Benidorm Palace is Back! The show goes on safely, and the cast and audience are loving it!

On Friday 7 August, the iconic doors of Benidorm Palace opened once more, and their sell-out Aqua show relaunched with a revamp, as it really wasn’t practical to go ahead with the planned new show. In this article, we talked to two cast members about their experiences in lockdown and their excitement at being back on stage. Spain Life Exclusive went back to Amy and Becky to get their take on the opening weekend, and to find out how it all went. At Benidorm Palace, professionalism is the name of the game, so as well as rehearsing for the performance, the management and staff have been implementing strict cleaning and hygiene protocols to ensure the safety of staff and guests at all times. This forward thinking has earned the venue international recognition. It’s the first nightlife venue in Alicante Province, and only the second in the Valencian Community, to be awarded the Triple Excellence in Nightlife international seal of approval. What is this award, exactly? The Triple Excellence in Nightlife is a sanitary seal of approval, based on World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines which is awarded to venues such as night clubs and cabaret shows as an indication that their staff have had special training, and they are implementing standard protocols to minimise the spread of the Covid-19 virus. These include: • Chemical ‘fogging’ of the premises. • Hand sanitisers available to staff and customers. • Staff and customers must wear masks, and there must be masks available on the premises for those who don’t have them. • Strict protocols in place for cleaning and disinfecting areas of high footfall. • Training for all staff in infection prevention and risk mimimising. • Use of an app to trace customers in the case of infection. Just 17 establishments in the whole of Spain have been awarded this recognition, and those are mainly in the Catalonia area and the Balearic Islands. You can be sure of safety at Benidorm Palace, as you relax and enjoy your meal and the show, but what’s the experience like for the cast? After all, the best entertainment venue in Spain is used to playing to a full house, and often, the shows are sell-outs, leaving lots of disappointed people who couldn’t secure tickets. I aske singer Ami and dancer Becky how it went.  Becky feels really proud and privileged that the show she performs in is one of the first to be staged in Europe after lockdown. She hopes it will be the start of a gradual recovery for the performance industry, and that her friends across the world will soon be back on stage, where they belong. She said: ‘It was great to be back on stage, doing what I love, after months of waiting. Such an amazing feeling!’  Ami was feeling nervous about going back on stage, but enjoyed it once the lights went down. She was pleasantly surprised, as she expected to see lots of empty seats, and wasn’t ready for it to look like there was a full house! She told me: ‘It was a bit surreal, going back, but in a nice way. I really enjoyed it.’ Performers need an audience to bring out their best, and the thoughtful arrangement of the tables meant it looked like the cast were performing to a full house. And with the added bonus of the new technology installed during lockdown, the whole experience was great for everyone. That’s just one of the reasons why Benidorm Palace is both famed and envied across Europe, and why they are one of the first venues in the region to be awarded the Triple Excellence in Nightlife international seal of approval. Everything is perfected, down to the last detail. The management and staff are positive and forward-thinking in everything they do, and Spain Life Exclusive wishes them every success with their new look Aqua Show. We recommend it to all our readers – we will certainly be going back for another sprinkling of Aqua!  At the moment, the show is just being presented on Fridays and Saturdays. Keep checking on Benidorm Palace’s Facebook Page for news of changes