I've got so used to heartbreaking news of theatres closing or laying off their staff that it's a very pleasant surprise to hear of a major venue that's actually planning performances for this autumn.
The relatively new Bridge Theatre near London Bridge is unusual it that it was designed to be assembled from a kit which allows it to be packed up and installed somewhere else should the need arise.
However It certainly feels like a permanent fixture at its current location where Artistic Director Nicholas Hytner and his team have presented a very classy, star led repertoire of productions to rival the National Theatre, which Hytner used to run.
It's typical of this innovative organisation that it's announced a plan to make producing for a reduced, socially distanced, audience work whilst the National Theatre, just up river, is still embattled over redundancies.
The size of Bridge Theatre makes it one of London's larger venues so it will be very interesting to discover how empty it feels once they've removed all but 250 seats. This is the amount of people they can accommodate once groups are sat 1m apart.
The organisation recently had a big TV-streaming hit with revivals of a series of monologues by Alan Bennet, known as TALKING HEADS. Each one is about 25 minutes long and features a star actor as a character who's world is turned upside down in an unexpected way.
They really are a treat and the great news is that some of the the leading actors who filmed each will recreate their performance live at Bridge Theatre this autumn amidst some new monologues by other writers which will certainly broaden the cultural scope of the programme.
And everything can be booked with confidence because, in the event of cancellation, or delayed reopening, automatic refunds will be given.
The TALKING HEADS line up is as follows.
Monica Dolan in The Shrine directed by Nicholas Hytner
Tamsin Greig in Nights in the Gardens of Spain directed by Marianne Elliott
Lesley Manville in Bed Among the Lentils directed by Nicholas Hytner
Lucian Msamati in Playing Sandwiches directed by Jeremy Herrin
Maxine Peake in Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet directed by Sarah Frankcom
Rochenda Sandall in The Outside Dog directed by Nadia Fall
Kristin Scott Thomas in The Hand of God directed by Jonathan Kent
Imelda Staunton in A Lady of Letters directed by Jonathan Kent
You can also catch Inua Ellams' and Fuel's production of An Evening with an Immigrant five times at the end of September, with music selection by DJ Sid Mercutio, Ralph Fiennes will take on the role of David Hare in Hare's new monologue (all about contracting Covid). Yolanda Mercy will perform her one-woman play Quarter Life Crisis, directed by Jade Lewis and poet and playwright Zodwa Nyoni's Nine Lives will be performed by Lladel Bryant and directed by Alex Chisholm.
The full schedule is available on Bridge Theatre's web site.
An unexpected consequence of socially distant seating, where people must sit 1m away from those from other households, is that venues would prefer to sell to groups rather than individuals.