The Team Lead for ImageBureau, George Quaye, has appealed to authorities to delay the planned closure of the National Theatre for renovation.

He has suggested that alternative venues must first be made available.

Speaking in an interview with Kwame Dadzie on Joy FM’s Showbiz A-Z, George Quaye said although the renovation is necessary, shutting down the facility at this time will adversely affect the entertainment industry.

“If we shut the National Theatre down where do we go, especially for those of us who practices theatre?” he asked.

When asked how renovation could proceed without closure, he said, “if you shut down the National Theatre it’s like shutting down the whole sector. Someone like Latif does his plays at the AICC. It has more seating spaces than the National Theatre but if that has been shut down, where is someone like Latif going to stage his plays?”

He further explained that alternative venues are either unsuitable or too costly for commercial theatre productions.

“Let’s be frank, the Arts Centre is not really convenient for the kind of commercial theatre that we do now. You can’t do a theatre show conveniently at the College of Physicians and Surgeons. Neither can you do a theatre show conveniently at the UPSA auditorium. The challenges and the cost implications will be mind-blowing. We cannot bear them. We are barely even breaking even at our theatre shows. So I will beg, plead and implore the Tourism Minister that if they can hold on with the renovation it will help,” he said.

His concerns come at a time when key performance venues in Accra are either closed or unavailable for use. The Accra International Conference Centre has already been shut down for renovation.

The situation is further compounded by the inaccessibility of the Grand Arena, which authorities say is not readily available to event organisers.

The planned renovation of the National Theatre which will start in a few months is funded by the Chinese government, with a 30 million dollar grant.