At London's Dominion theatre, "The Prince of Egypt" cast rehearse a dance weeks ahead of the show's reopening.

"We are very fortunate that we have a very large auditorium and we are able to go ahead with a socially distanced audience," producer Neil Laidlaw told Reuters. "But for most of the industry, it was very disappointing."

On Monday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson delayed plans to lift most remaining Covid-19 restrictions from June 21 to July 19, citing the spread of the more infectious Delta variant.

The news was another hit to London's West End theatres forced to close last year because of the global pandemic.

"A four-week delay to the theatre world is pretty much disastrous for a lot of people," Julian Bird, chief executive of the Society of London Theatre and UK Theatre, said.

Read the full Reuters story here.