Edinburgh's Royal Lyceum Theatre mothballed in face of financial crisis

One of Edinburgh's leading theatres is to be mothballed and two thirds of its workforce have been warned their jobs are at risk due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Lyceum's artistic director David Greig said action had to be taken now to "preserve" its theatre company for the future. Picture: Aly Wight

The Royal Lyceum, which dates back to 1883, said it had been forced into "hibernation" after running up losses of more than £700,000 in the last two months.All shows booked into the venue, which is funded by the city council and Creative Scotland, for the rest of this year have been scrapped completely as part of emergency measures aimed at preventing its long-term closure.The Lyceum has been put into hibernation weeks after high-profile supporters like Outlander star Sam Heughan, and authors Ian Rankin and Denise Mina, agreed to write personal letters of support to the venue during its temporary closure during the current lockdown restrictions.The company which runs the 658-seat venue and produces its shows – which was set up in 1965 – has projected it would run out of funds completely in November without putting emergency cost-cutting measures in place.

A reopening has been ruled out until the spring of 2021 at the earliest after staging shows with social distancing measures in places was thought to be impractical and financially unviable at the venue, which has been used for Edinburgh International Festival productions since the event’s inception in 1947.Union leaders say 43 out of the 64 members of staff at the theatre have been warned they may lose their jobs. They want the Scottish Government and Creative Scotland to intervene and demand that redundancy proposals are withdrawn.However an official statement from the venue said that its board had made the "sad but inevitable conclusion that they must act now to protect the future of the theatre."The statement said: "This period has been exceptionally challenging for the whole theatre industry."The restrictions on gatherings over 500, and then the necessary closure of buildings for public safety, have removed income streams at a stroke and left even the largest theatres struggling to survive."The Lyceum is a vital resource for the city which has worked hard to sustain itself through austerity - earning an increasingly large proportion of its own income through ticket sales for its productions."At present, as audiences cannot attend theatres, this work cannot continue. As a result, the jobs of the incredibly skilled, committed, and creative staff team at the heart of the theatres success are now at risk.Generous donations and the ongoing support of funders have so far sustained the theatre through shut down and given the management and board the breathing space to take stock."It is now clear that the Lyceum’s ability to trade will continue to be adversely affected by the extended social distancing measures required to protect public health through this pandemic and it will be many months before it can make theatre productions in the reasonable expectation of being able to present them to an audience."Current financial projections show that without significant intervention, the Lyceum will run out of funds in November, and so the theatre’s board have reached the sad but inevitable conclusion that they must act now to protect the future of the theatre."This week theatre management contacted unions and staff to inform them of possible redundancies and will be working closely with them to minimise job losses as far as possible in consultations starting today. All posts are under review with significant cost savings required."

David Greig, the Lyceum’s artistic director, said: “To protect The Lyceum from closure we have to act now to preserve the theatre company and our ability to create theatre in Edinburgh in the future. Sadly, to do this we have to reduce the wage costs which make up the vast majority of our expenditure.

The Royal Lyceum Theatre has been a fixture in Grindlay Street in Edinburgh since 1883. Picture: Craig Stephen

“This will mean losing friends from our theatre family - people I am in awe of, who make the magic happen on our stage and who are much loved and valued.

“Very sadly, with our principal income stream removed during this epidemic, the stark choice we face is between a redundancy process now to reduce our expenditure, or total closure before Christmas – an alternative that would leave the Lyceum shut long after the pandemic has passed.

“Entering this period of hibernation will allow us to conserve the limited resource we have through the dark winter of Covid-19 and emerge, hopefully in the spring, with enough capacity to make theatre again with the brilliant theatre-makers of Scotland for the people of Edinburgh.”

Officials at the BECTU union claim there is "no reason at all" for any job losses while the Government's furlough scheme is in place because the venue is also funded by the city council and Creative Scotland.

Negotiations officer Paul McManus told its members: “The vast majority of the staff are being paid for through the Government’s furlough scheme and all Creative Scotland funding and local authority funding is still in place.

“Equally the Scottish Government and Creative Scotland have put substantial financial support initiatives in place for businesses affected by the closure.

“I appreciate that the Lyceum is still paying full salaries to the senior management team who are not in furlough but that should not be allowed to put the jobs of the staff at risk.

“In any event we will begin discussions with management this week on how we believe any redundancies can be avoided and will keep you fully updated on how these discussions progress in the coming weeks.

“I also have discussions scheduled with both Creative Scotland and the Scottish Government to seek their support to have these proposals withdrawn.”