As Croatia continues to loosen up its formerly stringent anti-epidemic measures to try to slow the spread of the new coronavirus, COVID-19, the question as Croatian theatres and cinemas re-open their doors is just when big concerts will actually start up again.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 18th of May, 2020, Croatian theatres and cinemas up and down the country have had their doors closed, or better to say their curtains drawn, for a couple of months now. But as of today, those measures are also being loosened up. In theory, you can go to the theatre or to the cinema, but in practice, things will be a little harder.
There are still no announcements yet as to when gigs will take place. Croatian musician Ivica Gluncic is also waiting for the support of the music union, which he has not yet received as a minor musician. This is a difficult year for his band.
"We have contracts that we signed before the beginning of the music season, in February and March alone everything was being cancelled until further notice, we have no information as to whether anything will change," stated musician Ivica Gluncic.
Times are also challenging for big halls, writes Dnevnik.hr. Arena Zagreb is preparing for concerts and sports events in the ''new normal'' with a distance of one and a half metres implied, which means a much smaller capacity.
''We could accommodate somewhere around 6,500 people. We'll work with reduced capacity and even offer the opportunity to host the same concert for two days, if there's any interest in that,'' said Sretan Saric, the director of Arena Zagreb.
However, the question is when big concerts will actually start. More detailed instructions from National Civil Protection Headquarters are still being waited on by those in the field.
''The whole industry is suffering,'' watned Saric.
Unlike music gigs and concerts, cinemas have a slightly clearer situation in front of thm. This week, they'll start working once again with all of the prescribed measures in place. One person at a time will enter, and in the audience, you guessed it, there will be a mandatory distance of a metre and a half.
''This means that there's room for 52 spectators to fit in the hall. It's not very profitable, but we'll start working like that until the situation re-normalises,'' said Marko Rojnic, head of film programmes at the popular Kino Tuskanac.
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