A YEAR since being forced to close due to the Covid pandemic, one of the few sectors in Wales which has not been allowed to reopen – theatre – is reflecting on the past 12 months.

On 16 March last year, theatres and entertainment venues were forced to close to the public, a week before the UK-wide lockdown.

Although lockdown measures have eased for other sectors, these venues have not reopened.

Creu Cymru, development agency for theatres and arts centres in Wales, has launched the #WeMissYou #HiraethuAmdanat campaign to highlight how much they miss the audience, performers and staff.

As part of the campaign, theatres and arts centres across Wales lit up in the colours of the rainbow on 16 March as a sign of hope. A rainbow montage image of locations lit up was shared on the day.

Creu Cymru director Louise Miles-Payne said: “We wanted to unite theatres across Wales and what better way to do that than with a rainbow. It is a symbol that we are still here and waiting for the return of our audiences, staff, and performers.

“We’ve been working closely with Welsh Government officials and the deputy minister on the safe reopening of our theatres. We hope this will be allowed soon when the situation improves.”

Despite restrictions, the past 12 months have been busy for Theatr Felinfach, as head Dwynwen Lloyd Llywelyn explained.

“We established a digital platform for our work called Dychmygus/Imagine, which hosted a variety of projects including a digital version of our famous Welsh language pantomime. We also established a multi-partner festival and even gave Santa and Mrs Santa a hand to bring a message to all the children of Ceredigion.”

Aberystwyth Arts Centre has also been busy. Dafydd Rhys, director of the centre, said: “We’ve been very busy, moving many of our creative learning classes onto virtual platforms to make sure they could continue, particularly classes for our dance school pupils and other activity for young people.

“We have run online events streaming live from the theatre stage which has been a steep learning curve but also a really positive experience.

“It was also important to give visual artists an opportunity to respond to the pandemic, and an open call for ‘Oriel Lockdown’ has resulted in over 1,000 entries – we will be showing every one of them once we are able to reopen.”