Traditional Christmas pantos look unlikely to go ahead this year because of the coronavirus lockdown.
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said it would be “challenging” to get theatres back open for the Christmas pantomime season.
He told BBC Breakfast: “I would love to be able to announce that pantos can return but I have to say it will be quite challenging to be able to get to that point.
“Because if you think about a panto, and we all love going to the panto for the joy of it, but it also supports local theatres, you’ve got granny through to grandchild all packed in together, you know how kids are encouraged to shout and scream at panto season, there’s lots of sort of interaction.
“So I would love us to be able to do it. We’re working with Public Health England and others to see about mitigations but I just want to be a bit realistic about the challenges of getting us back to that point any time soon.”
Mr Dowden said that he hopes performances can return “shortly” but there remains a “real risk” of coronavirus transmission inside theatres.
“I understand people’s frustration. They’re desperate for theatres to return, I’m desperate for theatres to return, but we have to do so in a safe way,” he told BBC Breakfast.
Dowden said theatre performances without social distancing are “some way off”.
He said the reduction of social distancing rules, such as on planes, has only been implemented in “exceptionally limited circumstances” and insisted “slow and baby steps” must be taken.
The chief executive of the Lighthouse venue in Poole, Elspeth McBain, had earlier told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that theatres cannot be viable with social distancing.
“With social distancing even at a metre-plus, the economics don’t work for live performance. Most venues work on a really tight margin – we need about 80% capacity to be able to turn a profit,” she said.
