Theatres in England can reopen for socially distanced indoor performances from August 1, it was announced yesterday.
Ahead of that date, the government is working on pilot openings to establish guidelines for venues before they welcome guests back.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in an announcement: "From August 1, we will restart live indoor performances to a live audience, subject to the success of pilots, and we will pilot larger gatherings with a view to a wider reopening in the autumn."
Oliver Dowden, the UK's Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, tweeted that he was "pleased to make progress to Stage 4 of our road map for culture".
Theatres in London’s West End closed on March 16 “until further notice”, as part of a move to limit the spread of the coronavirus. There have since been fears for the future of performances, as the closure lasted much longer than anticipated.
In June, actress Dame Judi Dench told Channel 4 News that she didn't think London's West End was "going to recover" without government help.
“It’s a desperate feeling, and when will they ever open again?” she said. "I don’t know, certainly, I’m sure not in my lifetime.
"I’m not saying that it should be more prioritised than anything else, but it just is going to be very serious. It’s a very serious effect on all of us. If the theatres now close and become dark. I don’t know when we’re going to get them back."
Jon Morgan, director of Theatres Trust, has labelled the news "a step in the right direction".
However, he added the caution that "for most theatres it will not be economically viable to reopen with the 30 to 40 per cent audience required under social distancing".
In the capital, socially distanced performances have been trialled at the London Palladium and with the London Symphony Orchestra.
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
- 2018: Formal work begins
- November 2021: First 17 volumes launched
- November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
- October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
- November 2024: All 127 volumes completed
Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
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