Since the countrywide lockdown, the Royal Opera House have seen a 60 per cent reduction in their income. As one of the most heavily subsidised performing arts companies in the country, the impact of Covid-19 has by no means passed them by.
However, with government indications that institutions may be able to reopen, while obeying strict guidelines, the ROH is now considering how best to do so. One such suggestion has been the use of one-act operas, placing the orchestras in the stalls, and reducing the opportunity for the audience to visit the bathroom.
Chief executive, Alex Beard, has said that the current “massive” economic impact meant that the company was now looking at a number of different scenarios before we can get up to full-scale performing.”
He continued that they were considering “How we can ply our craft, make sure the performers keep fresh, and how we can reach audiences.”
Indeed, Beard has found himself forced to distinguish the difference between a trip to the opera and the cinema. The former requires a set to be build and a company to be paid. The latter requires popcorn.
Beard stated that: “It may be that it’s tricky to have an interval because of the way people mill around loos. So we’d do one-act pieces. It may be that we can do recitals, divertissements [ballet extracts]. There’s a whole range of possibilities.”
While the Arts Council England has provided the company with a £24 million subsidy, this accounts for less than 20 per cent of its budget.
He concluded that while he was an “absolutely hard-wired optimist”, the survival of the industry was “going to be a heck of a challenge”.
