From tonight, only thirty people are allowed to attend a performance in a theater. This rigorous rule that the cabinet announced yesterday is causing acute problems for theaters in the Netherlands.
Because, as the director of the Association of Theater and Concert Directors puts it: “when you have a sold-out hall and you have sold three hundred tickets, who decides who those thirty are allowed in?”
Robbery
Many theaters feel overwhelmed by the measure and have taken it safe for tonight: canceled. Such as the Amsterdam theater where the performance Breath does not continue. The performances of the Metropole Orkest and Altin Gün in Carré are also canceled.
The Nieuwe De La Mar also leaves its doors closed. “This afternoon it became clear that at least today (Tuesday, September 29), the municipality of Amsterdam is not making an exception for cultural institutions. We must therefore cancel.”
Elsewhere the picture is different. Youp van ‘t Hek, for example, plays in Roermond for 65 spectators. That doesn’t seem like much, but because of the one-and-a-half meter measure, this is the maximum number. The municipality has granted the theater an exemption. And the literature festival continues in Tivoli Vredenburg in Utrecht.
Energetic
One municipality therefore reacts more expeditiously to the new rules than another when it comes to granting an exemption. In De Spiegel in Zwolle, sixty people are allowed to enter the (mega) room tonight.
Tomorrow could be a problem, because then the venue is completely sold out. The solution in Zwolle: whoever bought his tickets first is allowed in, the rest is canceled.
The show Soldier of Orange in the hangar at Valkenburg is also canceled, but that has another cause. One of the players has been diagnosed with corona and the rest are awaiting the test results. Besides that, it is also unclear to the management whether they will receive an exemption.
Holland Casino
Elsewhere, too, there is a struggle with the sudden tightening of the corona rules. Holland Casino will close all its branches for 24 hours to adapt to the new rules.
The company may receive thirty people per space. The gambling palaces will open again at 6 p.m. tomorrow, and then probably turn a loss, the management expects.