Portsmouth tier three 'devastating' for The Kings Theatre and The Groundlings Theatre
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Productions had just restarted at both The Kings Theatre in Southsea and The Groundlings Theatre in Portsea.
A Christmas Carol at the Kent Street theatre was its first production since the Groundlings Theatres Trust took over this year.
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Hide AdAnd the Kings’ Dick Whittington, The Pompey Panto was the first panto the theatre put on itself.
Both have been cut short following the announcement Portsmouth will enter tier three from Saturday.
A spokeswoman for Groundlings said: ‘Grounding Theatre Trust are deeply disappointed that our first production ‘A Christmas Carol’ has been cut short by the change to tier three in Portsmouth.
‘We were looking forward to providing a high-quality production which has already opened to some fantastic reviews and are sad that many people have booked tickets and will be unable to experience our exciting new show.‘Naturally such a decision will have financial consequences for the theatre, but it will also have an impact on many people in the community who have worked so hard to make this show a success.
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Hide Ad‘We want to issue a heartfelt thank you to those involved, and to those who have booked and we hope that sometime soon we can welcome you with open arms through the doors of our theatre.’
Friday will see the final panto at the Kings until Portsmouth reemerges from tier three.
A statement on the The Kings Theatre’s Twitter page said: ‘We're so proud of what we have achieved staging our first Pompey Panto and are devastated that the show must be closed over Christmas whilst we're in tier three.
‘If you have purchased tickets for after that date then our Box Office will be in touch shortly. Please be patient whilst we contact everyone.’