A climate of uncertainty hangs over the culture sector, which was forced to close for seven months last year.
Will culture once again lower the curtain because of the omicron variant? As Belgium prepares to close its theaters, French cinemas and theaters are wondering, even if “It is not yet time for panic”.
“It hangs on our nose a bit. All the signals are red but we hope to be able to avoid a new closure ”, says Jean-Marc Dumontet, influential owner of Parisian theaters. “The trend is not good, we all see in our entourage that the cases are increasing. We wonder how long we will hold ”, adds the director of the City Theater Emmanuel Demarcy-Mota.
“We will adapt”
Faced with the outbreak of Covid-19 cases, Belgium announced Wednesday to close, as of Sunday, its performance halls in an attempt to stem the spread of the omicron variant, which is spreading throughout Europe. Belgium thus joins the Netherlands, whose inhabitants have been confined since December 19 – and the places of cultivation closed.
If for the moment, the French government has not planned new restrictive measures, the Minister of Health warned on Wednesday that an explosion of cases was to be expected in the days to come. A new surge in cases that rekindles the trauma experienced by the world of culture, forced to lower the curtain for seven months between October 2020 and May 2021.
However, “The time is not yet for panic”, assures Jean-Marc Dumontet. “The teams continue to play, we are not going to stop and we will adapt whatever happens”. Anticipate for “Regain control of the virus”, it is also the will of Emmanuel Demarcy-Mota, who is already trying to postpone performances, initially scheduled for January and February.
“Too many Covid cases”
In the short term, however, it is not hypothetical new government measures that worry the performing arts world, but the surge in cases within teams, leading to serial cancellations. At the Mogador theater, the show the Lion King, adaptation of the Broadway musical, has suspended its performances until December 31: “Too many cases of Covid-19 in the troop.” On Wednesday, the Théâtre du Châtelet also announced that it had to cancel several performances of its show Cole Porter in Paris.
In England, several performance venues in the West End, the musical district, have had to cancel dates because members of their teams tested positive for Covid-19. Same scenario on the Broadway side in New York. Cancellations all the more damaging for the economic balance of these rooms and shows as the public flock to these theaters during the end of the year celebrations.
As for dark rooms, the hypothesis of new restrictions worries. “For the moment we don’t know, we are in total uncertainty”, declares Marc-Olivier Sebbag, general delegate of the National Federation of cinema operators. “We have strengths that we did not have before, such as the vaccine and the vaccination pass which will arrive in January. All this means that our rooms are protected places ”, he insists.
The fact remains that this climate of uncertainty can also lead distributors to postpone the releases of their films, as they did during confinement but also after the reopening of theaters. This week, Gaumont announced the postponement of the release of two of his films, including that of Franck Dubosc, Rumba life (postponed to August). The production company did not give the reasons for its decision.