with.”

A spokesman for the Department for Culture Media and Sport said: "The performing arts industry is one the UK's greatest success stories and we are doing all we can to support the sector through the pandemic.

"We are providing unprecedented assistance including government loans, the Job Retention Scheme that hundreds of theatres have already received support from and the Arts Council have provided a £160 million emergency response package."