The New York Times: Right now, it feels like time’s been put on hold. Or so I thought one recent afternoon as I walked the quiet streets of London and passed my local playhouse, the Hampstead Theater.
There by the entrance was an array of posters advertising a spring-summer “Hampstead Classics” season, which won’t be happening because of the coronavirus pandemic.
5 comments:
How ironic that the producers decided on these shows for Hampstead’s season, not knowing the events that would ensue and disrupt the season (how would one ever be able to predict this?!) I do agree with the idea that smaller productions will be the first ones to be put back up, and that Hampstead’s coincidental past decision will grant them that ability in the future as things begin to open up again. I definitely think that the pandemic will lead changes to be made in the shows chosen to produce in the near future, and like the article explains, perhaps adjusting larger shows to feature fewer cast members. Like most of the world, theatre will have to adjust and adapt, but that’s what people in the entertainment industry are trained to do, so I’m not too worried. It’ll push creativity, I think. But, it won’t last forever, it’s just glad to know that maybe there’s a way for the arts to get back up and running sooner, because the world needs that hope.
I really enjoyed this article, but it also let me down. I can't wait to see theatres all over the world back open, especially here at home. I will eagerly be one of those willing to go out to see a show (when it is safe to do so) and immerse myself into the world of Pinter or Williams and I love plays that have only a few cast members, but I also love those bigger productions too. A grand musical like Hello Dolly, which, I understand, may not be for some, to a classic play like Noises Off, which no one seems to do anymore. I want to be entertained; I want to forget about my troubles for a few hours. I want to leave the outside world behind and slip ever so gently into the world of Puck, Hamlet, or Willy Loman. I want to be able to feel the victory in Death of a Salesman when it is announced that they house is finally paid off. What I don't want is an experience that leaves me out of that actor-audience relationship. Opening too soon, or with special restrictions in place as such that I read from a previous article could backfire. Thinking small is good, but let's not a whole season out of it. People want to get back to going to things and theatres should be planning for that return. Things will be different, yes, but that doesn't mean that everything has to be micro. Start a season with a small show and build up to the large production. That would be a great way to get your audience back. Keeping it small the whole season? You may find that the audience never recovers its pre-covid numbers.
It’s really sad to think how what’s happening in the world has an impact on absolutely everyone and everything and is something that can’t just go away. This will have an impact on everything for a long long time and I feel like the world will never be the same in a sense. It has already completely changed my way of thinking and I can’t believe I use to take the simple things in life for granted, even theatre. Although there is talk about theatre’s reopening, it feels a little too soon for that to be the truth. I wish that the world could experience theatre again because I think we all need to laugh and smile a little, and hopefully that will soon be true, but I don’t have a lot of hope that it will be in the near future. It’s definitely going to be a slow and gradual journey to having everything feel normal again.
Setting aside all the health considerations, I wonder what a wave of small cast theatre would do to and for the industry. My first thought is that it would probably be tough on actors, especially those who have yet to find enduring success. Assuming the alternative is no plays at all, that's still preferable, but it's not ideal by any stretch. On a more individual note, I happen to really like small cast works becuase I find them often to dive deeper into the characters and their relationships, as opposed to larger works more focused on big plot events and spectacle. Artistically, I think it would be a positive direction for the industry as a whole to move in. The personnel concerns are, however, pressing. If it meant smaller budgets, fewer supported performers, and a general contraction (beyond the one we are already going to experience) of the industry, that would certainly be heartbreaking. My hope would be that theatre would spread out a little bit, disperse and adapt. That it would begin to produce smaller works, but to produce more of them in more smaller spaces. If that were able to happen, I think it would represent a massive move forward in more ways than one.
How coincidental that the Hampstead chose such small-cast shows for their season. Although it is no longer happening, their small-cast shows may be a good inspiration of shows to produce once the world begins to open up again. This article raises some excellent points. With shows that have such small casts as one, two, maybe three people, it is much easier to monitor the safety of the performers and the crew. In rehearsals, it is much easier to stage the piece in a way that the actors can maintain their distance from one another. It is, though, much harder to regulate this in the audience. In theatres, the seats are all next to each other, leaving but inches between patrons. In order to turn a profit, these seats need to be filled. In any case, the world is currently in no state to be reopening theatres quite yet, as we currently seem to be experiencing the peak of the pandemic. It will be very interesting to see how the world adjusts to life following the quarantine. I am curious to see how life will change and adapt to everything we have gone through
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