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Welcome to your weekly update from all of us at the Blakehay Theatre, we will bring you these updates every Friday during this time!
We thank you for your understanding and patience during these uncertain times, we hope you keep safe and well and look forward to welcoming you back into the Blakehay Theatre soon.
Please keep sharing our information on social media during this time.
Cultural Recovery Fund Grant
As some of you may have heard by now, we were successful in our application to receive a substantial grant from Central Government’s Cultural Recovery Fund. 

In total, we received £323,000 in order to help the Blakehay Theatre in these very trying times and to help us plan and prepare for a sustainable future.

As were other applicants, we were asked to provide details of what was needed to stop the theatre closing before the end of this financial year and what was needed to restructure the theatre in order to re-open as soon as possible.
With this in mind, back in August 2020, we had four days to come up with a rescue plan for the theatre and we are very grateful that this plan is now in action.

Our first stage of the plan was to make full use of our beautiful first floor Studio, with this being the most likely area to have restrictions lifted.
Although a wonderful space, we had many local dancers who wanted to use the space but they needed mirrors to be able to do so. Thanks to the Culture Recovery Fund, we have just purchased some portable mirrors for our studio.
We have also managed to bring the cost of hire for our studio down to help the local community and are also offering a booking service so that they can ensure that they are Covid Secure.
We were able to book in lots of new and exciting community classes into our studio starting on Monday 2nd November, when the second lockdown hit. We are hoping to have our studio open again in early December.

A large proportion of the grant has been allocated to installing new ventilation in our Main House and Studio. This will help to make the theatre more COVID compliant as it will help to circulate and get fresh air into these rooms. Those of you who have visited us in the summer months are aware that when it gets very hot during the summer, the Main House can get very hot indeed. This will also help with that problem as well.

Our dressing rooms will also be having a ‘make over’. At present, we have two large dressing rooms backstage. In order to maintain social distancing, we will be dividing these in two to make four dressing rooms and adding a toilet on the ground floor backstage so that we are accessibility friendly for visiting companies.

We are, at present, also in the process of purchasing streaming/recording equipment. Rob, our technician, is very busy sourcing everything. Initially, we are looking to record performances at the theatre, edit them and then upload them to various sites such as YouTube and Vimeo. We are currently working to a schedule of being able to bring you some free trials in January 2021 with a look to bringing you regular streamed performances from the Blakehay Theatre from April 2021.

The grant has also allowed us to buy more specific equipment to help us become more COVID compliant within the building. We will be purchasing more automatic hand sanitising stations, a Perspex screen for our bar, a portable fogging machine that will help clean the auditorium seats and an air and surface virus neutraliser. To be able to maintain a flow system, we are also looking at accessibility into our theatre bar with the installation of a ramp.

Our final project we are looking to use our grant for is to produce an outside production in early 2021. As it stands, we are very limited in the amount of people we can have in our auditorium at the moment. 
To combat this, we are looking to put on a number of performances in an outside setting somewhere in Weston-super-Mare. We are very excited about this and we will keep you informed as we work to make this happen.

We are very grateful to central government and Art Council England for giving us this grant. Many venues across the country are finding these uncertain times very hard. We are hoping that this grant will help us to come back bigger and better than ever when it is safe to do so.

Here’s to better times ahead! We hope to see you soon.
From all the team at the Blakehay Theatre
This Week
- As you may have seen on our Social Media platforms this week, our new mirrors for our Studio have arrived! As briefly mentioned above this is something we were able to purchase thanks to our Culture Recovery Fund grant.
We are very excited for our Community Classes to recommence, when we can reopen, so these can be put to good use!

- We are slowly rebuilding our online Virtual Theatre as we remain closed. Please follow us on our Social Media platforms (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) and check our website and Events sections for online events and activities.
We can already inform you that both Do Yoga and Pilates in Uphill are running online classes during the lockdown, via Zoom. 

- Our website has undergone some changes recently and we are pleased to share that it is now accessibility friendly.
The layout has been altered so please let us know what you think of the upgrade.

- Our Virtual Box Office is still operating at this time. The emails are checked Mon - Fri at 10am.
Our phone lines are being remotely manned also during these times. If no-one answers, please leave a message and we'll get back to you as soon as possible. 
blakehay@wsm-tc.gov.uk
01934 645493
Friday 13th November 2020 @ 7pm
West End Unplugged - Vol. 1

YouTube Live Stream

There’s nothing Santa loves more than starting the countdown to Christmas by opening the windows of his giant Christmas calendar. But when he tries to begin the countdown this year, disaster – the calendar is broken and all the magical goodies inside have gone missing!

Santa needs them to get ready for Christmas… but how is he going to get everything back in time?”

Join Father Christmas, Dotty the Elf, Dasher the Reindeer, Jack Frost, Fairy Twinkle and Pompom the Penguin in a festive, musical, interactive, adventure to help fix the Christmas calendar and get Santa’s Christmas Countdown started!

Plus, during the show, you can post your messages and photographs on

The Santa Shows Facebook page – don’t forget to wear your Christmas jumper for the photographs! Father Christmas & friends will be sharing your comments and pictures after the show – Cosmo the Elf will be LIVE, so anything could happen!


