The festival was due to return from the 25th January to mark its 10th Anniversary.

Produced by VAULT Creative Arts, the festival was set to feature over 600 shows of the best new theatre, comedy, immersive experiences, cabaret, live performance, and late-night events.

In a statement on behalf of organisers it was said: “VAULT Creative Arts have made the gut-wrenching decision to cancel the 2022 VAULT Festival. Since the emergence of the Omicron variant, the team have been exploring options to allow them to deliver the tenth-anniversary Festival safely and successfully but all of these were found to put staff and artists at risk.

This proactive decision has been made in order to prioritise and protect the safety, wellbeing and mental health of the festival’s staff, artists and audiences. This festival would have featured 100s of shows from the UK’s brightest and boldest independent artists and the team’s utmost concern is for those they work with, minimising stress, uncertainty and financial vulnerability.

With the majority of shows running for one week or less, the implications of isolation for those performers who contract Covid-19 would mean the runs become instantly untenable. VAULT Creative Arts are in touch with all staff, artists and collaborators and are working hard to provide continued support.”

Those who have booked tickets for any of the shows are being contacted and are being offered the option to donate the value of their ticket or receive a refund. Any donated tickets will be split with the artist of that show as per the ticket split in their agreements.