Panto lovers will find out in a matter of days whether the show will go on this year at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle.
The much-loved Grey Street theatre had been holding out for better news from the Government over the future of live performances before making a decision on whether this year's pantomime, Humpty Dumpty, could go ahead.
But now it says it is currently reviewing its panto season - set to star Joe McElderry alongside panto regulars Danny Adams and Clive Webb - and in the meantime tickets for it have been taken off sale.
The Newcastle theatre, which has been closed and left without any source of income since March, is - like similar venues - in the hugely difficult position of not knowing when it can reopen or what the likelihood will be of it staging live shows given that social distancing requirements would make them unviable.
In June, with the financial noose tightening, it was forced to announce plans to make 44 - half - of its current staff redundant.
But it was still keeping fingers crossed that the annual pantomime - its big earner of the year - would be able to go ahead as planned from November 24 for a mega-run up until January 17, 2021.
In July producer Michael Harrison, who is also chief executive of the world's biggest pantomime producer Qdos, had warned that without further Government clarity the whole panto season could be ditched, saying that beyong August 3 "we will then have to begin the process of unravelling the season".
And this Tuesday, August 4 - on the day that The Customs House in South Shields announced the cancellation of its pantomime - the Theatre Royal updated its customers.
In a statement it said: "In light of the Government’s confirmation last week that they won’t be providing further guidance on theatres operating without social distancing until November at the earliest, we are left with no choice but to review our pantomime season.
"We have stopped selling tickets for Humpty Dumpty while we do this."
It added: "We will announce our plans in the next few days and communicate to ticket holders in due course."
