Sheffield Theatres has today announced that the majority of its staff team have been furloughed as part of the Government's Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

Dan Bates, Chief Executive commented: “Today we temporarily become a much smaller team. We’re all committed to doing everything we can to help fight COVID-19. Right now, that’s staying home to save lives and of course, that means we can’t continue to bring bold and brilliant theatre to our stages at this time. We’re using the Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention scheme to help us retain our incredible team whilst we remain closed to the public.

We want to make sure that when it’s safe for us to do so, our talented team can get working again and we can welcome audiences back to our theatres. In the meantime, we’re doing our best to look after our staff and the artists and companies that we work with and safeguard the future of Sheffield Theatres.

The remaining team will continue to look at ways that we can support artists and audiences throughout this time and plan for the day we reopen. We’ll also be working hard to refund customers for shows that have been cancelled as a result of the crisis and we ask for your patience as we do this with a much-reduced team.

I want to thank the whole staff who have continued to show their passion and dedication to our company and our work throughout this incredibly challenging time. I also want to thank our loyal audience for their generosity and support which is making a vital difference to how we get through this challenge and plan for our return to full strength.”

Sheffield Theatres is currently closed to the public and remaining staff are working remotely. The theatres programmed events are currently cancelled through to 23 May. Tickets for future shows remain on sale through the website.