As theatres are forced to close for the third time this year, the panto was recorded at its final preview as a gift for families
It’s Tuesday night at the panto and the theatre resounds with a chorus of boos. But the show hasn’t started yet and National Theatre artistic director Rufus Norris is the only one on stage. He received thunderous applause when he strolled on; the boos come when Norris mentions tier 3, the increased level of Covid-19 restrictions that will close the building to audiences for the third time this year, and curtail the panto’s run.
This is the fourth preview of Dick Whittington, which was due to open to the press on Friday and be filmed later for a Christmas holiday broadcast. But when news broke on Monday afternoon that London would be entering tier 3 from Wednesday, the National swiftly assembled the film crew to capture a recording in front of a live audience in the Olivier theatre, reconfigured as an in-the-round space for social distancing. Seven cameras are placed around the auditorium, fixed among audience members or on a dolly that whizzes along the circular stage.