Performers Safety Guide

This is our system from 2020 and 2021, not all of this is in place anymore but we’ve kept the page in case it is needed again.

Please see below for our current covid safety suggestions for performers. This is so we can keep improv fun while also keeping safety in our shows. We will also be able to adjust month by month and bring in additional changes if needed.

We recommend groups also do their own research and complete their own risk assessment. The final decisions on what safety measures are in place on stage during your show are down to each performing group. Hoopla is providing guidance and links to further information, but each group will need to do their own risk assessment and make their own decisions regards on-stage safety measures.

This guide is based on the following:

>> Hoopla’s Full Risk Assessment
>> Department of Digital, Culture, Media & Sport’s Guide for the Performing Arts

The overall aim is to make sure Hoopla’s shows are safe while still being fun, friendly and playful!

Please test regularly

Please test regularly if you can. Covid tests are freely available from local pharmacies if ordered in advance from the government website and are now very quick and easy to do. We suggest testing on the day of the show.

If you have symptoms, test positive, are contacted by Test and Trace, are pinged by the app or come into contact with someone with covid please do not come in to classes or shows for the recommended amount of time.

Please don’t come to a show if you have symptoms

Please remember to not come to class if you have any of these symptoms:

High temperature or fever.
A new, continuous cough.
A loss or change to your sense of smell or taste.
Body aches.
Runny nose and sneezing.

If you start to feel ill during the show it’s also OK to just leave mid-show.

If you hear of anyone at the venue having covid:

Please immediately contact Steve Roe or Angela Pollard at Hoopla.

Things to do on arrival

Go upstairs to the venue and say hello to the Front of House manager.
Rehearse your on and off stage positions, and also route to enter stage before audience arrive.
Please don’t enter the upstairs venue and start rehearsing without talking to the front of house manager first.
Please stop rehearsals when asked to do so by Front of House manager so they can allow audience in safely.

Distancing on stage (gradually phased out after 19th July 2021)

Government advice was previously 1 metre +. This means 2 metre distancing where possible but if not possible 1 metre distancing with extra (+) precautions and for a shorter time. From 19th July 2021 this restriction has been removed and distancing on stage is now down to each performing group.

Check in with each other

We suggest that groups check-in with each other about covid before a performance in case there’s anything that will make each other feel more comfortable when performing.

Face coverings

Performers are exempt from wearing face coverings in rehearsals and shows. People are also exempt from wearing them when eating or drinking. Face coverings should however be worn at all other points whilst in a theatre.

Off stage positioning during show

We’ve done a massive tidy in the venue, and there are a lot less audience seats too, so there is more off stage space for you to stands in-between scenes so you can keep a safe physical distance.

Please be aware of audience as well as other cast members when off-stage.

Audience interaction and distancing

It’s totally OK to chat to the audience and get suggestions like before, but we can’t get audience volunteers on stage at the moment.

Please also keep distance from audience when performing, off-stage and waiting to go on.

Performance on stage only

The audience seating is arranged to keep physical distancing in place between audience and between audience and performers, so at the moment we can only perform on stage and shouldn’t take scenes off stage and into or behind the audience.

The only exception to this are musicians who we may place off-stage.

Stage entry and exit

We’ve left much larger space than before around the stage and a clear route around the audience, please check and practice on arrival. Please ask our Front of House manager if you are not sure.

Waiting to go on

We have factored in cast members into our physical spacing with the audience, so on most nights it will be possible to sit in the audience area at the back if your group on later in the evening.

Please don’t crowd the box office area and please respect the audience distancing.

Warm up and pre-show rehearsal

Before the audience arrive it will be possible to warm up on the stage. Once the doors are opening please stop warm up and please don’t ask for extra time, as our Front of House managers already have a lot to do with people arriving.

It is now possible to warm up in the back cupboard room, but it is small so please check in with your cast about risk. Many groups instead warm up in the park next door.

Handwashing

There are hand sanitisers and washing facilities throughout the pub, please use on arrival and before and after shows. If anything is faulty please let one of the bar staff know and it will be immediately replaced.

Box office area

Please don’t wait around the box office area as audience are arriving. We need to keep the space clear so people can come in and out smoothly.

Tech requests

We are running at vastly reduced capacity and running shows at a financial loss. Our front of house managers will already be working hard with cleaning and managing audience spacing. We don’t have the resources at the moment to accept complicated tech requests. So lighting will be provided but please no technical cues unless you are bringing your own experienced tech to help out.

Props, costumes, bags

We need to keep everything super tidy and clean. So there will be no overnight storage for things anymore and everything for your show should be taken away at the end of the night. Anything left in the venue will be recycled at the end of the night with no exceptions.

Please clean any props or anything else you bring for your show.