Welcome to the February edition of Ensemble. I hope you’re all keeping well.

The most significant and optimistic news from this week was the announcement that the prime minister will effectively declare the end of the pandemic within weeks, scrapping compulsory isolation for people with Covid-19 and starting the winding-down of free tests. The hope is to bring forward the end of all remaining restrictions to later this month, meaning that people who test positive for Covid-19 in England will be free to decide whether to isolate and for how long. This will of course change all our lives again as we adapt back to how life was pre-pandemic.

Looking ahead, we’re excited to be hosting our annual Management Away Day once again for the first time since December 2019. The event, which is themed ‘Living Our Values’, will be held at the Old Town Hall, High Wycombe on 28 February, and will look at how the business has adapted, expanded and survived during the pandemic and with particular focus on how we continue to rebuild for the future, setting out our business goals for the year ahead. For those attending, I look forward to seeing you all on the day, and there will be a full report on the Away Day in the next issue of Ensemble.

There has been a lot of change at TE over the past few months, with new appointments, promotions and people departing the business. In this month’s Ensemble, we have a round-up of all the recent announcements. Plus there’s exciting casting news for our smash hit production of Anything Goes and our hugely successful lockdown hit, Death Drop, returns to London for another West End run. Also this month, our EDI Working Group offers some insight into LGBT+ History Month and we have reports from the regional venues about the new Spring Menu and Mystery Guest initiative.

Until next time, take care and look after yourselves.
Best wishes
Rosemary