In the feedback we received after Halfway There, we were thanked by audience members for our ongoing mask mandate. (There were, of course, others who said they looked forward to the day when masks will be a thing of the past. So do we.)
We take the safety of cast, crew and audiences extremely seriously. A number of our regular cast and crew members, despite being fully vaccinated, have health issues that make them particularly vulnerable. Covid would not be “just like the ‘flu or a bad cold” for them. Equally, we have audience members for whom a bout of Covid could prove very serious indeed.
We’ve all heard stories about super spreader events and we do not want any of our performances to become one of these. We actually had our own super spreader event at a rehearsal in 2022, which was what led to the development of our health and safety policy.
We very much hope the time will come when venues are equipped with sufficient ventilation, air filtration and upper-room UV for masks to become unnecessary, but that time is yet to arrive. We will continue our mask mandate until it does. (Of course, if you turned up with a mask like the one above, we would not let you in!)
We thank everyone for their co-operation.