WHEN you run a small-scale national touring theatre company, what’s happening at any given moment with the pandemic becomes of major importance.

There seemed to be a great deal of confidence in the theatre world about theatres getting back to normal in the autumn, but I can tell you that it is a pretty mixed picture out there, and many theatres still have problems.

Some smaller theatres have decided not to reopen until they can get better ventilation installed, and that has caused a further postponement of several of our bookings.

Some theatres are still socially distancing and therefore are only running a very limited programme. That too has had an impact.

Most surprisingly, despite the optimism that audiences couldn’t wait for live theatre to restart and would be ‘flocking’ back, many theatres are reporting very low sales figures and are having to cancel shows. That is really worrying.

The reasons why people are not coming back will be the key to the future. If they are just being understandably cautious and ‘seeing how it goes’, that will be fine, audiences will grow throughout the autumn.

But if people have got so used to streaming, ‘netflicking’ and generally being entertained at home, and no longer see the need to go out, then that could have serious implications for an already-beleaguered arts sector. We wait with bated breath.