Actors in drag march to highlight virus threat to UK theater

LONDON (AP) — As much of Britain’s economy emerged from the coronavirus lockdown, its theaters stayed dark, with performers and staff unwillingly idled.

So they made a song and dance about it.

Scores of actors, technicians and theater workers led by pantomime “Dames” — male actors in fabulously eccentric drag -- marched through London’s West End to Parliament to the beat of showtunes Wednesday, asking the government for a plan to bring theaters back to life.

The demonstrators were highlighting the prospect of a bleak Christmas season without the hundreds of pantomimes usually staged across the U.K.

Pantos — a raucous blend of fairy-tale plots, topical references, slapstick, song, dance and innuendo — are as much a part of the British holiday season as turkey and presents. The star characters are the Dames, bawdy female characters played by men.

“This is probably the only time I’ll get into a frock this year,” said actor Tim Hudson, who in normal times would be preparing for his 21st panto season. Instead he donned a patchwork floral dress and auburn wig and joined the protest.

He said the theater "is one of our greatest cultural assets. It’s in deadly peril at the moment.”

The coronavirus pandemic brought down the curtains at Britain’s theaters overnight in March. A few are tentatively beginning to reopen, with reduced capacity and at a financial loss. But rising coronavirus infections and the threat of new local lockdowns threaten even this fragile recovery.

Some fear Britain’s world-renowned theater industry — which sold 1.3 billion pounds ($1.7 billion) worth of tickets in 2018 — will be wiped out if the government doesn’t provide a lifeline.

It ls already too late to save this year’s pantos, which many theaters rely on for...