On 12 March 2020, the Norwegian government prohibited events at which more than 50 people were present. Schools and businesses were immediately closed. On 13 March, new restrictive measures were established: we could only gather in groups of maximum five persons, outdoors, provided that we held a distance of minimum two metres. Hairdressers, restaurants and many shops closed. People were encouraged to work from home, and to avoid public transport if possible. Ski facilities were closed, and people were prohibited from leaving the municipality of their home. Borders were closed, and Norwegians who were in other parts of the world were flown home. The restrictions became stricter, and the result was a more or less complete shut-down of society.

On 13 March 2020, all performing arts institutions and venues in Norway closed. National and international tours were cancelled. Employees were temporarily laid-off, until further notice.

Artists were quick to find inventive alternatives to live performance. The most readily available measure was streaming and/or broadcasting of video productions of earlier productions. Det Andre Teatret AKA The Other Theatre went online the weekend after lockdown began, streaming improvisational theatre. The Norwegian Theatre was also early in offering free online access to video productions. Other institutions and companies followed, providing web-based content. At the end of April we started to hear about outdoors performances for a small number of spectators. The festival season was mostly cancelled, but several organisations arranged alternative web-based events, Vårscenefest ("Spring stage festival", for 2020 renamed as Vårskjermfest or "Spring screen festival"), and Bergen International Festival among them.

In May, there was a cautious reopening of Norwegian society. From 7 May onwards, public events with a maximum of 50 attendees were permitted, provided that protective measures were maintained. Again, The Norwegian Theatre acted fast. On 7 May, the children’s production Yesper and Noper and Everyone Else was performed in the venue Scene 3, for a limited number of spectators.

At a new press conference on 4 May, the government announced that it would permit events with a maximum of 200 attendees from June 15 onwards, on the condition that protective measures were followed. Most venues opened with full schedules after the summer break, but allowing only a limited number of attendees due to national protection regulations.

Some regions faced a second lockdown in November-December 2020. Just before Christmas the vaccination program started, but again after the Christmas holidays a new national lockdown was deemed necessary. In February 2021 some regions were still experiencing lockdown due to the spreading of the so-called "English" virus mutation, and the borders were also closed for all travellers. The February-March wave was called the third wave, and was the worst wave for Norway in terms of the number of infected and hospitalizations.

On 25 September 2021, at 4pm, Norway opened up again. There was optimism in the cultural industry and among the public. Then the Omicron variant of COVID-19 came to Norway, and we experienced another record in the number of infections and hospitalizations. On 13 December the cultural arenas had to close again.

Norway’s cultural venues carefully started to open up during January 2022, and from mid-February they were finally able to fill up to full audience capacity.