Anger at sudden decision to close theatre for repairs

THE CYPRUS Theatre Organisation (Thok) has lashed out at Nicosia municipality after a decision to close the Municipal Theatre for emergency repairs to its roof, saying the announcement had come out of the blue.

Nicosia mayor Lellos Demetriades yesterday sought to reassure Thok that alternative venues would be found for their performances, and said the urgency of the repairs had only become clear on Tuesday.

But Thok director Andis Spatchilis said yesterday the problems had become apparent two months ago.

“This is a complete lack of communication. They kept it hidden for two months and didn’t tell us anything. This infuriates me. In that time of two months we could have found alternative solutions or found a hall and modified it temporarily, for a few months or as long as was needed for the theatre to be fixed.”

The announcement comes just days before the start of the Kypria 2000 festival, for which the Municipal Theatre was due to host several events.

Demetriades said the roof of the theatre had be a cause for concern for some time but that the seriousness of the damage was only fully understood on Tuesday when a Municipality crew went up to examine it.

“We always knew it would have to be closed, and we expected to be able to give months of warning, but when we saw this we had to close the Theatre immediately.”

Demetriades said he understood the closure would cause problems for Thok and for the Kypria festival. “But we could not take a chance when somebody could be killed or hurt.”

Culture Minister Ouranios Ioannides has said alternative venues for events planned for the Theatre would be announced as soon as possible.

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