Fusion Theatre are forced to 
put production of Cats on hold

Formed at the start of the new millennium, the theatre company was the brainchild of Rosalind McCleary, who sadly passed away in 2006 after seeing her dream for a new youth society in Lisburn become a reality. Over the years the company has grown both in numbers and in reputation, having won several awards for its fantastic productions, which have included Les Miserables, Chess, Starlight Express, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,

As with other arts groups and theatre companies across the country, Fusion was hit hard when the lockdown was imposed, although they were fortunate to have been able to stage their production of Sister Act, just before the measures were introduced.

“Fusion were extremely fortunate to have been able to run their production of Sister Act in early March before the world closed down, unlike some of our friends in other societies who had to cancel productions with just weeks to go, after many months of preparation,” said company secretary Samantha Reilly. “Sister Act was a very successful production for Fusion and normally on the back of this we would get straight on with starting to prepare for our next show and also for concerts and fundraising projects that we run throughout the year.

“Since March we have been unable to meet in person which has a huge impact for us for many reasons. We have had to take the very difficult decision to cancel the upcoming production of CATS, which was due to run in October as there are still no guidelines as to when we can begin to rehearse again and with theatres likely to have a reduced capacity it is not viable for us as a small volunteer run charity.

“Fusion have already lost in access of £5000 in fundraising revenue through our annual fundraising events and more in grant funding, as many grants have been pulled or are project specific, and at the moment we have no idea when the production will go ahead. Of course our overheads haven’t stopped, for example the rent of our storage unit and rehearsal space, insurance etc but we have no revenue coming in at all and that is only sustainable for a very short period of time. Our aim is to break even on a production, which mostly cost in access of £25,000, which means we need to sell a minimum of 300 seats per performance and secure grant funding. The impact of not being able to have the young people together for such a long period of time is very worrying. The young people aren’t as resilient and for a lot of them, this will have a huge impact on their confidence and mental health. They form relationships with other members which helps boost their confidence but doing Zoom chats is just not the same.

“When things do change and theatres begin to open, we hope that people will show support for the local arts sector, as without their support it will be impossible for groups like Fusion to continue.”