Image copyright Robert Smael

Theatres will be among the last places to reopen after the coronavirus lockdown is lifted, meaning venues, actors and crews are fearing for their futures.

The appeal of the theatre - cramming into an enclosed space with hundreds of strangers to share a communal experience - has suddenly become its greatest risk.

Box office takings have dried up virtually overnight. Reopening with social distancing will not make financial sense. One venue, the Nuffield in Southampton, has already gone into administration.

Below, four artistic directors discuss how and when they might reopen, and warn of dire consequences if income and funding dry up.

'It's almost impossible to socially distance a theatre'

The theatre industry is badly wounded, according to Young Vic artistic director Kwame Kwei-Armah's analogy. "Right now we're at the tourniquet stage," he says. "We're trying to stem the bleeding.

"Then we're going to have to stand up, and then we're going to have to run. And we're going to need help at each stage in order to get back to - not even the way it was, but to get back to something that is sustainable and safe."

He believes the south London venue and others like it have enough money to keep going until the autumn. Arts Council England has made £90m of emergency funding available to keep organisations afloat until the end of September.

After that, they will need a government bailout. Without one "many of us will fall off a cliff" in the subsequent months, Kwei-Armah explains.

The key to reopening will be an end to social distancing. "It's almost impossible economically to socially distance a theatre," he says.

"In order to social distance at 2m, we would lose three quarters of our audience. And then we have to work out how you create safe space for the rest of the staff - backstage and in a rehearsal room.

"And then we have to work out what the public appetite might be towards coming back into a theatre."

It will then take three months to get back up and running, taking staffing and rehearsals into account, he adds.

The Young Vic is planning different reopening scenarios up to next April - more than a year after going dark.

The venue has furloughed most staff but has continued some work - reaching 100 members of its young directors scheme online every day, and running a local playwriting programme. Staff are also making food deliveries for a local charity.

When theatres do turn the lights back on, Kwei-Armah says those who have often been excluded in the past must be present.

"From class to race to gender, we have made great progress over the last few years in our sector in trying to equalise it," he says.

"I'm determined absolutely that all of that progress that we've made cannot go for naught. We have to rebuild with that as a fundamental."

The Young Vic's production of A Streetcar Named Desire will be streamed by the National Theatre from 21 May.

'We're clinging on for dear life'

Coronavirus hasn't stopped the youth and elders groups at Manchester's Royal Exchange theatre making a show together - they have just done it online.

The five episodes of Connect Fest, about an ageing band reforming for a festival, are being released daily this week.

"We're still trying to do what we are here to do, which is to give people moments of connection through art," says joint artistic director Roy Alexander Weise.

"It's hard, though, because the team who are producing that piece of work has been cut down because we've had to furlough close to 90% of our staff to help keep ourselves afloat financially, because we aren't making the money that we would do."

When the venue does eventually reopen, Weise and co-artistic director Bryony Shanahan are also thinking about socially-distanced shows.

"It doesn't necessarily make financial sense for us to do that," he says. "But we understand that our purpose is greater than financial gain. It is far greater - it's connection, wellbeing, equal opportunities.

"So I guess, just like everyone else, we're clinging on for dear life trying to see what will happen next, and all we can do is prepare ourselves as best we can to brace for whatever the landscape looks like.

"Producing shows is going to feel incredibly difficult to do in the coming months."