Andrew Lloyd Webber warns MPs: The arts are at the point of no return
Andrew Lloyd Webber has warned that the arts are at the âpoint of no returnâ following the pandemic.
The composer and theatre impresario said it is economically âimpossibleâ to run theatres with social distancing.
He said the Government had given him âno satisfactory answerâ over âanomaliesâ, such as why people can fly on a plane but not attend the theatre without social distancing.
Lord Lloyd-Webber told the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee: âWe simply have to get our arts sector back open and running,â
Britain is a âleader in world theatreâ and should be given the green light to âdemonstrate how we can reopenâ, he said.
âWe are at the point of no return really.â
Lord Lloyd-Webber cited an acquaintance, âone of the finest viola players I knowâ, now working in a supermarket.
âThere comes a point now when we really canât go on much more,â he said.
The Government rescue package was âgiving money to buildings to keep the lights offâ and going down a âbottomless pitâ instead of âgetting the buildings openâ, he added.
He spent ÂŁ100,000 on a pilot project, trialling measures at the London Palladium, in the hope that it could show how they can open at full capacity safely.
âI am absolutely confident that the air in the London Palladium and in all my theatres is purer than the air outside,â he said.
Hinting at the consequences on the industry if there is not more support from the Government, he said his production of Cinderella might have to open âwhere people are being a little more helpfulâ.
And following a quip that he could stage a production on an aeroplane, he joked: âWe did think of turning the London Palladium into a garden centre at one point.â
Lord Lloyd-Webber and Rebecca Kane Burton, chief executive of LW Theatres, appearing via video link at the committee hearing (Parliament TV/PA)
Rebecca Kane Burton, chief executive of Andrew Lloyd Webberâs theatres, said recent months had been âdevastating and catastrophicâ for the sector.
âItâs a really bad, catastrophic time and we need to find a way out of it,â she added.
It was âdishearteningâ and âfrustratingâ that their âpilot wasnât later seen as a way to getting full reopening.â
Asked about possible reasons why the purpose behind the pilot changed, she said âthere was a nervousness about pubs opening and wanting to see what the impact of that wasâ.
And she added: âWe need the time to plan. We canât switch on theatre like a tap. Christmas is hanging on the balance as we speak.â
Lucy Noble, artistic and commercial director of the Royal Albert Hall and chair of the National Arenas Association, told the committee that the Governmentâs ÂŁ1.57 billion rescue package did not turn out to be âwhat it was hailed to beâ.
âThe Royal Albert Hall was hailed as one of the crown jewels that this package would save,â she said.
âWe have been told we are not eligible for any of the grant at all.
âWe are only eligible to take a loan. Weâve already taken ÂŁ10 million worth of loans. Weâd rather not get into any more debt.
âI donât think itâs quite ended up being what it was hailed to be. People saw that announcement and thought, âthe Royal Albert Hall is OK nowâ.
âSo the philanthropic gifts have stopped coming in because they think we have been saved by the Government, when in fact we havenât at all.â
If the Hall cannot open fully until Christmas next year then we are in a âseriousâ and âmothballingâ situation, she warned, and it was getting to âcrunch pointâ.
Asked about holding the Proms without an audience in the venue, she said the Governmentâs announcement on allowing socially distanced, indoor audiences âcame too lateâ.
Venues âare on their knees financially,â she added.
Melvin Benn, the managing director of promoter Festival Republic, told MPs âyou canât have festivals with social distancingâ and that he believed testing could be the solution.
âI felt that from day one, that the Government really were hoping that the vaccine would come through⊠and that would solve the problem,â he said.
One MP on the committee read out an email which was sent from an actor, saying that ânot one West End actor or performer is in furloughâ.
âFrom a performerâs point of view, Rome is now burnt and we are living in the cinders,â the actor said.