The cast and crew of Nexus Bendigo Youth Theatre's Oliver have been forced to postpone their show for a second time due to lockdown.
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Curtains were suppose to rise on the Nexus production of Oliver on Thursday night but the state government's extended lockdown means they must now wait for restrictions to ease before they can secure new dates.
Director Julie Lovell said the initial lockdown announcement left everyone stunned but that back-up plans were in place.
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"Everybody was kind of a bit stunned or confused and not sure what the initial implications would be," she said. "We immediately went on, as leaders, and said 'hang in there, we got a plan'.
"We had already heard murmuring it was happening, so we were onto it right away. We had plans A, B and C already moving and were speaking to The Capital.
"Bendigo Venues and Events have been fantastic in making every person available to us."
Nexus initially planned to open their show on their second weekend, July 29, before lockdown was extended. Now the show going on relies on when the state government removes enough restrictions for theatres to be able to put on performances.
"Our Plan C, which we are now on, is to wait for a date and see if we can open then, whether it is in a different venue or at The Capital," Ms Lovell said.
"BVE are helping us make it to stage pending restrictions lifting and crowd capacities being permitted.
"They are so fantastic. They're about local community and because we're youth theatre, they're wanting to provide a way. Between Bendigo Baptist Community Care - which Nexus is under - and BVE working together, we are trying everything we can."
Cast members originally began preparing for Oliver in February, 2020. Nexus' last show - Les Miserables - was in 2019.
Ms Lovell said, more than anything, getting the show on would be a benefit to the young cast's mental health.
"It matters what we're doing to keep the mental health and well-being of young people at the forefront," she said. "So when new dates are announced, we would love to see people get behind the kids.
"All Australians, one thing we are good at is picking each other up. We'll get there and we are looking forward to seeing what happens when these young people get on stage."
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Ms Lovell said the show will go on even if it means Nexus have to take a financial hit.
"Right now, we are looking at the possibility of having a negative financial output," she said. "But that won't stop us. We're getting on there anyway.
"If we have to do a GoFundMe or whatever or go into the negative and figure it out later, we will. We're looking at ways to get support.
Nexus are open they can secure performance dates in August to avoid clashing with other youth theatre performances.
"We would like to be on before the first weekend in September because then you have Tribe Youth Theatre's Cats coming and we want to give them a fair run of audiences and not conflict with their time to shine," Ms Lovell said.
"We are just hoping and praying we can get in before that. And BVE are working hard to get us in there."
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