Cork Opera House has decided to proceed with this year's Panto, despite audiences being reduced to 50% capacity per show.
In order to facilitate all of the patrons that have booked tickets, Cork Opera House will add an additional 26 shows to the run to allow for the public health requirement of reducing the capacity of indoor events to 50%..
“The great news is that we are going ahead," says Cork Opera House CEO, Eibhlín Gleeson. "It was touch and go for a few days while we established if it was actually possible for us to do it. However, the thought of cancelling the show was devastating to us all having put so much love and energy into it to this point. With the support of our committed cast and dedicated staff, we are delighted to have found a way to move forward.
"What this means is that 50% of our audiences can retain their tickets and they will be valid on the date that they booked. However, this will also mean that the remainder of our audiences will have to move to new dates. We know this is not ideal - but it’s the only way that all of our Panto bookers will get to see the show. Our patrons have been so supportive so far, I’m confident that they will work with us in accommodating these changes.”
Patrons will be chosen to move by lottery. Cork Opera House will contact all patrons who have been selected for new dates and will be working through moving these patrons show-by-show over the coming weeks.
“From Thursday this week, we will be contacting effected patrons on a chronological basis, starting with this week’s shows and working through each show to the end of the run. For now, there is no need to contact us, our box office team will be alerting you if there has been a change to your tickets.”
In order to facilitate 26 additional shows, the cast will undertake multiple shows on several dates, up to 3 shows on some days.
“Fortunately our show is slightly shorter this year, running at 75 minutes with no interval. We are very lucky to be able to add additional shows, but this does mean that our cast and staff will be working harder than ever before to ensure that this year’s Panto goes ahead as planned. Panto is so important to our audiences. We feel that after the difficulties of recent years, it’s really important to find a way for families to retain their Christmas traditions of coming to the Cork Opera House Panto. We are really excited to welcome our Panto audiences back”
Restrictions will be in place at Cork Opera House, to include mask wearing for all patrons in attendance, Covid Vaccination Certs and ID checks will be in place at the door for patrons of 18 and over and there will be a queueing system in place once inside.
