In South Australia, we are seeing the return of Theatre. But only the state-run theatre company at a state-funded venue. It seems no other venue is really open, and there are no stage productions or musicals happening.

The main reason that some of the other Venues are not staging shows is the fact we have the 1 person per 2 square metre rule and people need to stay 1.5metres apart. Okay, that does sound reasonable until you realize that the State Theatre production at the newly refurbished Her Majesty’s theatre is running at 50% capacity. That seems to works out to less than 1.5-metre distance and 1 person per 2 Square Metres. The audience here is arms-length from each other, sitting in a checker-board pattern.

So how is this occurring? Now some of the other venues can run shows at reduced capacity, but it is a lot less. The capacity works out at around 25%. Some shows might happen soon, but most are waiting for the time we can increase the audience numbers.

If you use the online calculator you can work out the area and the total number of people allowed into a venue, but staff are not included in this number. Theatre is a defined public activity and there according to the SA government website

The density requirement of 1 person per 2 square metres applies for Defined public activities. The maximum number of attendees at a place of business will be determined by its size.
These requirements apply only to patrons, not staff.

So why does there seem to be different standards for the various venues? Are other large venues around 500 seats doing the 1 person per 2 square metres and 1.5metre apart? Why does the state government not release any information on a way out for SA’s art industry? Why are they not supporting the Arts Industry, why is there not a visible Department for the Arts? As a theatre technician and lighting designer, I would love to get back to work, I would like to know what the roadmap is for our industry.

We have an audience waiting to return to venues around SA and the rest of Australia. If you read the Audience Outlook Snapshot you will see that there is a growing trend of people wanting to return to see live theatre. In fact, they seem to be comfortable id they could return to some of the smaller venues of under 250 seats. Though there have been some comments of people enjoying a little extra space to sit in. So that is one blessing. I have included a link to this document below.

So hopefully soon we will see each other in a venue near you.