The stage falls silent at 
Belvoir Players’ Studio Theatre

It has been owned and operated by Belvoir Players Amateur Dramatic Society since it opened in 2000. This year should have been a celebration of the history of the building, but Covid-19 put paid to all of that.

“When the lockdown hit in mid-March, we had a full programme of events scheduled up until the middle of the year and were in the process of confirming the planning for our autumn/winter schedule,” explained theatre manager Roger Dane.

“The Belvoir Players Junior Academy senior section were two weeks away from the opening night of their Evita and cancellation is a particularly bitter pill as many had reached an age where they are heading off to drama school or university and may never perform with us again.

“The Players’ other scheduled productions of Annie, Oliver, Juno and the Paycock, Bonnie & Clyde and Strictly for the Birds all fell victim to the virus. Most of these will never return. Visiting companies such as the Northern Ireland School of Music & Drama (NISMAT), Bart Players and Lambeg Players also had to cancel and NISMAT had to cancel three separate productions!

“Summer schemes from the Academy and Streetwise Circus School disappeared from the schedule. Likewise, performances from the PM Big Band and Second Chance Ballet fell by the wayside, along with an Irish dance festival hosted by the Trim the Velvet dance school.

“The greatest tragedy of these cancellations was its impact on those who were expecting to take part.

“The description ‘amateur’ is often used to describe performers who are unskilled but its meaning comes from the Latin amātor (lover) and amāre (to love) and describes those who engage in artistic pursuits for the love of participation rather than as a profession.

“In our small corner of the artistic world, thousands of these youth and amateur performers have had their hopes and expectations taken away.

“Even when the situation returns to some form of normality those experiences will have been lost, never to be recaptured.

“Perhaps surprisingly for an arts organization that is not significantly publicly funded, our financial position is relatively secure as our members are wonderful and have continued to pay their membership fees throughout but moving forward there is no certainty of when we can return to performance.

“If given the go ahead by the government’s experts, we have a full programme planned for November/December including 22 performances of our 2020 pantomime ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. A cast and crew of 200+ adults and children are ready to bring this production to audiences of over 4000 people if we are allowed.

“Louise Herron of NISMAT has plans for two productions, the PM Big Band and Stormont School of Singing will bring their traditional Christmas shows if we are allowed.

“We will return. The ghost light will be extinguished, and theatrical performance will illuminate our stage.

“The future will be bright but, at the moment, the light at the end of the tunnel is too dim to see, obscured by a haze of fear and bureaucracy.”