Carnoustie’s Christmas panto has been cancelled for the first time in 50 years because of coronavirus.
The Carnoustie Theatre Club revealed it had reluctantly taken the decision to cancel Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, while also cancelling its other productions this year.
Dave Ross, president of the club, said: “We are incredibly disappointed but we felt we had no other option.
“This is the first time the panto has been cancelled in 50 years.
“We have also cancelled our May and September productions.”
Dave said the club was currently unable to rehearse because its usual space in Carnoustie High was closed.
The group also uses the Dibble Tree Theatre, but the space is too small to allow rehearsals while socially distancing.
© DC Thomson
Dave said it cost around £10,000 to put the panto on so it was not financially viable to invest the money into putting the production on and then being forced to cancel it and lose cash.
“Our two main priorities are safety first and economics and although we are very disappointed we believe this is the right decision to take at this time, ” he added.
“This decision has not been taken lightly, but with the current situation with the Covid-19 pandemic, we couldn’t safely hold auditions and rehearse in our small Dibble Tree Theatre.
“Then there is the huge financial investment we put into our panto every year, as a club we could not afford to outlay thousands of pounds without return.
“We have now just put everything back by a year and hopefully we can go ahead as normal by next year.
“It takes a lot of people and a lot of effort to put on the panto. We don’t want to let anyone down but it’s better to make the announcement now rather than later. ”
The group plans on returning next May with a production of the Vicar of Dibley, a September production and will perform A Christmas Carol at the end of the year.
