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| Jaeda LaVonne plays Viola in Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s production of “Twelfth Night,” reimagined in the Caribbean isles. Performances begin Oct. 25. (Photo by Jeff Sciortino) |
Chicago Shakespeare Theater is presenting “Twelfth Night,” opening Oct. 25. Of course I was invited. I’ve been going to CST for decades, from before it moved to Navy Pier. I used to say it is a joy just to sit in the polished-wood tribute to Shakespeare’s Globe theater and soak in the surroundings. The fact they also put on a play is a bonus.
I clicked on the email, and suddenly the hassle to get there rose up before my eyes like a cloud of gnats. The train downtown. The cab to Navy Pier. The long walk past the carnival of crap dangled in front of tourists. The tourists themselves. Sitting in the aforementioned theater, glancing around at my fellow theatergoers.
“I used to recognize people,” I’ll complain to my wife. “Now I don’t recognize anybody.”
I didn’t RSVP. The matter would have been forgotten had the Sun-Times on Tuesday not run a story (front-page headline: “CULTURE SHOCK”) about dwindling theatrical audiences.
Honestly, I felt both indicted — I’m exactly the theatergoing demographic who has gone AWOL — and the strange disorientation when a newspaper story describes your exact condition, when you grab your paper, collapse on the couch and read: “Boomers, exhausted and bitter, sprawl on sofas, passively absorbing information using moribund technologies ...”
Attendance in Chicago theaters is down 60% from pre-pandemic levels, according to a Department of Cultural Affairs study.
“During the pandemic, people learned new habits — getting more of their entertainment online,” is how my colleague Stefano Esposito put it in the story. He’s got that right. Why trek downtown when I can tip back in my cool blue leather electric recliner — it’s like something from “WALL-E” — shovel popcorn in my maw and rewatch “The Crown”?
Online theater was just sad. When COVID-19 struck, in the spirit of being supportive, I watched a play online. If you put a gun to my head and demanded that I recall one aspect of the performance — the title, the actors, anything, — I’d be a dead man. Every detail is lost. Meanwhile, the definition of good theater, to me, is something that sticks with you. The online play never registered, but I can still see William L. Petersen slam his head against that filing cabinet in “In the Belly of the Beast.” Maybe the material was just better.
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I read the ST article but found it oddly evasive of the problem. I think Chris Jones did a better job on this one. His best line was that Theater going is unfortunately for theaters a “stubbornly voluntary” activity and you can’t force ….to use your example…a play from Belize” on an audience that doesn’t want it based on the conviction that they SHOULD want to see it. A lot of theater companies in the post Covid world seemed to think this was the way to go. Though what I find an issue with , way more than content from a new and different source , is casting which ignores things like race or gender which can be exhilarating when done right ( e,g Hamilton) but pulls one so far from the story when done wrong (eg the new 1776 ) that it appears designed to keep people away. And a cast that leaves me constantly thinking….that person is not a product of those parents… ,is just too distracting for me . ( looking at you Marriott Lincolnshire theater )
ReplyDeleteThat's why I wrote this. I think they were ignoring the elephant n the room. Which I at least gingerly sidled up to and lay my hand upon.
DeleteI saw the first Hadestown performance after the Tonys that year. Andre received a very well deserved 5 minute standing ovation on his entrance. It is hard to get off the couch for most anything these days but there is no other way to experience a moment like that.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I used to have season tickets to Chicago Shakespeare (also before Navy Pier), the Lyric, and many others for years. We went to flamenco and so many other fascinating performances. And then we moved to a farther west suburb and getting ready for the trek into Chicago became a big deal. We loved to eat somewhere interesting before, but in the case of the Lyric, choices were few and after 9/11 our favorite, Rivers, was closed to us. Eating at Navy Pier before Shakespeare provided even less choice. And then in both venues there was the parking issue. As we aged, train/ cab became too much. We saw all the Shakespeare we loved and the same with our favorite operas. Then it seemed that the season’s offerings were less interesting to us. You don’t walk out of the Lyric humming Benjamin Britten. This seasons offering are unrecognizable as coming from the Lyric. We just stopped going. Then the pandemic hit and one of us was gone. I can’t even imagine going into the city alone for anything anymore. And you realize that so many of your friends don’t share your interests. As you know who would say—Sad.
