Social Distancing To Remain During Edinburgh International Festival : The Indiependent

Further tickets will not be sold in advance of Edinburgh International Festival, despite many sold out performances.

Many performances will take place in temporary outdoor venues to ensure greater safety for the performers, staff and audiences involved. Two of these outdoor venues, Edinburgh Academy Junior School and Edinburgh Park, have a capacity of 670, and a third, Edinburgh University’s Old College Quad, has a capacity of only 230, a fraction of the numbers that would usually attend.

Some shows being staged indoors at the Royal Lyceum Theatre and the Festival Theatre, including Scottish Opera’s production of Falstaff, will also be performed with lower audience capacities.

All performances will have two metre social distancing, which remains in line with the restrictions present when tickets were released in June.

According to The Scotsman, Mr Linehan, director of the Edinburgh International Festival, said: “I wouldn’t think we will be releasing any extra tickets for sold out performances.

“We have sold seats on the basis that they will be socially-distanced. This will be the first time people have stepped back into an auditorium, so we can’t change that.

“Half the people you speak to are like: “That’s it, restrictions are gone, let’s all pack in’,” he continued. “But the other half are like: ‘I’m still quite nervous about this. This is my first concert back and I want it to be done this way.” We have to respect that.”

He added that the festival will return to its full programme in venues such as the Festival Theatre, the Usher Hall and the Lyceum across Edinburgh to mark the festival’s 75 thanniversary.

Originally published at https://www.indiependent.co.uk on August 12, 2021.