A small theatre has suspended plays temporarily until they feel it is safer to host them again.

Colne Little Theatre, in River Street, Colne, has currently stopped plays due to concerns around rising infection rates due to the Omicron variant.

A spokesperson for the theatre said: “Following a committee meeting on January 4, we regret it has been decided to suspend the season until such time as it is safe to resume in the interest of public safety.

“Therefore, the planned production of ‘The Ghost Train’ will unfortunately be postponed for a second time. This is due to the rise in numbers of Covid cases.

“As a public venue we feel that we have a duty to protect our audiences, staff and cast, The Little Theatre is small and compact, so in the interests of everyone concerned with rehearsals and staging, we feel that it would be prudent to wait a little longer before we proceed.

“A lot of work has already gone into ‘The Ghost Train’, however, we have been hampered with illness during the last few months.

“The actors, the costumes, the set and the sound and lighting are almost ready to go.

“We are hoping that we will be able to resume in the coming weeks.

“With this in mind there will be changes to our scheduled season of plays.

“As yet we cannot confirm how this will work out, we hope to make a further announcement very soon.”

The theatre, which hosts plays by Colne Dramatic Society and outside companies, will be keeping audiences up to date on their social media page as to when productions will resume.