Valencia's cultural programming is disrupted by the announcement of the Principal Theatre's closure due to the building's poor condition. Just one day before the Diputació de València, the building's owner, announced its closure, the Generalitat had presented its new cultural offerings, plans that now must be altered.
The Conselleria d'Educació i Cultura has announced the relocation of the IVC's proposals initially scheduled for the theatre. These performances, which were set to begin on October 3rd with the play El entusiasmo by Pablo Remón, will be moved to the Martin i Soler hall at the Palau de Les Arts. While the continuation of the shows is assured, the final schedule and potential date changes are still to be confirmed.
Meanwhile, the Principal Theatre's box office remains closed. The theatre's website informs patrons with a message stating: “Following the announcement of the closure of the Teatre Principal de València by the institution that owns the building, we are working to relocate the programming to a new venue and ensure the continuity of the planned schedule.”
The decision to move the programming to the Martin i Soler hall will allow a significant portion of the performances to proceed, but it entails a considerable reduction in capacity. The Les Arts hall has 400 seats, whereas the Principal Theatre could sell up to 724 tickets per session. It is worth noting that the Principal's total capacity exceeds a thousand seats, but the upper sections of the auditorium have been inaccessible for years due to structural problems.
With this move, the IVC will lose approximately 45% of its regularly used capacity. If the Principal's base capacity were considered, the loss would exceed half. The Conselleria d'Educació i Cultura has not responded to inquiries regarding the impact of this reduction.
The change of venue is occupying many hours in the IVC offices, affecting not only capacity but also the schedules of the affected companies, the work of technical teams, and the promotion of the programming.
The Teatre Escalante is also impacted, albeit to a lesser extent. The play El llibre de la selva, which was being performed at the Principal and had to suspend its remaining shows, will be moved to Les Arts. The rest of the programming, including Christmas events, will take place at Viveros.
