Coronavirus: Curfew sees cinemas, theatres stage early shows as concerns raised over impact

Most cinemas and theatres are adjusting their shows to abide by the 9pm curfew that came into place from Monday although concern has been expressed about how hard this will hit the industry.

“We will certainly be affected,” said the managing director of K-Cineplex Alexandros Karapatakis. “We are losing the most lucrative screenings of 8 and 10pm,” he added.

K-Cineplex adjusted their shows in the morning and early afternoon, screening mainly family movies, and dropping the two later screenings.

“We know that traffic will be reduced due to the curfew,” he added.

The uncertainty caused by earlier start times was also underlined by founder and director or Alpha Square theatre-productions Andreas Araouzos.

“I don’t know if people will come so early in the theatre,” Araouzos said.

The two last performances of Betrayal by Harold Pinter staged by the group were moved to 7pm instead of 8.30pm, while the upcoming Christmas play which premiers on December 9 will open at 6.30pm at Theatre Dentro.

Others were more positive, suggesting that early afternoon performances have proven successful in the past.

“Theatre traditionally operated in the afternoons,” general director of Nicosia municipal theatre Giorgos Papageorgiou told the Cyprus Mail.

But some producers might choose to reschedule.

“Depending on the organiser of the show, they either decide to schedule it earlier in the day or suspend the performance until next year,” Papageorgiou said.

Stage One Theatre group, based at Emba Theatre in Paphos, confirmed they had received “a lot of bookings” for their six performances of A Christmas Carol, which was moved an hour earlier, to start at 6.30pm.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.