ALTHOUGH we may still be closed to the public, behind the scenes we are busy preparing the Swan Theatre (Covid-19 safe preparations) for our reopening next week.

At present this will be limited to our regular groups who use the Theatre for their community classes but it is the first step in the a process of reopening since lockdown and we are over joyed to be doing so.

Worcester Live staff and volunteers from the Friends of the Swan Theatre have also been incredibly busy making changes to our working and storage environments to accommodate the Worcester-based Vamos Theatre Company (who are the UK’s leading full mask company) who are relocating to the Swan Theatre this week.

Vamos tour nationally and internationally with shows which regularly start at the Swan and back in January we hosted the company for their production week (when sets are built, lighting added and final rehearsals take place) previewing two sell out shows of their latest production Dead Good.

Vamos have been located at The Worcester Arts Workshop for the past eight years and due to this venue’s very sad closure (which is a great loss to the arts scene in Worcester and a clear indicator of the fragility of the arts industry at present), were in need of a new base.

Providing a new home to Vamos at the Swan Theatre is a terrific opportunity for both organisations and Worcester Live will be delighted to be central and supportive to Vamos’s development as they continue to advance and grow with ambitious plans for the future. What is apparent as we navigate this pandemic as an industry, is that we must be willing and able to adapt as we proceed towards the post-covid era.

In doing this hopefully we can come back stronger and superior than we were before.