Open air theatre and music venues to reopen as some outdoor pools welcome back swimmers

Outdoor theatre venues are set to reopen today with new social distancing measures such as spaced seating, staggered arrival times and no loos.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden announced on Thursday that outdoor theatre performances can take place outside from July 11, as long as there is “a limited and socially distanced audience”.

Theatres have shared how they plan to adhere to strict social distancing guidelines as they welcome visitors to their first performances since they were banned at the start of the Covid-19 outbreak in March.

The open air Roman Theatre in St Albans has introduced socially-distanced seating, staggered arrival times and there will be no interval to avoid queues for toilets when performances resume.

The Roman Theatre of Verulamium will only seat 220, instead of the usual 275, when shows resume – and the audience will be further back from the stage than normal to avoid the potential spray from projecting performers.

Adam Nichols, artistic director of the Maltings Theatre, which will stage The Merry Wives Of Windsor and Henry V at the outdoor theatre from August 14, said the large stage area made it a fitting venue for social distancing.

He said: “The fortunate thing about that venue is there are different levels, almost like a conventional playhouse so will have what are like stalls down at the bottom, then a dress circle on some grass mounds and then an outer grass bank which will be almost like an upper circle.”

All seating will be in pairs, with a metre gap surround each set and performers will sing side by side in compliance with Government guidance.

Mr Nichols said: “The stage area will be quite large so we can actually get the actors reasonably distant from each other and the style of music we are using in the musical show (The Merry Wives Of Windsor) is a belt-it-out type of 80s rock songs, so from a theatrical point of view them standing on their own and performing will work within the setting.

“However, we are not going to have any brass and we are not going to have any woodwind.”

Singing and playing wind and brass instruments have been designated “higher risk” activities in the Government’s new coronavirus guidance for the performing arts industry, and performances at indoor theatres are still not permitted.

He added: “We are gong to have loos for staff and cast and there are public toilets near to the venue, but we are not going to have intervals so we are trying to minimise that, partly because of cleaning but also because of queuing and the time that it would take to get people through the loos, so we are going go straight through, no interval.

“We are still discussing if we can do the bar safely. We are looking at what the open air cinemas are doing because obviously you don’t want lots of people gathering at a bar to be served, so we are looking at the possibility of pre-ordering and serving people at their seats.

“We are going to give people timed arrival times but leaving is obviously the challenge because everybody’s leaving at the same time, so we are going to manage that with our front of house team so that we let people go a row at a time effectively.”

The news comes as outdoor swimming pools were also given the green light to reopen on Saturday.

Meanwhile Brits will have to wait until July 25 for the reopening of gyms and indoor swimming pools.

Hampstead Heath’s four outdoor swimming facilities will reopen with a new online booking system and The Heath’s Ladies’, Men’s and Mixed Bathing Ponds as well as the Parliament Hill Fields Lido is initially limiting customers to early morning sessions as the City of London Corporation tests new safety procedures.

Another pool reopening is Charlton Lido in south-east London, which will welcome a small number of guest swimmers on Saturday ahead of a general opening to the public from Monday.

But Everyone Active, which manages five outdoor pools on behalf of local authorities in Plymouth, Hemel Hempstead, Stroud and Ashby-de-la-Zouche, said its facilities will be among those remaining shut.

A spokeswoman for Everyone Active, said: “We are aware of the Government announcement yesterday, which confirmed outdoor pools can reopen from July 11.

“We had no prior warning of the announcement date, and therefore we are discussing with our respective local authority partners the arrangements for reopening at the moment.

“We will be in touch with customers soon to confirm the details and the date for reopening of all our facilities.

“We thank everyone for the patience and support whilst we work as quickly as we can, in partnership with the Councils.”

City Corporation said lifeguards working on Hampstead Heath have received specialist training with adaptations to allow them to maintain social distancing if they need to assist swimmers in the water.

Staff are also bringing in enhanced cleaning and new signage to assist swimmers with the new safety measures.

Anne Fairweather, chair of the City of London Corporation’s Hampstead Heath management committee, said: “We are delighted to begin safely reopening Heath’s swimming facilities after getting the green light from the Government, who responded to our call to allow outdoor pools to open swiftly.

“This is welcome news to the hundreds of thousands of Londoners who enjoy the bathing ponds and Lido every year.

“We are asking all swimmers to respect the new safety arrangements, and recognise that we have limited capacity with these Covid-secure restrictions, as we welcome people back.”