New Blackmore Vale, July 9, 2021
Arts & Entertainment The arts and entertainment industry has been hit hard over the past 15 months, but there is still plenty to celebrate in South Somerset with The Octagon Theatre, Westlands Entertainment Venue and our Arts Engagement and Outreach Programme presenting work across the district. South Somerset District Council’s entertainment venues in Yeovil have been forced to close their doors to patrons under government national and regional lockdown measure restrictions. Gradual reopening in summer / autumn last year lasted a short period of time before the venues were forced to close again, but that’s not stopped arts and entertainment thriving in South Somerset. SSDC’s Arts and Entertainment Service annual review (2020/21) has recently been published and it highlights some of the key achievements for a service that has endured a rollercoaster of a year. In a year where the doors mainly remained closed and with a total of 9,835 tickets sold for both The Octagon Theatre and Westlands Entertainment Venue, a record number of 363 screenings were shown that bought patrons together to enjoy film and live performance. Patrons enjoyed the comfort of the big sofas at Westlands Entertainment Venue and joined us for the best of Hollywood and mainstream cinema. After six months of constant closure and no live performances at the venues, staff were delighted that Paul Zerdin brought live performances back in October with his 72
THAT’S SHOWBUSINESS: Ventriloquist Paul Zerdin and, inset below, Nurse Nellie Saves Panto
The show DOES go on even with latest covid restrictions ‘mini Yeovil residency’ of six performances. Paul kicked off a total of 42 performances across both venues. The Yeovil Literary Festival was also held at Westlands Entertainment Venue that offered enlightening, inspiring and entertaining talks from writers such as Lucy Worsley, Carrie Hope Fletcher and Jonathan Coe. For two weeks in December, life almost seemed
normal with 3,617 people enjoying the Octagon’s special panto performance of Nurse Nellie Saves Panto. The specially written ‘bitesized’ panto was a love letter to live theatre and the magic of panto with all the ‘best bits’ crammed into a 70minute show performed by a socially distanced cast of five. Throughout the pandemic staff in the arts and entertainment service have worked to continue delivering activities online with many Octagon Academy classes, talks with film industry professionals, online tutorials plus much more being streamed to offer residents the chance to get their much needed arts and entertainment buzz. Once we were able to return to inperson classes we continued to support access to participation, offering the first class back free to
participants, and subsidising the cost of room hire whilst capacity remained limited. With income reduced due to closure, the council has sought alternative sources of income to protect and maintain its venues. In total, over £400,000 of external funding has been secured which has helped to protect jobs, maintain our building and deliver activities online and in person. Councillor Mike Best, portfolio holder for Health and Wellbeing, said: “In a year that has changed our world and brought so much turmoil it can be painful to consider looking back. However, there remains much to celebrate and to be proud of.” You can view the full Arts and Entertainment Service Annual review (2020/21) for yourself online and read all about the successes of the past year.
