Due to start on Wednesday, the festival would lose a third of its scheduled acts.
Losing the garden venue was a “big gut punch”, Forbes said, but after crew and artists had been accounted for, there were limited seats left for an audience.
It was not viable to build an elaborate set and stage for the possibility that the country moved back to alert level 1.
Forbes said artists were intending to travel from Auckland, and it was still unknown if they would be able to make it.
David Unwin/Stuff
The Regent Theatre Trust Board chairman David Lea next to the barriers that will split the audience in four.