Government guidelines for Stage 3 reopening in 2021 haven’t yet been finalised and until they are we will be following the requirements that were in place when we opened in October 2020. 

 

We expect indoor groups to be initially limited to 6 people from 1 household/’bubble’ so we ask you to make sure that you book only for your ‘bubble' as seating will be arranged in these pre-booked groups. Social distancing of 1m+ will be observed around these ‘bubbles’. All bookings will have to include a lead booker phone number which will be passed to the Track and Trace service if that becomes necessary.

 

We‘ll allocate you with specific seats and you’ll be directed to these seats as a group on arrival. (You might need to wait outside for a while so that we can seat groups in the safest order possible). We’ve reduced the capacity of Theatre Shop to approximately a third of the usual amount so you shouldn’t have more than one person in front of you and there’ll be plenty of leg room!

 

To help with social distancing  we’ll have a queuing system for the loos in the bar area, and a steward monitoring the stairs so people can come and go safely. 

 

 We won’t be opening the bar but you can pre-order your drink when you buy your ticket and it will be waiting for you when you arrive! If there’s an interval you can pre-order a drink for then too and it’ll be brought to your seat. We’ll be opening up the front doors during any interval to improve ventilation and give everyone the opportunity to stretch their legs outside.

 

To maximise ventilation during performances we will be keeping windows and doors open on the stairs and in the bar area to improve fresh air flow. This might mean it gets a bit cold, so don’t forget an extra layer if it’s chilly. You’ll need to wear wear a face covering while moving around so don’t forget your mask/snood/Darth Vader helmet.

 

You’ll have noticed that we’ve kept ticket prices at £15/£8 (and dropped our booking discount schemes) to make these performances more viable financially for ourselves and for the performing companies while we are still having to implement social distancing. 

 

We’ll be continuing an increased cleaning routine, ensuring all high contact areas (such as seat backs, stair handrail, toilet area) are cleaned before and after performances. Our staff and volunteers will all be wearing appropriate face coverings and there will be hand sanitiser points at the front door and at the top and bottom of the stairs.

 

Phew! As you can see, there’s loads of stuff that we’ve got to get our heads around, and please remember that Theatre Shop is staffed by volunteers, so please be gentle with us!