Wollongong's major performing arts company, Merrigong says it is still not viable for most theatres to reopen, despite an announcement that all businesses can open again next month.
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The NSW Government announced at the weekend that all businesses, including cinemas, theatres, performance halls, theme parks, show grounds, strip clubs and brothels can reopen from July 1, as long as they stick to the one person per square metres rule.
Deputy Premier John Barilaro said this would "reboot the economy" and be "like Christmas in July with Santa's stocking full of tickets and invites to the cinema, theatre".
But Merrigong's artistic director Simon Hinton said capacity restrictions, cleaning costs and a lack of ready-to-go productions meant it could be months before theatres in Wollongong could reopen.
"The capacity restrictions brings our 515 seat IMB theatre to 90, if you use the four square metre rule," he said.
"So there are pretty much no viable events, every event would cost us a significant amount."
"The auditorium of the town hall would be able to have 140 on the main floor, and we could maybe do another 40 in the mezzazine - so not really viable for anything.
"At the moment, we're working towards having some events in August with restricted capacity but as we consider that, capacity restrictions are not the only thing we are dealing with."
He said the theatre had estimated compliance costs - for extra cleaning, training, hygiene supplies, staff etc - could be at least $10,000 a month in additional operational costs if the venue was operating at its full pre-COVID capacity.
Off the back of a three month period where Merrigong has lost potentially millions out of its annual budget, this is untenable, Mr Hinton said, and there are also issues with finding productions that are available and ready to go.
"Most events have a 6-10 week lead time, so even though today we've had our first day where we can consider opening, there would be no way of actually having a show ready by July 1," he said.
"A lot of tours have been cancelled, shows haven't been able to rehearse. So there will also be a supply problem for a while, regardless of restrictions."
Like many arts organisations, the theatre has been among the hardest hit organisations during the pandemic.
Just one month in to lockdown, Mr Hinton revealed the theatre company had cancelled 62 shows to the end of June, refunded thousands of already sold tickets and lost about 80 per cent of its revenue.
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Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