ReplyDeleteI didn't see the Chris Jones piece mentioned above, but Terry McCabe of City Lit Theatre also addressed some of these issues, including a lot theaters offering plays they think the audience should see for their own good
ReplyDeletehttps://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/commentary/ct-opinion-chicago-theater-off-loop-audience-20230830-f5qvix5emza63jqfar7t5jzpza-story.html
a good play, well-written and performed, would offer those messages without the "Come eat your unseasoned, overcooked spinach, it's good for you" aspect
to which I would add, as a fellow suburbanite, public transportation and safety
We saw Drunk Shakespeare downtown a few weeks ago. Does that count?
ReplyDeleteI second the comment about the elephant in the room being the plays offered. I went to a U of C Court Theater last year (Ibsen) and the lead character -- obviously written as a man -- was played by a woman. WTF? At the Goodman, you must sit through a land acknowledgement that the land where the theater sits was stolen from Native Americans. (Oddly, the Goodman didn't offer to return it.) That is followed by an apology for slavery. Most audiences in Chicago are probably older (sorry Neil!), white, and slightly left of center, but not that far left.
ReplyDeleteYou've described me, older, white, slightly more than slightly left of center. I just skimmed over the websites for Lookingglass and Steppenwolf, and their marketing seems to have been done by and for people in graduate programs at NU and UC.
DeleteI did my graduate work, at the U of I, a couple of decades ago, I understand the language, appreciate and sympathize with the intent, but it's okay to dial it down just a little.
Isn’t that the Steppenwolf that has that thing about the Native American lands before every performance. Very offputting.
Delete
ReplyDelete"Why aren’t audiences returning to theaters?"
The column's reference to the "hot new playwright from Belize" and some of the comments here are surely significant when it comes to the elephant in the room.
But we don't need to be dissuaded by pachyderms. While NS says: "I consider COVID-19 as societal trauma that we haven’t yet recovered from," I'm among the vanishingly small number of folks who still consider it an ongoing deterrent to gathering in a large crowd of strangers.
You can combine that with the overabundance of high quality entertainment available via a Roku, then throw in the logistical issues referred to by Neil and the woman commenting at 7:28. The result: *I* am Spartacus, er... no, wait ... I'M that guy on the sofa.
For my husband and I, it's a matter of age, we are pushing 80 and driving into the city is really, no longer an option. The train and cab are doable, but make the trip more daunting. For almost 8 years, we had a small condo in the loop-great location, easy to catch a cab and we loved the ease of getting around to great restaurants. We had season tickets to both Goodman theaters and a 5 or 6 concert season for the CSO. We now live at a retirement community in Arlington Heights and while they have trips to various venues, they've had nothing we would be interested in.
ReplyDeleteI agree that some of the offerings are not of interest to man, including us, but sometimes take a chance. We saw a new play at the small Goodman theater the Owen a number of years ago. It was called "Free Fall" by a young writer, Noah Haidle (not sure that's spells right) I thought (as an old English major and high school teacher) it was the best new play I'd seen in years. This season, the same writer had another play and the reviews were outstanding. But I agree, I love seeing a classic Shakespeare (we also used to have tix for Chicago Shakes), Tennessee Williams or see again The Cherry Orchard. We ofter took our donee to plays and concerts starting when he was 5 or 6-but today he has no interest. We took our grandkids to the CSO kids concerts, but at 10 years of age, hard to tell if we've had any influence.
Many good points made here today.
