News: Nationwide campaign “It’s Curtains for Theatre Without You” launches

Feast Creative and WhatsOnStage launch It’s Curtains for Theatre Without You, a nationwide campaign that supports live and digital theatre across the UK. 

Conceived by Feast Creative, the campaign launches nationwide today, with ambassadors including Ben Adams, Birmingham Hippodrome’s Fiona Allan (President of UK Theatre), Michelle Collins, Sean Foley (Artistic Director of Birmingham Rep), Amy Hart, Lucie Jones, Oti Mabuse, Tom Morris (Artistic Director of Bristol Old Vic), Arlene Phillips and Faye Tozer as well as venues including Curve Leicester and Kiln Theatre. The campaign aims to unite the industry’s venues, performers and audiences to celebrate and support both live and digital theatre.

WhatsOnStage are set to interview a variety of people from across the industry including Sonia Friedman, Tamara Harvey, Katy Lipson, Cedric Neal, Emma Rice and the company of the Dominion Theatre’s A Christmas Carol, sharing what theatre means to them, the future of the industry and why protecting it is so vital with other artists. Audiences are encouraged to get involved using the hashtag #CurtainsWithoutYou.

 Sita McIntosh of WhatsOnStage, said today, “As the green shoots of theatre start to emerge, at WhatsOnStage we couldn’t be more excited! We know that our readers share that joy and we wanted to do our bit to encourage audiences back into auditoriums, inspire them to enjoy shows again and most importantly reassure them that they are safe doing so.  There have been some impressive initiatives to ensure that buildings are COVID-safe including #SeeItSafely, so patrons can be comfortable in the knowledge that the industry has done everything it has been asked to do to comply with the latest government guidelines.

“We have compiled a comprehensive guide to theatre now open or opening soon and we want to convey the message that unless audiences come out and support those shows it really is Curtains for Theatre. If we ever needed a morale boost it’s now!”

Interviewed as part of the campaign, producer Sonia Friedman, who is about to première new play The Comeback in the West End, said, “We’ve learned what an incredibly powerful yet fragile ecosystem we’re a part of. Theatre is the number two reason for international tourism after national heritage – we are a vibrant, successful industry. Whenever we call for support, we are not asking for help, it’s an investment – to reboot this global enterprise. Writers, designers, actors, musicians and directors we see now on screens of all sizes across the world – they all started in our extraordinary system.”

Simon Williams, Executive Creative and MD of Feast Creative, also commented, “Theatre is on its knees financially due to audiences being forced to stay away from this great art form.

“Feast Creative is a design agency that survives by creating and supplying the graphic campaigns to promote theatre and we wanted to do our bit to get people back into the empty auditorium. We wanted a simple message that expressed both the financial plight of theatre at the moment and one that also expressed how critical an audience is to the experience of theatre. Without live audiences there will be no theatre…it will literally be curtains for theatre.”

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