The Scotsman 27 July 2022

What was it theatregoers missed most during the months of lockdown? It is a question vexing arts promoters even now. Anecdotal evidence suggests audiences are less predictable than they ever were. Even on a town-by-town basis, box-office figures show wild variations – a hit for a touring show in one theatre can be a flop in the next.

Pre-pandemic, you would have assumed some shows would pull in the crowds for their familiar titles alone. But the producers of The Addams Family pulled the plug on the last four dates of its UK tour – including Aberdeen and Edinburgh in June – blaming the “continued impact of the effects of Covid on our audiences and their willingness to return to the theatres”. Likewise, The Da Vinci Code ended its run prematurely pointing the finger at the “current challenges of touring”. [READ MORE]

By Mark Fisher

MARK FISHER is a freelance theatre critic and feature writer based in Edinburgh and has written about theatre in Scotland since the late-1980s. He is a theatre critic for The Guardian, a former editor of The List magazine and a frequent contributor to the Scotsman and other publications. He is the co-editor of the play anthology Made in Scotland (1995), and the author of The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide (2012) and How to Write About Theatre (2015) – all Bloomsbury Methuen Drama. He is also the editor of The XTC Bumper Book of Fun for Boys and Girls and What Do You Call That Noise? An XTC Discovery Book (both Mark Fisher Ltd).