I read the comments you sent to my colleague Jean Siag explaining the reasons why you watch fewer shows or not at all. All your reasons are good.
Published at 1:27 am. Updated at 7:15 a.m.
But let me flip the pancake and try to identify the blind spot of this change.
They don’t find it surprising that the digital world is so easily used as a justification for various upheavals of our time, particularly the crisis that is rocking the media, but that it is so little mentioned to explain why we have less desire to to see a play, dance or musical performance?
Let’s be realistic: we are surrounded by a multitude of technological means whose function is to satisfy our need for entertainment.
Do we want to see a movie? Hop! Everything is good ! Shall we read a book? Hop! Everything is good ! Do we want to binge-watch a series? Hop! Everything is good ! Do we want to play a new game? Hop! Everything is good !
Let’s face it: The pandemic has made us hibernate bears. We discovered together the benefits of the cocoon at the 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 changed our relationships with others.
Of course, after giving birth, we were like dogs getting out of a car after a two-hour drive. We stormed into theaters and cinemas with tails wagging.
But a bit like seeing a friend or lover after 25 years, we told each other that certain things had changed, that we had changed. And we returned to the possibilities of technology and the comfort of our couch.
In short, the reasons we give today for not going out anymore are excuses. Yes, it’s true that an evening at the fair can cost a fortune (ticket + food + babysitter + parking). Yes, it’s hard to kick yourself for going to see a play that’s been on the schedule for months when you’ve heard lukewarm rumors about it. Yes, finding a parking spot in downtown Montreal has become a James Bond-worthy mission.
Teleworking doesn’t help! 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 outside a theater at -12 on a February evening. You need desire for this!
I know my comments will not be appreciated by theater directors and show producers. We’d rather not hear that. But this reality is the elephant in the room.
What we are currently experiencing has nothing to do with the pandemic. This revolution began long before the advent of COVID. The pandemic has only exacerbated this situation.
And what does this mean for those in charge of the performing arts? Find ways to remind the public that it is worth leaving home and going into a dark room.
Remember the reaction of people “in the community” who were shocked when former minister Nathalie Roy said we needed to “reinvent ourselves” in the middle of a pandemic? Well, that’s exactly what those who run theaters and cultural centers are currently doing.
A theater artistic director told me that everyone is currently thinking hard about what we should do to attract people to theaters. Everything is under scrutiny! The type of shows, the subscription options, the times of the performances…
It takes creativity! But we also need more help from governments.
Why don’t 16 to 30 year olds have a card that allows them to permanently benefit from a huge discount in all areas of art? Why isn’t there a real tool (a Pariscope of sorts) that allows visitors arriving in Montreal to know exactly what’s being shown in our theaters each day? Why do so few theater productions go on tour?
Between the young people who rarely go to theaters and the older ones who are afraid (with good reason) of slipping on Montreal’s icy sidewalks while walking from the subway to the theater, there is a small core of Forty and fifty year olds who are tearing everyone else away.
Every month, a large portion of this core group tells themselves that the budget they could spend on shows is being used to pay for the subscriptions to the five or eight platforms they consume.
This situation cannot continue like this.
At the moment we often hear that we need to bring digital technology to the arts. Of course, saying that causes a stir. But you just have to learn how to bring people into the rooms.
The performing arts have been around for 25 centuries. I refuse to believe that the sensations experienced by the ancient Greeks will disappear with our civilization.
If yes, let’s quickly build concrete sofas!