ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER: With shows being cancelled and performers testing positive, the whole industry’s having a nightmare – but no one in this government listens

It has been a terrible few days and it is getting worse. It is simply heartbreaking for me to see our industry decimated by a situation beyond all of our control.

We had to cancel yesterday evening’s performance of Cinderella with three hours’ notice.

Five more members of the company have tested positive, on top of three on Thursday. We’re a very large production and every cancelled show is devastating, but we simply can’t rehearse around the gaps in the cast and cover the performance.

Of course, the entire industry is having the same nightmare — from huge extravaganzas such as Cinderella, with a massive cast and endless costume changes, to small and local theatres, many showing our beloved pantomimes, in city centres up and down the country.

It is simply heartbreaking for me to see our industry decimated by a situation beyond all of our control, writes Andrew Lloyd Webber

Not to mention all the hotels, restaurants, cafes, bars and thousands of others who rely on us to bring people into town and city centres.

I am nearly 74 and desperate to get back to writing again. Instead, for the last year and a half, I have been campaigning for the commercial theatre industry.

But in the end, I have come to the conclusion that no one in the Government listens. Certainly not the new Culture Secretary, Nadine Dorries, who has made it abundantly clear that she doesn’t think commercial theatre needs any support.

It’s a difficult message for all the industries, jobs and people who are now lurching from day to day to hear from someone who is supposed to be a Tory minister representing the arts.

It is simply heartbreaking for me to see our industry decimated by a situation beyond all of our control. We had to cancel yesterday evening’s performance of Cinderella with three hours’ notice

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