Fear orders Christmas hinges while theater ticket sales catch up.

Peanut sticks, horse suits, and dazzling women's dresses are being sprinkled in theaters across England for the return of mime season. Oh yes, they are! But with the pandemic not over yet, new research shows that many people are reluctant to return to live to broadcast.

According to the Audience Agency, as the Christmas season approaches in late October, theater ticket sales are down by a third from pre-pandemic levels. Christmas shows are essential for theaters to generate revenue and reach new audiences.

Most productions were canceled or cut short last year, but these Christmas venues can perform without capacity restrictions. Viewers purchased 473,807 tickets for the week starting October 25, the last week available. In the same week of 2019 - before the pandemic - 715,210 tickets were sold, down 34%.

Last winter's mime women march through Westminster

The agency oversees sales at more than 340 locations in the UK. Ticket sales picked up in October, with several producers announcing further growth for the month, suggesting that sales may be catching up. Meanwhile, several large theaters in the West End that were not part of the study reported full halls.

Anne Torejani, CEO of Audience Agency, said the decline was "a bigger problem for venues and organizations in smaller cities outside of major metropolitan areas." He said, "The Christmas season - Panto and other traditional Christmas offerings - can be reduced by 30% or 40% in the worst case. This has severe implications for many organizations that spend a lot of money on production this Christmas and have high expectations." Sale.

"The effects can be quite dramatic. A lot of places are pretty healthy with the restoration funds they receive from the government, but it could be a terrible blow." In another poll conducted in October, 23% of people said they would typically wear hinges sometime in the year, but only 17% rated their odds as 8 out of 10 or greater that year.