Dozens face redundancy as Sheffield Theatres fights to survive the pandemic

The group, which is made up of the Crucible, Lyceum and Studio theatres in Sheffield said in a statement today that the continued closure and redundancies were due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Chief executive Dan Bates said: “We don’t know when we will be able to return to the same levels of activity in our theatres. We know that we can’t expect to see audiences returning to pre-pandemic levels for quite some time.

"I am heartbroken that this means that we won’t have as much work for people and therefore we have to reduce our staffing levels. We are entering into consultation with our team and we are considering proposals which include all staff reducing their hours of work as well as potential redundancies. Although this is a hard sacrifice for everyone, we believe it will help us to keep as many people employed as possible.

"Of our 248 colleagues, 72 people are at risk at the moment. I’d like to thank our team for their loyalty and grace during this extremely challenging period.

"The latest announcements suggest that socially distanced audiences may be allowed for live theatre from August 1. However, we know that it isn’t financially viable for us to produce our usual programme for a reduced audience. We also know that the shows that were set to visit us this autumn have had to cancel or rearrange due to the challenges of touring right now. And so, we are closing the Lyceum and the Studio through to spring 2021.”

All shows that were scheduled through to February 2021 have either been cancelled or postponed including our autumn and Christmas shows. We share in the huge sadness and disappointment that we know this will cause.

A pop-up season of work is being planned for in the autumn which will take place outside and inside the Crucible and the city’s civic spaces. This will include a new Shakespeare production and a ‘pop-up panto’.