LOCAL VENUE NEWS…
With the country taking essential precautions because of the Covid 19 crisis here is the information as released by local venues and events regarding events and bookings
For over 25 years Latest, and previously The Punter, has been a massive supporter of local arts, both performers and venues in Brighton and Hove and across East and West Sussex. Right now that rich resource of both talent and places to see that talent, from cabaret and comedy to theatre and music in all its many forms is seriously affected by the coronavirus.
The Government has advised everyone to avoid non-essential social contact. Clearly this impacts massively on the entertainment world, both venues and performers alike. It also affects audiences and existing ticket holders, many of whom will be wondering where they stand right now.
We have asked the major venues what people should do regarding bookings and the information is printed below. There are however a great many smaller venues across the city, homes to live music, cabaret, spoken word events and so much more. To find out what their policy is go to their websites where you should find the relevant information.
Latest is encouraging you to be as supportive of our local venues, big and small, as you can be. At this time they will be very busy looking at ways to deal with the situation and survive so please be patient.
In the meantime Latest TV stays open and a full listing of the next weeks programmes can be found on the TV Schedule
Theatre Royal Brighton
In response to the Prime Minister’s statement yesterday evening, advising the UK public to avoid unnecessary social contact, including in theatres, we regret to inform you that shows in all Ambassador Theatre Group UK venues are temporarily suspended with immediate effect.
We understand that this decision comes as a disappointment, and a massive inconvenience for those of you already on the way to a venue this evening, but ultimately we all want the same thing: the health and safety of our communities, and we believe this is the correct decision to make.
Given the current ambiguity and lack of clarity as to how long our theatres may be closed for, we hope to provide you with an update within the next 48 hours regarding the exchange of tickets. We will be consulting with industry bodies including the Society of London Theatre and UK Theatre and the government over the immediate future.
For now, we would like to thank you for your understanding and patience, and to recognise the incredible efforts and support of producers, artists, partners and customers over this difficult period.
Mark Cornell
Group CEO, Ambassador Theatre Group
The Brighton Centre
In response to Government guidelines advising the UK to avoid unnecessary social contact, we have made the decision to suspend all events at the Brighton Centre until the end of March, we will continue to monitor the situation and follow advice and official guidelines. If the venue status changes beyond the end of this month we will update this page.
Please note, the Box Office at the Brighton Centre will also be closed to personal callers for over-the-counter bookings. Our Access Line, 01273 292695, remains open for accessible bookings and advice Monday – Saturday 10am to 4pm.
Where we can, public events will be re-scheduled into the future. Ticket holders will be notified with details of re-scheduling and again once new dates have been confirmed, if they were not available at the time of the announcement. All tickets will be valid for any rescheduled dates and customers will not need to take any action. If a customer cannot attend a rescheduled date, they should contact their point of purchase.
If an event is cancelled ticket holders will be notified and automatically refunded.
We will be unable to answer questions about individual event statuses but will keep this page updated with details on any affected events as information becomes available, we appreciate that this may be frustrating for customers and apologise for any inconvenience caused but we hope this situation will be short lived and that we can welcome you back to the Brighton Centre very soon.
Please bear with us during this extremely busy and ever-changing time for our team. The Brighton Centre wish to thank all our customers, clients and staff for their continued co-operation and understanding during this unprecedented situation. Keep well.
The Old Market
Here at TOM, the safety of our customers and staff is our number one priority. With everything going on currently and the ever-changing developments surrounding the coronavirus (COVID-19), we wanted to let you know about what we are doing to support and keep people safe during this time.
As a precaution, we have taken the difficult decision to postpone or cancel all events that were due to be with us until Wednesday 25 March.
All ticket holders will be contacted via email this week with further details on the revised event dates or when to expect a refund. The events affected are:
• Losing the Night: Wed 18-Fri 20 Mar
• HOSTED: Sat 21 Mar
• Ceyda Tanc Dance – KAYA: Sun 22-Tue 24 Mar
• The Space in Sound: Wed 25 Mar
All events after this date are scheduled to go ahead as normal. We will continue to keep in touch with you and follow official guidance from the UK Government and Public Health England carefully.
We know that this is a hugely uncertain time, and we are doing everything we can to support our staff, artists and community (many of whom are freelance) during this time. We rely on ticket sales for a substantial amount of our income, and as a charity, this is a worrying time for us and the whole cultural sector. If you can afford to, please consider donating the price of your ticket, or another amount however large or small, to The Old Market, to help us get through this difficult period.
