The Highlands’ main theatre complex will partially re-open this week with customers allowed back into the cinemas and café-bar for the first time in seven months.
The facilities will re-open at Eden Court in Inverness initially from Thursdays to Mondays and will be the first time the public has retuned since lockdown started in March.
Capacity has been reduced at La Scala cinema from 138 to 37 and the Playhouse from 86 to 25 to meet social distancing guidelines.
A new look café and bar will have seating for varying groups of up to six people and other changes include a new pop-up shop and a remodelled open-plan space across the ground floor.
The cinemas will re-open by showing the sci-fi epic Tenet, Les Misérables, a new adaptation of The Secret Garden, music documentary White Riot and new psychological horror Saint Maud.
While there are still no live performances, the theatre will feature drama, opera, ballet and music on screen in its OneTouch Theatre, with tickets going on sale in November.
James Mackenzie-Blackman, the theatre’s chief executive, said: “To re-open our doors 226 days after we closed them feels like a huge moment for us. We do so with both excitement and nervousness about how successful our reopening will be, because the pandemic has devastated our cash position.
“The best way that folks can support us over the coming weeks would be to step-through our doors and work with us to make our re-opening the success it needs to be.”
During lockdown Eden Court was forced to postpone or cancel all live performances, including this year’s panto Cinderella. Mr Mackenzie-Blackman said the impact of the lockdown has been profound and was the biggest threat to the theatre’s existence in its 44-year history.
He told the P&J it would be cheaper to remain closed but he felt there is a civic duty to re-open, at least partially.
“We are at the heart of the city and lots of folk are really keen for us to re-open. It is a risk. It’s been a financially devastating year for us, we would be less financially exposed if we stayed closed. But I feel we have got a civic responsibility and re-opening Eden Court feels the right thing to do for the community.
“There were familiar faces who would pop into Eden Court every day and often the interactions they had with staff were the only interactions they had all day. So we provide a really vital community resource from tackling loneliness to engaging people with great cinema. It feels the right thing to do right now.
“We want this to be the beginning of our re-build. It will be a long and slow journey – we still don’t have permission for indoor live performance and it will be some time before we get artists back in front of audiences, but fingers crossed this is the beginning of us getting going gain.”
Paul MacDonald-Taylor, the theatre’s head of film and visual art, said: “The light of the Eden Court projectors has been dormant since March. While the safety of our staff and audience will be our paramount concern in the coming months, I’m delighted that our cinemas will be reopening.
“There is a wealth of wonderful films out there waiting to be shown, where films really need to be seen – in the cinema. I’ve always felt that our screens are a window to the world – it’s now time for that window to be opened again”.
Eden Court is the largest multi-arts venue in Scotland, housing two theatres, two cinemas, two dance studios and conference and meeting spaces.
It presents around 450 live performances and 2,000 film screening every year as well as almost 60 classes a week, which all attract an annual audience of more than 300,000.