...but the comedians stay at home!

A theatre is opening its doors after lockdown with a comedy show with a  live audience – but absent comedians.

Bristol’s Old Vic will on Friday be staging a version of the panel show Who Said That?, which local stand-up Mark Olver devised to be played over Zoom.

And while Olver will be hosting the show from the venue's stage the contestants –  Jayde Adams, Luke Kempner, Robin Morgan and Lou Conran – will still beam in their contributions over the internet.

The audience, who can buy socially distanced tables in groups of two upwards, will watch their contributions on the big screen.

Artistic director Tom Morris acknowledge that he was taking tentative baby steps towards reopening with ‘tiny performances’ – but added: ‘Our aim is to re-grow our programme gradually, ensuring that the audience experience is safe and the creative process properly protected, too.’

‘There will be pioneering experiments in hybrid live/streamed performance to give those who prefer to stay at home a front seat experience alongside the growing audiences we are able to entertain live. 

‘The journey might be long before we can get close to the scale of work we were enjoying last year, but it’s exciting, too, giving us the opportunity to rethink our relationship with the city… we are thrilled to be embarking on a new journey  this week.’

In Who Said That?, which has been running online throughout lockdown, panelists pose a question, which the others answer via text to Olver. The challenge is then to match the repsonses to the competitors.

Previous editions of the show, featuring the likes of James Acaster, Russell Howard, Rachel Parris, Jon Richardson, Paul Sinha and Richard Osman are available on YouTube.

Published: 18 Aug 2020