"Is it safe to go back in now?" Part 4

This is the fourth, and (please God!) the last, of this series of posts looking primarily at theatre and the pandemic:

PART 1 gave an example of how the West End theatre coped with previous deadly threats

PART 2 looked at the critical importance of theatre management leadership during 'the return'

PART 3 stressed the need for honesty when communicating issues with the public

PART 4 simply answers the question...

Theatre is safer than the majority of pubs and bars, restaurants and cafes, who, with the best will in the world, do not have the resources, infrastructure or experience to provide anything more than minimal safety supervision while serving (and serving alcohol to) tens of millions of patrons every day

Theatre is safer than a huge swathe of high street retail where, in spite of possessing both resources and infrastructure, the organisations’ number one priority of maximising sales, by day, hour and minute, may clash with safety considerations

Theatre is probably safer than a huge number of homes up and down the country where, buoyed up on the brilliant vaccine take-up, many households are probably less vigilant, and consistent, than they were earlier in the pandemic

Theatre is miles safer than the largely unsupervised networks of buses and trains carrying tens of millions across our cities every day

The economic and social arguments for re-opening have been presented time and time again.  And frankly it seems to me that it is neither the veracity, vehemence, or sheer volume of these arguments that has been lacking. It’s simply, and very sadly, the fact that the survival of our sector, and what we do, is not considered as important as the survival of other sectors

So when the Government review the re-opening, once again, I would ask that they consider look at our past record in delivering safe experiences, consider the resources that we have committed to ensuring safety in the future, and the very core purpose of what we deliver:       

within the short stay of their visit, our job is simply to provide such a great (and safe) experience that our patrons will...

a) make them want to come back again and spend more time with us

b) tell all their nearest and dearest, their family and friends, workmates and networks, that they had such a great (and safe) time with us

(and it is definitely NOT to see how many shopping bags we can persuade them to fill or how many bottles they can neck during their stay with us)

It is what we have always done, and what we always will do (please God!) because it is simply not in any of our interests to otherwise. So, in answer to my own question: “Is it safe to go back in now?” my answer has to be, all things considered, that it is far, far safer than staying away!