‘The show must go on!’ Pantomime crew adjust to new Covid restrictions

Mullingar Arts Centre has taken the unprecedented step of staging three shows in one day to ensure that local panto fans won’t be disappointed this Christmas following the government decision on Friday to reduce the capacity of indoor venues by 50 per cent.

Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner yesterday, the director of the arts centre Sean Lynch said that for him and the cast of The Snow Queen, which has its opening performance on Thursday evening, December 9, it’s very much a case of “the show must go on”, despite the challenges posed by the latest round of Covid restrictions.

In order to facilitate moving 1,800 people who had already bought their tickets, the centre has added six more shows, including an unprecedented three shows on Saturday of this week, December 11, and again on Saturday December 18.

Sean says that while his head wasn’t surprised that the government reintroduced capacity restrictions for entertainment events, his heart was hoping that the sector would be spared.

“I do feel that we are an easy target. The girls at the front have been working non-stop since Saturday [trying to reschedule people]. We got in over 200 emails on Saturday alone,” he said.

Despite the logistical difficulties caused by the reintroduction of crowd restrictions, Sean says that he has been “deeply heartened” by the response from the patrons and the cast of The Snow Queen.

“My faith in human nature has been restored. The feedback and support we have received from the public has been astonishing.

“I was very moved by the response from the cast. It was heartwarming. It is easy to be cynical in this day and age, but there is still goodness in the world and a lot of it, I have to say.”

While most of the shows are now sold out, at the time of writing there were still some tickets available for a number of dates.