Jonny Weston, Front of House ‘Red Coat Team’, Theatre Royal Dury Lane

What has the journey been like to get back to theatres?

It has been historic because we will never have this opportunity again. When I was a kid, a 13-year-old boy from Birmingham, we didn’t even know what the West End was! Then thanks to Lord Lloyd Webber, who was searching for his Maria and his Joseph every Saturday night on BBC One, all of a sudden he just opened this world.

I never thought I would ever be in the same room as him, let alone get to work for him, so the thought of opening all of LW theatres, chronologically, one after the other is a piece of history that we’ll never get back again so I’m very, very proud to be a little part of history.

How is it for you being back?

Such a relief. I’m so lucky and honoured that I get to look after any of our VIP’s, and I say to all of them it’s not a competition. We’ve all had to endure a terrible, turbulent time. The theatre industry did die overnight, but it’s not a competition, it’s just all about uniting and bringing theatre back

It’s amazing to see the West End alive again, and I think we have to give all the credit to our front liners, who are our box office. They’re our front liners in this industry. They’re the ones that have worked throughout this pandemic, that continue to work. They’re our frontline workers and we should be really proud of them.

What did you miss most about live performance?

Standing ovations! Applause! Laughter! As rooms, theatres are made to be alive. Call me biased, but I think we have the best theatres in the world. Most of our theatres are grade one [or] grade two listed [buildings] for instance, [Theatre Royal] Drury Lane: there have been 4 theatres on that site since 1663. The one that’s currently in Covent Garden now was erected in 1812. Any building that has a capacity of 2,000 people that was built in 1812 deserves life, so I missed seeing the theatre life and thank God we’ve got it back.