Lockdown's flow-on effect for live theatre in Hamilton

Six Meteor shows have been affected by the lockdown. Photo / Supplied

Parts of New Zealand will hopefully be moving to alert level 3 this week. This means many businesses will be resuming some form of socially distanced work. For Hamilton theatre however, the effects of lockdown will be ongoing.

General manager of The Meteor, Deborah Nudds, says the lockdown "has a flow-on effect" for theatre groups.

Six Meteor shows have been affected by the lockdown. Out of these, three have been rescheduled. A further eight shows planned for September could be affected as well, depending on how long it takes to get to alert level 2.

With a full-on end of year programme, Nudds says finding the space to reschedule their events will be difficult.

Director Kyle Chuen (left, standing) gives rehearsal notes to cast members Helen Drysdale-Dunn and Memphis Ward, with Musical Director Nick Braae on the keyboard. Photo / Supplied

Bold Theatre's performance of Assassins was one of the shows that has been rescheduled.

This is the second time Assassins has been affected by Covid-19. Auditions for the show originally took place in March of 2020, with an August 2020 release. Now, Assassins is set to launch in December of 2021.

"We were so close to being show ready," says Sophie Nairn, who is cast as Lynette Fromme in Assassins.

Nairn said the announcement of lockdown took a toll on crew morale. They had to plan as if the show was still going ahead, because of the uncertainty of how long the lockdown would last.

Clarence St Theatre and The Meteor have both been in communication with ticket holders.

Nudds said, "If people want a refund, we're happy to provide this, we can't refund credit card or ticketing fees unfortunately."

Both crews have had Zoom meetings to plan for what's ahead for them.

Nudds hopes The Meteor can flame once more very soon.

"We're a resilient bunch and we've been here before."