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Michael Harrison, who has been behind 29 pantomimes in England and seen shows in Wales and Scotland shut in the latest curbs, fears top theatres could be sold off.

He says skilled staff have left the industry after being “hung out to dry”, there is no insurance cover for theatres hit by the pandemic, and it “feels worse now than it did 12 months ago”.

And low “audience confidence” following the Omicron warnings means new tickets are not being booked, putting people in selfimposed lockdowns.

Mr Harrison said theatres could survive only at full capacity and urged ministers: “Close us and pay for it, but don’t close us and just say, ‘Fend for yourselves’.”

The picture is the same in the live music industry. One leading promoter is considering cancelling January and February gigs because of the uncertainty over a fresh Covid lockdown.

Mr Harrison, whose shows include Pantoland, starring Donny Osmond and Julian Clary, at the London Palladium, said: “We just about got through the first lockdown.

“It was incredibly difficult but we were very much the last back with a series of false starts – reopening with social distancing, closing, reopening again with social distancing then closing regularly because of Covid cases.

“I believe this time star Paul there are some commercial producers and some well known shows that will close and never come back.

Mr Harrison believes the Government’s financial support for the theatre industry did not go far enough to bail them all out.

He said: “It’s pretty dark days again, it’s dark days. The heartbreak for me, last year [was] to see my show at the London Palladium closed while the shops are packed.

“People could push past each other in the shops and continue that, yet my show at the Palladium, where the audience were sitting socially distanced, capped at 1,000 people, wearing a mask, was closed.

“And that’s just one example of many kinds of kicks in the stomach the industry has had. Freelancers have been completely hung out to dry, there’s been no support for them other than the special fund – most famously the [director] Sam Mendes fund that has been set up. People who trained and were experts in our industry had to leave to go to work elsewhere.

“Somebody who was perhaps a fantastic musician is now working in a supermarket.They are forced to do that because there was no government support.”

Mr Harrison, who heads Michael Harrison Entertainment and Crossroads Live, said he wanted the public and the Government to understand “how perilous this all is for all of us”.

And he believes theatres – many steeped in Britain’s history – will have to be sold.

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He said: “The last thing we want is to see the UK heritage of those buildings being turned over to those from around the world. They should be in the hands of theatrical British people, I believe.

“In this situation it is, inch by inch, pushing those custodians out. It feels worse now than it did 12 months ago.”

He added: “It just shows you how passionate we must all be – or mad – that we will continue to put on shows and when we don’t have any insurance.”

Speaking of his fears, Mr Harrison warned: “We can’t survive on anything less than full capacity .

“One of my biggest concerns is abou”audience confidence” . Many people have had tickets booked for things and then find out at the last minute that the show can’t go ahead.

“Anybody who has booked tickets is turning up, but what we’re not seeing is any new business.

“You would normally take money on the day for that night, but that’s not happening. I think there’s been so much scaremongering.”

Promoter John Giddings, who runs the Isle of Wight festival and is an agent for stars including Genesis, Lady Gaga and Beyonce, said the industry was now unable to plan ahead and is therefore being forced to cancel future shows.

He said he was angry that young people had been robbed of a rite of passage in going to gigs – while older music stars will miss out on their last years on tour.

Mr Giddings said: “I’m looking at my shows in January and February already, as to whether we need to move them or not or whether they need to happen or not.

“You can’t do a show with 50 percent capacity. It’s financially impossible and you’ve got to be prepared, you’ve got to have a Plan B up your sleeve. It’s not apparent where we’re going to stand in two weeks’ time.”

Referring to some of the older acts and live music audiences who have lost out on two years of live shows, he said: “You’ve got to remember that all these people are two or three years older by the time they get to perform and they’ll be at a point at which they will no longer be able to perform.

“Students have missed the best time of their lives, stuck at home studying online.”

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