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The nation’s theatres are due to turn red tonight as part of a national day of action calling on the Government for financial help to prevent “catastrophic” job losses across the events industry.

Theatres and events venues will be lit up on the evening of Tuesday, August 11, as part of the “throw us a line” campaign, which is begging for help for the beleaguered live entertainment industry.

The idea of the red lighting to to impress on ministers that there is a “red alert” for the sector, with 1,000 º£½ÇÊÓƵ venues backing the scheme, and music industry giants such as Peter Gabriel and The Cure.

They claim that if help is not forthcoming soon there will be a “nationwide cultural catastrophe” which would see 70% of events businesses such as theatres and music venues run out of cash reserves in the next two months.

That would mean that more than a million people in the industry are at risk of losing their jobs in the next few weeks – 72% of whom are self-employed freelancers, while 600,000 of those affected deliver outdoor events.

With no Government support on the horizon for the event supply chain, redundancies have already begun, and research indicates that 25% of companies will have served redundancy notices by end of August, this rises to 70% by the end of December.

In Plymouth, already , the º£½ÇÊÓƵ's largest regional theatre, after it saw income wiped out during the coronavirus lockdown.

The theatre’s fly tower, and the TR2 production workshop at Cattedown, will turn red during the campaign and the city’s other large events space, Plymouth Pavilions, is also backing the initiative.