Skip to playerSkip to main content
  • 7 months ago
Pleasance director Anthony Alderson speaks to The Scotsman after the venue was forced to close its Courtyard venue for the first time in 41 years, cancelling 72 shows.
Transcript
00:00I'm Jane Bradley, Arts Correspondent at The Scotsman, and I am here this afternoon with
00:05Anthony Alderson, Director of The Pleasant, which has had to shut its Pleasant Courtyard
00:10venue for the first time in 41 years due to very high winds today.
00:16So Anthony, how significant a closure is this for you, this is the first time you've had
00:20to do this?
00:21Anthony Alderson, First time I've ever done it in 41 years.
00:23So 16 theatres and a show in each of those theatres will be on the hour, that's an awful lot
00:30of shows.
00:3172 shows.
00:32Yeah.
00:33So 72 shows, you're hoping to reassess the situation late this afternoon?
00:37Yeah.
00:38Well, the weather forecast, you can put the water in the mid-afternoon, the closure there
00:46is really proportionally, and even though they're inside venues, the courtyard itself
00:53is a big mountain close to the outdoor area.
00:55They're quite historic buildings.
00:56There's an awful lot of structures out there.
00:59So it really is just a case of, you know, make sure that we're so, make sure the place
01:04is open.
01:05As I say, it's entirely sufficient.
01:07Yeah.
01:08And your other venues are remaining open today?
01:10Yeah, the Dome is open.
01:11The ITC is open.
01:12They're both inside.
01:13They're both equipped with lots of troops.
01:14So, in fact, the Dome is humming at the moment.
01:17It's full of people.
01:18I bet it is.
01:19Everyone's working inside.
01:20Clearly getting out of the wind.
01:21Yeah.
01:22I mean, it's a beautiful sunny day.
01:23I mean, it's one of those peculiar weather patterns.
01:27But it is, it's gusting.
01:29It's sort of 60 miles an hour.
01:31And was it quite a difficult decision to make?
01:34It's always difficult, those in a theatre.
01:36You've got to be careful.
01:37But actually, the eventual decision is quite simple.
01:39Which is, this doesn't feel, it's not always unsafe.
01:43But actually, we've got to be, we've got to make sure it's the last of the season early before it becomes problematic.
01:52Yeah.
01:53Well, hopefully things will improve this afternoon and you'll be able to reopen tonight.
01:56I do hope so.
01:57And of course, today's two for one day.
01:59So, two for one tickets.
02:00We hope that people who, you know, who would miss it, they would just come back.
02:04Those tickets will on end.
02:05You know, we'd invite people to come back on Wednesday, Thursday and come and celebrate over the weekend.
02:10Fingers crossed.
02:11The weather will be wonderful.
02:12Fingers crossed.
02:13Thank you so much.
Comments

Recommended