Shakespeare’s Globe at risk of collapse due to coronavirus crisis
Shakespeare’s Globe has warned that unless it receives emergency funding it will collapse due to the “devastating” financial impact of the Covid-19 crisis.
The London theatre, which has been closed since 20 March, told MPs it had run out of cash and was “critically vulnerable” in the wake of the pandemic.
It said it would need at least £5m — 20 per cent of annual turnover — in order to open its doors again.
“Covid-19 presents the greatest threat to the future of Shakespeare’s Globe since our opening in 1997 and its immediate impact has been financially devastating,” the venue said in written evidence to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Select Committee.
“Without emergency funding and the continuation of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, we will spend down our reserves and become insolvent.”
DCMS committee chair Julian Knight described the theatre, which is a reconstruction of the Elizabethean playhouse for which Shakespeare wrote his plays, as a “national treasure” and said losing it would be a “tragedy”.
The venue does not receive funding from the government or Arts Council England (ACE), and raises 95 per cent of its revenue from ticket sales, guided tours, education workshops and food and drinks sales.
The Globe said it could not access the charity sector’s emergency funding and its application to an ACE fund was declined.
In a letter to culture secretary Oliver Dowden, Knight urged the government to provide additional support for cultural institutions that were falling through the cracks.
“The government must step up now and find more funding to shore up our cultural landscape and safeguard our rich past while giving hope to those whose livelihoods depend upon it,” he said.