Theatres and arts venues in England to stay open for livestreams in lockdown

The government has confirmed that theatres can stay open as a place of work.

UPDATE: West End theatres are to close from 16 December, and London is now a "tier four" area.  At the moment, theatres can still open for rehearsals and stream performances.

Ahead of a four-week lockdown from 5 November, the government has clarified on whether theatres and arts venues can stay open throughout the period. Although live performances to an audience at the theatre will be suspended, theatres and arts venues will be allowed to stay open if they are continuing to be a place of work.

In a comment from the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Oliver Dowden, the following question was posed: "Can arts venues open for rehearsals and to stream performances?" on Twitter. He answered: "Yes. Arts venues are places of work, so people can come into them for work, if it cannot be undertaken from home. This includes rehearsals and performance. Audiences are not permitted." 

This means that upcoming livestreams set to take place in November will be able to continue. Currently, livestreams taking place in November are either archival footage or prerecorded, which you can read more about here.

Find out the full list of London productions that are currently affected by Coronavirus. 

Some productions that were due to open in November have pushed back their start date. This includes Six, now opening on 5 December, The Play That Goes Wrong on 9 December and Everybody's Talking About Jamie on 12 December.