Is there a crisis in Toulouse theaters? Especially the smallest, which do not benefit from public subsidies. Certainly, the month of September is not the best; it’s the start of the season, not all the shows have started yet. But still: many establishments seem to be sticking their tongues out, perhaps because of inflation, the habits adopted by spectators during the confinements of the health crisis.
For Stéphane Batlle, the artistic director of the company Le Grenier de Toulouse, the figures speak for themselves: “Wednesday evening (September 21), we had a premiere in a 400-seat hall, and there were only 32 reservations! It generates fairly significant warning signals in mi“.
In a room with 400 seats, only 32 reservations!
Especially since this piece that the company plays at l’Escale à Tournefeuille is “Oscar”, popularized in its time by Louis de Funès. In short, a safe bet, which should work much better. The Grenier de Toulouse has been wearing it for three years, with success. For Thursday September 22, it was 42 reservations. For the weekend, 60…
Inflation, a leading role?
Another example in the center of Toulouse, the Grand Rond theater (120 seats) has never regained its pre-Covid attendance, explains Eric Vanelle, one of the co-founders: “overall, we have a drop in attendance of 15 to 20%“. But he explains that the trend is not at all homogeneous, with sometimes shows that will work “even better than 2019” and others “more risky, more innovative, where we usually managed to get people to come in large numbers. But there, we took back big broths that we hadn’t had for a while“.
But for Eric Vanelle, viewers may have especially taken on new habits with the Covid-19: Netflix and company. Inflation is not the only explanation for the lack of love, according to him: “I think that with places from 6 to 13 euros (and we are not the only ones at this price), it is not a brake. That’s the price of two beers right now! But maybe things get so tense for a lot of people that it gets complicated. But I don’t feel like that’s such a big factor.“.
Stéphane Batlle, from the Grenier de Toulouse, is aware that the culture budget can jump first, in the choices of a household: “I can well imagine that the crisis is at stake, with a lot of costs for the families. The general atmosphere is not to spend on culture. It is a strong signal that is sent to us, and which worries us a lot“.