I read the comments that you sent to my colleague Jean Siag which state the reasons why you go to see shows less or more at all. All your reasons are good.
But let me flip the pancake and try to see the blind spot of this change.
You don’t find it strange that the digital world is so easily singled out to justify various upheavals of our time, notably the crisis which is shaking the media, but that it is so little mentioned to explain why we have less desire to see a play, a dance or music performance?
Let’s be realistic, we are surrounded by a host of technological means whose function is to satisfy our need for entertainment.
Do we want to watch a movie? Hop! it is all good ! Do we want to read a book? Hop! it is all good ! Do we want to binge-watch a series? Hop! it is all good ! Do we want to play a new game? Hop! it is all good !
Let’s face it: the pandemic has made us hibernating bears. We collectively discovered the benefits of the cocoon at the very moment when technologies were changing our relationship to “traditional performing arts”, I would even say our way of feeling emotions.
These technologies offer us new perceptions. Worse, they have transformed our relationship with others.
Of course, after confinement, we were like dogs getting out of a car after a two-hour drive. With wagging tails, we rushed into theaters and cinemas.
But a bit like when you see a friend or a lover again after 25 years, we told ourselves that certain things had changed, that we had changed. And we returned to the offerings of technology and the comfort of our couch.
In short, the reasons we give today for not going out anymore are pretexts. Yes, it’s true that an evening at the show can cost a fortune (ticket + meal + babysitter + parking). Yes, it’s difficult to kick yourself in the butt to go see a play that’s been on the schedule for months when you’ve heard lukewarm rumors about it. Yes, it has become a mission worthy of James Bond to find a parking space in downtown Montreal.
Teleworking doesn’t help anything! We spend the day at home and, around 6:30 p.m., we have to take off our sweatpants and rush into a car or a bus to meet a friend in front of a theater one February evening at -12. You need desire to do that!
I know that my comments will not be appreciated by theater directors and show producers. We prefer not to hear that. But this reality is the elephant in the room.
What we are experiencing right now has nothing to do with the pandemic. This revolution began long before the advent of COVID. The pandemic has only crystallized this situation.
And what does this mean for those who hold the reins of the performing arts? To find ways to remind the public that it is worth leaving their home to go to a dark room.
Do you remember the reaction of people “in the community” who were shocked to hear former minister Nathalie Roy say in the middle of a pandemic that we had to “reinvent ourselves”? Well, that’s exactly what those who run theaters and cultural centers are currently doing.
An artistic director of a theater told me that everyone at the moment is thinking deeply about what we should do to attract people to the theaters. Everything is scrutinized! The nature of the shows, the subscription options, the times of the performances…
It takes creativity! But we also need more help from governments.
Why don’t 16-30 year olds have a card allowing them to benefit from a substantial discount in all areas of the arts on a permanent basis? Why isn’t there a real tool (a sort of Pariscope) allowing visitors who arrive in Montreal to know exactly what is on display every day in our theaters? Why do so few theater productions tour?
Between the young people who sparingly attend performance halls and the older ones who fear (with good reason) of slipping on the icy sidewalks of Montreal while walking from the metro to the theater, there is a small core of forty- and fifty-year-olds that everyone else tears away.
Each month, a large part of this core group tells itself that the budget it could devote to shows is used to pay for the subscriptions of the five or eight platforms it consumes.
This situation can not continue.
For the moment, what we hear a lot is that we need to bring digital technology into the arts. Of course, saying that makes you buzz. But what it takes is just learning how to bring human beings into the rooms.
The performing arts have existed for 25 centuries. I refuse to believe that the sensations experienced by the ancient Greeks will disappear with our civilization.
If so, let’s quickly make concrete couches!