Santa's Christmas Countdown
Sunday 20th December 2020 - Watch and Join In from home!
Virtual Doors open at 2pm for you to take your seats and sing along to your favourite festive songs!
The performance starts at 2.15pm and lasts for 90 minutes. 
Family Tickets available at just £10.00 per household!
(plus £1.29 Eventbrite booking fee)
There are several ways to support the Blakehay Theatre during these uncertain times, to help make sure we are able to continue delivering Theatre content to you all. 

- You could like, share and comment on our Social Media platforms: Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, to help spread the word of our Virtual Theatre.

- You could buy tickets online for our upcoming shows.
More information on these can be found below, including the option to donate to our venue at the same time. 

- Finally, you could become a Blakehay Buddy. Not only does this help us, but it had perks and benefits for you as well.
Find out more by following the link.

The Blakehay Theatre, Weston-super-Mare, 1850 - 2020

By John Crockford-Hawley

Local historian John Crockford-Hawley has completed a new limited edition book to add to his collection of many local historical books to help the Blakehay Theatre in Weston-super-Mare which is closed due to COVID-19. 

The Blakehay Theatre is hoping to open as soon as it is possible, but in the meantime they are looking to use this money to buy equipment to bring theatre out of the building. So, for only £2.00 you can help, and have a piece of limited edition history in your hands. There is also an option to add a donation on top, if you wish and are able to.

The paperback, released last week, is on sale in the shop at our sister site Weston Museum in Burlington Street, Weston-super-Mare, open Thursday to Saturday from 12pm to 4pm.
Alternatively, you can purchase online where this book will be posted to you for a small fee or you can choose to click & collect from Weston Museum.
Alternatively, do contact our box office on blakehay@wsm-tc.gov.uk
Live Shows & Events 
Thank you to all those that are still buying tickets for our shows.
All of our Summer Season has now been rescheduled and tickets are back on sale online via Ticketsource. For further details, please see below.
Please note that due to the uncertainty of the situation, if you have bought tickets for any of our shows they will be valid for any re-scheduled dates.
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In addition, there is a donation option when purchasing tickets online. Any money given goes straight to the venue. 
We would be grateful of anything you can spare to help support us, so we can continue to deliver Theatre content during these difficult times.
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Early Bird Discounts
We are delighted to bring you Early Bird discount offers for the following shows:

The Navy Lark - 17/04/21 - Save up to *£6.00 on a ticket by booking by 2pm on Thursday 24th December 2020.
*dependant on when you buy tickets and which seats you choose.
Postponed Shows - On Sale Now!
(Please click on the images to book your tickets, all tickets purchased are valid for the new dates)
Cancelled
This screening had been postponed from Saturday 1st August 2020 to Saturday 16th January 2021. It is with regret that we announce that we have decided to cancel this screening until we have a clearer of idea of the future situation. Thank you for your continued understanding and support.
Now April 2021!
This show was due to take place on Saturday 12th September 2020. It has now been rescheduled for Saturday 17th April 2021.
Now May 2021!
This performance, that was due to go ahead on Friday 26th June 2020, had been re-arranged for Saturday 14th November 2020. However, we have now moved this performance to Saturday 1st May 2021.
Now May 2021!
Please note that this show has been postponed again to be inline with the VE day Celebrations from Wednesday 6th May 2020 to Tuesday 4th May 2021.
Now June 2021!
This show was originally scheduled for July 2020 and was then rescheduled for December 2020. This show will now take place on Saturday 19th June 2021. 
Now May 2021!
We are delighted to announce that we have new dates for Living Spit's Elizabeth I performance that was due to take place in July 2020. The new dates are Tuesday 18th to Thursday 20th May 2021.
Now September 2021!
It is with a heavy heart that we have made the decision to postpone the wonderful Living Spit's production of Frankenstein the Musical from September 2020 to September 2021. All tickets that have been purchased for the 2020 dates will be valid for the same night and the same seats in the 2021 production. The theatre box office will be in touch as soon as we are back in the theatre and the box office resumes to issue you with your up to date tickets. Thank you for your understanding and support during these difficult times.
Now October 2021!
This performance, that was due to go ahead in March 2020, was re-arranged for October 2020 and then re-arranged once again to June 2021.
However, Bristolian Productions Ltd want to deliver the best show possible and do not want to be pushed for rehearsal time. Therefore, the company has made the decision to postpone once again to 22nd & 23rd October 2021.
All tickets purchased are valid for the new dates and ticket holders should have been contacted this week to be informed of the change of date. 
Thank you for your continued understanding and support.
(Please note, this performance was previously named Mystery At Sea)
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Virtual Box Office
 
Our Box Office is currently open Monday to Friday from 10am - 2pm via email and telephone.

Virtual Theatre


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The Blakehay Theatre, Wadham Street, Weston-super-Mare, BS23 1JZ

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The Blakehay Theatre · Wadham Street · Weston-super-Mare, Somerset BS23 1JZ · United Kingdom

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