Chichester Festival Theatre
These are unprecedented times. The welfare of our audiences, artists and staff is paramount, and we also want to support the valiant efforts of our health service. So, we are taking action in line with Government advice and postponing the opening productions of Festival 2020: Brecht’s The Life of Galileo (which was due to run in the Festival Theatre, 24 April – 16 May), Stoppard’s The Real Thing (Minerva Theatre, 7 May – 6 June), Jay Presson Allen’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Festival Theatre, 29 May – 20 June) and Penelope Skinner’s The Village Bike (Minerva Theatre, 12 June – 4 July).
All other events during this period are also cancelled and the Theatre building, including the Café, will be closed to the public after today (Tuesday 17 March).
The Life of Galileo and The Real Thing will be rescheduled for the autumn (new dates will be announced in due course), and we hope to mount the other two productions at some point in the future. We currently plan to go ahead with South Pacific (6 July – 29 August), The Unfriend (17 July – 22 August) and all the Festival 2020 productions thereafter. We may be able to re-open the building earlier.
Ticket holders will be contacted as soon as possible about ticket exchange, credit, donation or refund options. As you can imagine, the next few days will be very busy for our Box Office team, so we appreciate your patience at this time.
We are deeply sorry for the disappointment this will cause. Chichester Festival Theatre has been at the heart of West Sussex for almost 60 years, and we look forward to opening our doors and welcoming our audiences back as soon as we can.
In the meantime, we’ll be considering how we might be able to help our community during this challenging time; and send our supporters, audiences and colleagues our encouragement, support and best wishes for their health and wellbeing.
Kathy Bourne, Executive Director
Daniel Evans, Artistic Director
Eastbourne Theatres
Following government advice and alongside other UK theatres, we are cancelling all performances at Eastbourne Theatres up to and including Sunday 19 April. This includes the Joe Brown Concert and this week’s production of The Habit of Art, neither of which will go ahead.
Customers who have tickets for performances up until 19th April will receive a letter or email, offering them a refund, credit voucher or exchange.
We are currently trying to re-schedule several shows that fall in this period for later in the year so there may be a short delay before you hear from us.
If you have booked for a show after 19 April, these tickets remain on sale and we will let you know in plenty of time if anything changes.
If you have tickets booked for a show between now and Sunday 19 April, we ask that you do not contact our Box Office team or email us. We will be in touch with you.
Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to welcoming you back soon.
Worthing Theatres
Following the Government announcement on Monday that directed members of the public to socially distance themselves from others, and specifically avoid pubs, clubs and theatres we have taken the difficult decision to close our venues until at least Wednesday 8th April. This includes Connaught Theatre, Studio and Cinema, Pavilion Theatre, Assembly Hall and Worthing Museum.
We will continue to update you on the situation when we receive further advice from the Government. Please keep an eye on emails and on our social media channels over the coming weeks for more updates.
If you have bookings for shows with us, we will be in touch separately with information about rescheduled performances, cancellations, refunds and donations.
As an arts organisation in our first year as an independent trust, this is a particularly challenging time so we would like to thank you for your support and patience during this period.
Worthing Theatres and Museum
The Hawth
Following the most recent official government recommendations regarding COVID-19, we regret to inform you that The Hawth Theatre will be closed from Tuesday 17 March until further notice. All events, classes, screenings, shows and any other activities scheduled to take place at The Hawth will be suspended from this time onwards.
We understand that this decision comes as a disappointment, but ultimately we all want to protect the health and safety of our communities and we believe this is the correct decision to make.
With regards to tickets and refunds, we are dealing with each show on an individual basis in consultation with the promoters and agents and for those of you with tickets, we will be in touch as soon as possible.. Please be assured that we are working as quickly as possible to understand the implications of this closure and to put the appropriate steps in place. We respectfully ask all customers to refrain from contacting our box office team or visiting the venue.
It is currently unclear how long the theatre will need to remain closed, however we will be consulting with industry bodies and the government in the coming days and provide an update as soon as possible.
For now, we would like to thank you for your understanding and patience, and to recognise the incredible efforts and support of our producers, partners and customers over this difficult period.
