By In an empty London theatre, producer Nica Burns sits among the once buzzing stalls hoping audiences will soon be back for good to watch live performances.
A year ago, Burns shut the doors to her six theatres, where shows like “Harry Potter And The Cursed Child” and “Everybody’s Talking About Jamie” played to crowds in London’s West End, as the Covid-19 pandemic took hold.
Twelve months on, following Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s roadmap out of lockdown for England, she is cautiously preparing to re-open them from mid-May.
“People have been heartbroken to be closed down for a year in a profession where it’s not just about not having a salary,” Burns, chief executive and co-owner of Nimax Theatres Ltd, told Reuters on a visit to the Apollo theatre.
“It’s a vocation, performers really need to perform.”
Burns said her theatres were “flat out” before drawing the curtains on the shows, going from “100% to zero”. With some 1,000 people working across the Nimax group, she last re-opened briefly around Christmas in between lockdowns.
