The emotion rose suddenly, like an unexpected wave that overwhelms us. Ariane Moffatt was on stage at the Outremont Theater at the end of October. It was the first music show I had seen indoors in over a year and a half. I found it beautiful to cry.
On Saturday, I was at the Maison symphonique to welcome the new conductor of the Orchester symphonique de Montréal, Rafael Payare. Pianist Inon Barnatan hovered over the notes like a swallow during the Symphony no1, by Sibelius. The pleasure I had to find this room with exceptional acoustics.
Yes, it will still be allowed to go and see shows. François Legault and Horacio Arruda repeated it several times Thursday evening at a press conference. “We do not intend to prevent shows from taking place on stage,” said Horacio Arruda, praising the collaboration of the cultural community.
I missed Louis-Jean Cormier’s show two hours later at MTelus. “Maybe our last before a end,” regretted Cormier on his Twitter thread. The show, initially scheduled for May 22, 2020 at the same location, has been postponed to December 9, 2020, then to April 15, 2021 and finally to December 16. An obstacle course for the artist and his audience.
I hesitated to go. There is no seat assigned to MTelus. And there are vulnerable people in poor health around me. I stayed home. It seemed like the reasonable thing to do under the circumstances.
Reasonable. That is the word that spontaneously came to my mind, as I listened to the Prime Minister’s address to the nation on Thursday evening, who was in a way resuming his pilgrim’s staff. We have said it again and again: if he has such a head start in voting intentions, it is also because François Legault, an ace in political communication, embodies more than all the other party leaders. reassuring image of a good father.
The fact remains, and many in the health sector have pointed out, that the CAQ government could have anticipated the danger better. See it coming in the rearview mirror, as we are taught in driving lessons. The threat, in this case, of a new variant reported in South Africa already 21 days ago. By changing your vaccination strategy more quickly or by revising the gauges downwards, for example.
Artists are and will of course be discouraged by the new measures imposed on them, as are the owners of performance halls. They will have to review the layout of the rooms again to ensure that they do not exceed the maximum capacity of 50% of spectators as of Monday. Spectators must be seated, wear a face cover (except for eating and drinking) and present a vaccination passport.
“These are relatively safe environments with these instructions,” said Horacio Arruda. “Supervised places with a vaccination passport control at the entrance,” added François Legault, for those wondering why the capacity of theaters is greater than what is allowed in private homes.
“We are all tired,” repeated François Legault. The cultural community, which has not been spared since March 2020, is just as much, by dint of having to review the logistics of shows and tours, constantly postponed.
Financial assistance programs are in place and tickets that cannot be sold due to COVID gauges will be refunded, I was assured Thursday. The fact remains that many spectators who have already bought tickets for upcoming events – I am and I am not the only one, on Christmas Eve – will wonder if they will be chosen at random to give up their place.
Especially since the steps to be reimbursed are often more complicated than they seem. I bought tickets last spring for a music show scheduled for September. The price of the tickets was finally reimbursed to me in November by the promoter (Greenland)… with the exception of the related costs, which amounted to 20% of the total! I asked the question of the why of the how. I was never answered.
Faced with the “explosion of cases” of COVID, as François Legault explained, the government had no other choice but to limit the capacity of the rooms and hope to reduce contamination. “Let’s not take risks,” said the Prime Minister. He is right. This is what is reasonable.
The good news, and it certainly is for now, is that despite all the pitfalls and the headache that this represents, there will still be shows, living art, to be put under. tooth over the next few weeks.
The show must go on, as Freddie Mercury said. In these times of uncertainty, of Covidian depression, of wave in the soul and of winter grayness, we need this wave, that of the raw emotion that the spectacle provides, to drive out all the others.