“If restaurants and pubs and cinemas are all open, then why are small arts groups that are performing for 20 people in socially distanced seats with masks on – why are we all of a sudden cancelled?” said Aaron Craven, artistic director with Vancouver’s Mitch and Murray Productions.
Late Thursday, B.C.’s Provincial Health Officer Bonnie Henry announced new provincewide orders that, among other things, prohibit social gatherings and events through Dec. 7. Musical and theatre performances are included in that category . The Arts Club has mounted more than 150 performances since September – one-person, one-act plays – with no safety breaches. Artistic director Ashlie Corcoran worries the shutdown also sends an implicit message to patrons and potential customers about the safety of attending a show. “It gives this air of ‘it’s not safe to come to the theatre.’”were staged; the show was scheduled to close on Sunday. The company’s next scheduled show,, was supposed to begin previews this week.
The Chutzpah! Festival, which begins this weekend, announced it was moving planned live performances online. But Mitch and Murray, whose current showis scheduled to close on Sunday, was reluctant early Friday afternoon to even cancel that evening’s performance, saying the company would wait until 5 p.m. to do so, hoping for the order to be revised.
If you needed further proof that actors are self-absorbed, please read.
We need art and live theater. They should be allowed to continue to operate.
We don’t need art during a pandemic. Bye Felicia
Classic Canada marginalizing artists while gyms and cinemas stay open.
Suck it up, Buttercup. It's a pandemic.