The theatre industry has been crying out for a government-backed insurance scheme for a long time, so today’s announcement is a very welcome step. It recognises that theatre is essential to the cultural, economic, and social infrastructure of any civilised nation.
Since the start of the pandemic, producers, venues, and festivals have been unable to access the insurance we need to reopen our shows and events with confidence. This scheme sets out to rectify that and return live entertainment to our stages in a sustainable way.
At present, however, it is not fit for purpose – certainly not for live theatre. For those of us that produce work 8 shows a week, 52 weeks a year, the risks are wider than the proposed policy covers. If indeed one could afford this insurance, it currently insures us against one eventuality and one eventuality only: a government or local authority-mandated / guidance to shut down our theatres.
Crucially, there remains no insurance cover available for cancellation on account of illness or isolation, nor for the reimposition of capacity restrictions as a result of Covid. The offer on the table would therefore provide no mitigation against the sort of “pingdemic” that has closed down a host of productions in recent weeks.
Theatre historically puts back billions in to the economy and whilst we have all the evidence that audiences will flock back to pre Covid figures, we have no way to offset the very real risk of our businesses being tipped into unviability, through no fault of our own, at any moment, and nothing to guard against the single biggest risk we face – the loss of key company members without whom the show simply can’t go on, or half of our income being wiped out due to social distancing being reimposed in our theatres. The past few months of Covid-related cancellations have shown how vulnerable our shows remain. If we are to learn to live with this virus, we still have to find ways to mitigate this risk.
The coverage on offer – the bare minimum anyway – is prohibitively expensive for most shows. It more than triples the cost of cancellation insurance, an up-front cost at a time when producers are already under immense pressure, and unless the government maintains its VAT reduction (currently set at 5 per cent) until September 2022, those costs would have be passed straight on to the consumer.
The new insurance is at a 5.6 per cent premium (bolt on) on top of the regular insurance we would need to take out, so if a new show costs £5m to mount and around £350,000 to run per week, that’s around an extra £750,000 we’d need to pay for a 12-week run.
It’s unaffordable – and the only winners from this would be the insurance company. For theatre producers, cover that still leaves us and our skilled workforce and freelancers exposed to cancellations and capacity restrictions is simply not addressing the main issue.
We appreciate the government’s willingness to open this vital channel, and look forward to working with them and the DCMS to construct a meaningful, workable insurance scheme that provides our industry and others with the safety net it so needs to return to full strength with complete confidence.
soniafriedman.com
