World news | The Guardian: Picture the scene: the curtain rises as the orchestra strikes up the opening bars of Puccini’s La Bohème or Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. And in the 850-person auditorium of a storied Russian theatre sits just one lucky viewer, a lottery winner whose prize is the personal performance of a lifetime.
5 comments:
I love this idea, and back when the restrictions were just for groups larger than 25, I thought it might be what the School of Drama would be considering, but this simply is not a safe solution. Unless the performers and technicians went literally nowhere else and interacted with no one outside of rehearsals, this would not be safe. Even with that many precautions, there is no way to know for sure as an infected person may not know they have the virus for two weeks and be contagious for 3 or 4 days before experiencing symptoms. It is too risky. The best thing for everyone would be if the whole world could agree to completely shut down for about a month to completely ice out the virus, but people need food and medicine, so all we can do is socially distance for a few months at a time until enough people develop immunity. Anything else is very irresponsible, but theaters that have recorded performances can stream them and run ads or request donations in order to stay afloat during this time.
Like so many other headlines in this time this one didn't seem real. But it really is a novel idea. My initial concern was that of the performers. Just because the audience has a significant amount of social distance from others, that doesn't mean that those onstage do. This was acknowledged in the article with a few sentences, but no clear conclusion was given. I understand that the purpose of this event is to raise some kind of revenue while continuing to share art, but this piece only mentions the lottery winner paying for a ticket. I wonder if the other 849 people who enter the lottery could pay a small fee for the possible chance of winning. That way a small donation could be made regardless. I'm also curious about what the experience would feel like without an audience around you. Personally, I believe the performance could not be the same without the energy of an audience around you.
This is a super cool idea—it’s like the Broadway ticket lottery but to an extreme! Instead of a whole audience buying tickets ahead of time and a lucky few win the lottery, its the entire audience entering a lottery with only one getting to watch in the end. I would imagine the facility would get cleaned to the degree necessary, in case even that one audience member was susceptible to the virus. But I wonder too, how they’ll handle human interaction with the staff running the theater interacting with the audience member—scanning a ticket? Just showing identification to confirm from afar? I think it’s an interesting idea, but also, the performers being close to one another? I’m not sure that’s the best idea, especially if they have to come in contact during a performance. I clicked on this thinking about a “one audience member experience”, especially since we are in the middle of imaginarium. It’s a very different experience when it’s a small, intimate space versus an entire performance hall. I would feel simultaneously full of wonder and anxiety being given an entire private show.
It's really interesting to see what everyone's coming up with under these circumstances. I don't know if this is the safest solution for actors and crew, so it's probably not a good idea, but I applaud the creativity. It would just be better for everyone to stay inside, including the actors and crew. But, I love that theatre companies are coming up with interesting solutions to still get art to consumers. I've been trying to purchase videos of performances that I want to see. These smaller theaters are really struggling right now and it's making me really sad. These creative solutions are both healthy for the theaters and the economy and the mental health of the people in quarantine, so I'm glad they exist. Art is really important both for those who make it and consume it.
I actually really love this concept. It reminds me of the tagline for our Imaginarium project from Susan – “a theatre experience for one.” Except, this takes that concept to a completely new level. Unlike Imaginarium, which is a small space with a budget of $500, this is a full-blown theatre production in all its spectacle – for one person. Ever since I was a child I have always wondered how it would feel to be a lone audience member for a show, whether that meant buying all the tickets of what, and it seemed like a completely unachievable dream. While it is still highly unlikely for me, as I do not live near Russia, it would still be an immensely cool experience. That being said, they must be very careful regarding the safety of their performers, crew, musicians, and everyone else involved in the production. It sounds like they will be very vigilant about it, but I would still be very hesitant, especially seeing as theatre can often be very close-quarters for performers. In any case, although I will likely not be able to experience true theatre for one in my lifetime, a lucky few will be able to thanks to this theatre in Russia.
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