Peterborough’s New Theatre to stay shut until February

David Hutchinson, CEO of Selladoor Worldwide, which operates the city centre theatre in Broadway, said its live programme had already been pushed back to Spring 2021, but he hoped to reopen the doors in February.

The theatre has been closed since lockdown in March, apart from a brief summer cinema season.

“It’s a real blow for our amazing Peterborough New Theatre team, Having just come out of national lockdown earlier December, to now be entering yet another period of closure less than 2 weeks later,” he said.

“The team have consistently tried to stick to a strategy for rebuilding – but sadly factors out of our control are working against us and we continue to have to adapt to a constantly changing landscape.

“We made the decision early December to reduce our live Christmas program schedule, given the proximity between Peterborough and other major cities that were already in Tier 3 such as Leicester and Nottingham, and the Covid rates in the city of Peterborough at the time. We’ve moved some of our planned bridging program online – including our Lockdown Youth Initiative: Digital Stories – to try and keep some content and programmes available.

“We have rescheduled all live shows to Spring 2021. We very much hope to be able to reopen in February where we have a brilliant line up of events and shows, as the theatre (in common with all theatres in the country) desperately need to start rebuilding audiences and revenue after a year of being unable to generate any income.”

Meanwhile the Key Theatre, will be closed from Saturday until further notice, and rescheduling of shows would begin..

In a statement today, it said: “Whilst the Government’s announcement of Peterborough moving into Tier 3 and it’s stricter restrictions is a disappointing setback, the Key Theatre and City Culture Peterborough remain committed to ensuring that the safety of its staff, volunteers and visitors remains paramount. We will continue to do everything we can to support all efforts to end the pandemic and see a return to a society free from restrictions as soon as possible.

“In line with government guidelines, as of Saturday 19th December the Key Theatre will be closed to the public, and will reopen once Peterborough has moved from tier 3.

We are now working to reschedule performances and once we have agreed new dates our box office team will be in contact with those customers who have been impacted by this change.

“Please await contact from the Box Office in order to keep our communication lines clear. If you would like to discuss alternative arrangements for your booking however, please reply directly to this email with your query.

“ We thank you for your patience and understanding during this challenging time, please bear with us whilst we work through the high volume of enquiries, the arts need you, our audiences more than ever so we can raise the curtain once again.”