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 That was one of countless
questions facing the managers of Glyndebourne,
an opera house set in idyllic countryside in
southern England, as they planned the 2021
summer festival whilst under COVID-19 lockdown.
"The prospect of doing Wagner with an orchestra
of only 30 really didn't seem to make sense,"
said Sarah Hopwood, managing director of
Glyndebourne, recounting discussions about
whether to go ahead with a production of
"Tristan und Isolde".
Instead, a bigger orchestra will sit on stage,
which has more space than the pit, and the
principal singers will stand in front with the
chorus offstage. It will be different from the
original production, Hopwood said, but
fantastic.
Creative workarounds and contingency planning
will be vital to the survival of arts venues,
music festivals, cinemas and galleries around
the world, as coronavirus lockdowns ease and
guidelines change at short notice.
Some events, like Glastonbury music festival,
have found the obstacles insurmountable and
cancelled for two years running.
With plenty of outdoor space and a format that
does not rely on huge crowds packed together,
Glyndebourne may be one of the luckier ones. Yet
even here the task of getting back up and
running is an artistic and logistical headache.
FOOT-AND-MOUTH
Founded in 1934 by opera-loving landowner John
Christie and his soprano wife Audrey Mildmay at
their country mansion, the annual Glyndebourne
festival is now a world-class, quintessentially
English event.
Performances take place in a 1,200-seat opera
house set in sprawling gardens with a
picturesque lake. Women wear elegant gowns and
men evening suits. During 90-minute intervals,
the audience fans out into the grounds to picnic
on the grass.
In 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic forced
Glyndebourne to cancel the sold-out festival and
refund tickets.
Ironically, the rural location, usually a
logistical challenge, may have helped it
survive, because of the legacy of an earlier
crisis - a 2001 outbreak of the foot-and-mouth
animal disease that devastated British farming.
With large swathes of the countryside locked
down to prevent the spread of the disease, the
festival was under threat. It ended up going
ahead, but the crisis was a wake-up call, and
Glyndebourne has focused since on building a
cash cushion.
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 That was invaluable to get
through 2020 and allows plans to be made for
2021, which Hopwood expects to be loss-making.
"We are going to be drawing on reserves to make
this happen," she said. "It's about people. It's
about keeping our staff employed, it's about
providing work for freelancers, and it's about
engaging with our audiences."
SOCIALLY DISTANCED MOZART
For now, 600 tickets per performance, or 50% of
capacity, will go on sale to allow for a
socially distanced audience. That represents a
reduction in gross potential box office of 11
million pounds ($15 million).
Hopwood said more tickets would be released for
sale later if government rules allowed. The
festival runs from May 20 to Aug. 29.
Rehearsals are a particular challenge. In normal
years, up to five companies, or about 1,000
people, would be on site at the same time in the
run-up to the festival. Performers coming from
abroad would stay in local accommodation.
This year, rehearsals have to be spaced out and
reimagined, while performers based in other
countries face self-isolation and multiple
COVID-19 tests.
Even the making and handling of sets and props
require careful thought.
"There will be bumps along the way, and we will
be ready to adapt as we have to," said Hopwood.
As well as Wagner, the 2021 repertoire includes
Mozart's "Cosi fan tutte", an old favourite that
can be done in a COVID-safe way, and three new
productions of operas by Janacek, Rossini and
Verdi.
Social distancing will be in force during
rehearsals, but may have loosened by the time
performances take place, so directors and
performers are preparing for several scenarios,
Hopwood said.
"We may have productions going from a fully
socially distanced rehearsal room onto stage
where suddenly people are allowed to embrace."
($1 = 0.7206 pounds)
(Editing by Mike Collett-White)
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