Dublin's 3Olympia Theatre has announced that its Christmas pantomime will no longer go ahead as scheduled due to Covid-19.
The theatre took to Twitter to share the news, with a post that reads: "Unfortunately Olly, Polly and The Beanstalk panto will not be going ahead as planned in 3Olympia Theatre this season."
They then thanked ticket holders for their "patience and understanding at this time" and said Ticketmaster will be in touch over the coming days with more details.
The production was scheduled to begin on 22 December and run through to 9 January.
The decision to call off the show comes in the wake of the new Covid-19 restrictions announced by Government last Friday that come into place today.
— 3Olympia Theatre (@3olympiatheatre) December 20, 2021
Under the new rules, theatres have to reduce their audience size by 50 percent and no more than 1,000 people can attend at one time. All venues must also close by 8pm.
"We would be unable to withstand the current audience restrictions in place but, more importantly, our concern is first and foremost the safety of our cast, crew and audiences, therefore we feel it's the right thing to do in these circumstances," organisers said.
"Our cast are devastated as we felt that this year's panto could be the tonic that everyone needed. We will hold on to that magic and reveal all at next year’s Olympia panto."
It follows news that the National Concert Hall's production of Staging the Treaty in December and January has been postponed.
With heavy hearts and great sadness ANU are announcing the postponement of Staging the Treaty at the @NCH_Music this December and January.
— ANU (@anuproductions) December 20, 2021
🖤 #StagingtheTreaty pic.twitter.com/kkQ9zpkwZN
In a statement on Monday, the producers of the show said, "In light of the new restrictions, and the emerging health crisis with the new variant, the company has decided, after numerous consultations with all its partners, funders and collaborators, that our duty of care to everyone working with us is too great at this acute moment in the pandemic to proceed with the show of this scale at this moment.
"We will reschedule the marking of this important national event in 2022 when there is an optimal time to do so."
The National Concert Hall will be in touch with all ticket holders as soon as possible.
A Frosty Dawn - a series of musical shows taking place in the Pepper Canister Church - has also been postponed and will be rescheduled.
The Keynotes will now play just one date on December 21 at an earlier time of 5.00pm, Bronagh Gallagher and the Dublin Gospel Choir have been postponed and will perform on a new date (yet to be announced) in March as will Richard Fearless with his live audio-visual show.
All tickets purchased are valid for the new dates or fully refundable.
The RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra LIVE at the National Concert Hall will take place on January 7, 14, and 28 as planned with an earlier start time of 6.00pm in line with current public health restrictions, which require all indoor cultural events to end by 8.00pm.
Concerts will take place in line with current public health measures and with social distancing between all individual customer bookings.
All programmes and artists will remain as previously announced. The performances will be presented by Paul Herriott, live streamed on RTÉ Culture and recorded for future broadcast by RTÉ lyric fm.