Brighton Festival 2020
It is with great sadness we announce that Brighton Festival 2020 is cancelled.
Based on the latest government advice around social distancing measures and the peak of the Covid-19 epidemic in the UK is projected to coincide with the timing of the Festival in May, all planned events have been suspended.
Brighton Festival was due to take place from 2 to 24 May 2020 and is the largest annual, curated multi-arts festival in England. This is the first time the Festival has been cancelled in its 53-year history. Over 120 cultural events were scheduled across the region, including 17 premieres, commissions, co-productions and many Festival debuts from international artists. The annual Children’s Parade has also been affected and will not go ahead. Festival staff are working with artists and partners to discuss whether some events can happen at a later date or in a different way. Due to the scale of the festival and the inclusion of many international artists and touring companies, rescheduling the festival as a whole would not be feasible.
Andrew Comben, Chief Executive of Brighton Festival said: “The Festival team is devastated that this incredible programme, led by Guest Director Lemn Sissay won’t happen this year and that audiences won’t experience the diversity of artists coming from across the world to our city. Lemn’s vision was to build an ‘Imagine Nation’ at Brighton Festival. It seems to us that we need imagination, creativity and the strength of our community now more than ever. We are exploring what might be the most creative contribution the Festival and its artists can make at this time and we will share more on this when we can.
“We are aware that the whole of society is being impacted by the coronavirus pandemic but also realise the profound affect it will have on the cultural sector and on the economy of our city, to which the Festival is such an important contributor. It is vital we work together to support our staff, artists and partners and that Brighton & Hove’s rich cultural life can survive and emerge from this challenge, so we all continue our contribution to the life and wealth of the whole region.”
Brighton Festival 2020 Guest Director, the acclaimed poet and author Lemn Sissay commented: “The cancellation of Brighton Festival is a huge blow for us all but it’s also inevitable given the severity of what we all face. I believe artists have a role to play and a gift to offer and the creativity that is in us all reminds us of the preciousness and beauty of life. Let’s cherish that now and emerge from this with renewed humanity and strength.”
Customers who have booked tickets for events will be contacted by the Festival ticket office as soon as possible with refund information.
Brighton Festival is a registered charity and almost two thirds of the festival costs would have been covered by ticket sales. Ticket holders are being offered the option to donate some or all of their ticket purchase in order to help support the Festival’s future and its work with artists and community partner organisations.
Since it was first established in 1967, Brighton Festival has given artists and performers at the cutting edge of artistic practice and on the edge of society, the creative space to have their voices heard and to showcase new work.
Cllr Alan Robins, Chair of the Tourism, Equalities, Communities and Culture Committee, Brighton & Hove City Council added: “The cancellation of this year’s Festival is disappointing but inevitable given the current circumstances and is absolutely the right decision. We look forward to the Festival returning next year.”
Brighton Dome closed on Tue 17 March and is cancelling or postponing its events programme until further notice.
GLYNDEBOURNE
COVID-19 is touching all of our lives and at this time our primary concern is the safety and well-being of our company members and our audiences, all part of the extended Glyndebourne family.
We are also intent on securing our company’s continuity and ensuring that we are here for you to enjoy in the future. As a financially independent charity, our next steps must be carefully planned.
Based on the Government’s strong advice yesterday to avoid public gatherings in spaces such as theatres, we are reviewing the schedule for our Festival 2020 programme. This is an evolving situation and we thank you for your patience as we work through the appropriate response.
We will be in a position to share more detail by 20 March 2020. In the meantime, should you need further information, please either email boxoffice@glyndebourne.com or use live webchat.
The Warren 2020
Other place Brighton are sad to announce that, following Tuesday’s advice from the government on preventing the spread of Coronavirus, we have taken the decision to postpone opening our Brighton Fringe festival site The Warren until later in the year.
We are currently in talks with the council about finding a rescheduled date to open later in the year and will keep everyone updated on developments.
Anyone who has booked tickets to see a show at The Warren this May will be able to transfer their ticket for the rescheduled date as soon as it is announced.
For a full statement and further information please visit our advice page.
BRIGHTON FRINGE 2020
Following the announcement by the prime minister urging the general public not to visit pubs, clubs or theatres, and advice from Brighton & Hove City Council. Brighton Fringe has announced that it will be postponing the festival until September/October 2020.
For further information refer to their website brightonfringe.com
