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Post by kathryn on Jul 8, 2020 12:58:32 GMT
I had one woman who complained about ticket prices eventually admit that she didn’t live within 50 miles of a theatre. Well, then, it’s not the ticket price that’s the barrier, is it? You wouldn’t be able to go even if I paid for your ticket and your travel, because you can’t/don’t want to fit the travelling involved into your schedule. This would be less of an issue if top-notch shows with top-notch casts toured the regions, like they once did, but they don't. Even NT Live - the theatre equivalent of Skyping your relatives rather than visiting in person - is £24 at my local Picturehouse. And London's excellence is funded by everyone: "Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Arts Council funding to the arts is heavily skewed to people in London, with them benefiting to the tune of £69 per head compared with £4.58 in other English regions." (Guardian, 2015). Steps are supposedly being taken to redress this massive imbalance but it has not been quick enough, and we do not have a system like the one I've heard of (through this board) on the continent, where theatre tickets in major cities include subsidised travel costs for those outside that city. Yea, there are certainly problems with the lack of regional tours, and subsidised travel would help. But at some point we also have to admit that going to the theatre involves effort - simply sitting watching a show involves effort - and a lot of people don’t want to make that effort. And that’s fine! No-one has to go! It’s a hobby people should be able to enjoy, not a moral imperative. Unfortunately people rarely admit that they simply don’t want to make the effort and instead claim that the problem is with theatre - no matter how hard everyone tries to make theatre accessible and affordable and relevant, no matter how well it is reviewed. As the saying goes, you can lead a horse to water...
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2,972 posts
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Post by crowblack on Jul 8, 2020 14:07:32 GMT
But at some point we also have to admit that going to the theatre involves effort - simply sitting watching a show involves effort - and a lot of people don’t want to make that effort. And that’s fine! I wish more shows would make the effort to tour, though! I appreciate the difficulties - higher and higher tech productions and the lure of "peak TV" making well-known actors in high demand, but when Ian McKellen bought his simply-staged show to my local theatre it sold out in a few minutes - there's a huge appetite for seeing great actors onstage, but unless you have deep pockets or are lucky with your location you rarely get the chance. And that's not "dissing" locally-based talent - there's great work if you know how to find it - but famous names do encourage people to dip a toe in the water who would otherwise go through life thinking theatre wasn't for them : the 'Nessun Dorma" effect.
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