ReplyDeleteI actually added a subscription this year, because, man, I gotta get out of the house. There isn't that much good on TV. I wound up choosing Court because I live SW and getting north with all the new Kennedy construction is a nightmare.. Besides, its 2023-24 season looks awesome. Side note: Eddie Izzard sold out the Chicago Theatre on a Monday night. Kathleen Madigan almost sold it out.Chicago is a good town for comedy.
ReplyDeleteCourt-lucky you-they always have one of the best offerings every season-
Delete"Boomers, exhausted and bitter, sprawl on sofas, passively absorbing information using moribund technologies ...” I',m hardly home all summer long, because there's so much to do and not enough time to do it. Yes, even in Cleveland. Those who sprawl on their sofas and complain about being bored need to get off their asses and get out of the house a little more. Or maybe a lot more.
ReplyDeleteSo I'm "exhausted and bitter" because, at 76, I stay home all winter and watch "moribund" AT&T U-verse instead of streaming? Sue me. The only thing that's bitter around here is the cold and snowy and miserable Ohio weather. And if I'm exhausted, it's from from constantly hearing and seeing "Boomer" this and "Boomer" that. Racism is no longer tolerated, but ageism is the new bigotry that's suddenly fashionable among certain age groups...exactly the way Polish jokes were when I was sixteen.
Boomers are slammed and denigrated and ridiculed with impunity. And blamed for most of the world's ills. But when Boomers bristle at "Okay boomer" and compare it to "Okay n-word"...they're vilified, crucified...and yes, even criticized. You will never read: "People of color, resentful, weary, and sick of trying, lounge on their porches, passively eating blah blah blah and nibbling on yadda yadda yadda...” So why is it perfectly okay to diss folks who've had "too many birthdays" in a similar manner?
Down Grizz, down boy. It was a joke. I was referring to myself. You can't both say it also fits you and then get all bent out of shape about it.
DeleteThanks for posting that, Mr. S. Didn't think you would. I'm thirteen years your senior, so I am what I am...a geezer who's steadily moving toward "old old" from "young old." Physically, that's a lot like keeping an old beater running...dealing with one glitch after another.
DeleteAgeism directed at Boomers is the new racism, and it's especially toxic online, where younger keyboard warriors say things about folks in their 60s and 70s that they would never dream of saying to their wrinkled faces. I'm currently a member of twenty (yes, you read that right) Facebook groups. Rampant ageism is everywhere on those pages...every goddamn day. Ask the (old) man who knows.
And some Boomers now feel like giggers. No, not the youthful folks who work on short-term jobs or projects. Geezers who are treated like...well...use your imagination.
No doubt about that. Nor is there anything "new" about it. An ancient bias, like all the others. As a sixtyish, white, suburbanite I see it all the time, and among people who supposedly know better. The idea is we have our foot on the neck on society, and now payback is due. Which is rather like saying Jews run the world or Blacks are criminals, trying to justify bigotry.
DeleteAn ancient bias, and as your last sentence suggests, NS, a generalization. But c'mon gents, I'm a sixtyish white guy, too. How exactly did the nation and world get into the mess that they're in if not largely via the policies and voting proclivities of the people who are now geezers? When younger folks see Biden vs. Trump, both in the last election and potentially in the next, it's not prejudiced for them to be upset about it, in my view. The majority of over-60 white men voted for Trump both chances they got. It's disappointing, though not all that surprising, that a generalizing online warrior might assume that we're in the basket of deplorables.
DeleteAs far as I can tell, every group that comes in for criticism in the current culture whines about being the target of "the new bigotry," the last remaining acceptable prejudice. Catholics, Evangelicals, pro-life voters, smokers, heterosexuals, obese people, unvaccinated people, gun owners, Republicans!
How are young people griping about old people any different from grandpa moaning about "these kids today," another ancient formulation? The difference being that some old people actually *are* responsible for a lot of what's wrong with the world, though, obviously, not all of them. I take it with a grain of salt. Though too many grains of salt are not good for our blood pressure, needless to say. ; )