This week we’re trying something a little different, a mailbag edition of The Guide where I attempt to answer your cultural questions big and small. Thanks to everyone who submitted questions, and sorry to anyone who didn’t get theirs answered. On with the show …
Why has audience behaviour in theatres deteriorated so badly? And what policies or action are necessary to change it? – Sheila Cross
You aren’t alone in noting a drop-off in audience behaviour, Sheila. And it doesn’t seem to be restricted to theatres either. In December, Vice (hardly known for their quiet and retiring manner) ran a piece titled Why Do Live Music Audiences Suck Right Now? – where they bemoaned, among other things, an increase in objects being thrown, excessive phone use for social media clout, and people screaming “spit in my mouth” at artists. And cinemas have long been a battleground between people who want to sit and watch a film versus people who want to shout at Captain America for some unknown reason.
That would suggest that there are wider societal problems at play rather than something specific to theatre. But, of course bad behaviour is far more noticeable in theatres, where, unlike cinemas, audience interruptions can derail the performers themselves. And certainly there’s enough disruption going on for the Evening Standard to have written a long piece about how London’s theatre audiences have forgotten how to behave, with some truly eye-opening examples.
So what’s going on? It does seem a bit of a cop out to say the pandemic is to blame, but it is hard not to point to it as a factor, with some audience members perhaps getting a little too excited about attending live events after two years away. That will hopefully abate in time but there other potential factors in play that might not: the ES piece points to alcohol being more readily available at shows than ever before and of course the ubiquity of social media in encouraging people to perform at performances.
I also wonder if the rise of immersive theatre might play a part, with the likes of Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club (which features an immersive pre-show element) and the work of Punchdrunk encouraging audiences to consider themselves part of the show. That hardly seems like a valid excuse though: punters should really be able to distinguish between that form of theatre and the more traditional form. Ultimately this might be something that theatres themselves might take upon themselves to start combating. Phones confiscated, bouncers patrolling the aisles? It doesn’t sound like a pleasant evening out, does it? So, for the sake of everyone, please stop shouting, hurling objects – and keep your bodily fluids to yourselves.
Do you think anyone has watched anything on Lionsgate+ or Paramount+? I have Netflix, Apple, Prime, Disney (these are all shared) and Sky - how and why on earth would I also pay for another service? – Suzanne Stockton
Well, Suzanne, I’m watching things on Lionsgate+ for a start! There’s the great new series of Party Down, one of the best shows of last year in Station Eleven, Ramy, The Great … the list goes on. And Paramount+ has the Yellowstone extended universe, The Flatshare and the new series of Yellowjackets (above). But you raise a fair point – as discussed in a newsletter from earlier in the year, there really are far too many streaming services competing for our eyeballs at the moment, and something has surely got to give.
One thing I do think we’re about to see a lot more of is streamers licensing out their shows to rivals to cut their losses. It’s something Bob Iger, returning CEO of Disney, suggested the House of Mouse will start doing soon, and something HBO Max in the US are already doing with some of their lesser shows. On the surface that seems quite a bizarre development – after all weren’t all these companies just recently trying to build out their libraries to entice people to subscribe to them? – but actually there’s some logic to it. In essence you can keep your blue chip shows on your service, and syndicate out less popular and older shows to other platforms. Starz (aka Lionsgate+) already do that over here with Channel 4, who get access to shows like The Great months after they’ve been on the streaming platform. So keep an eye out, Suzanne – and you might still get to watch that last series of Outlander one day!
Why are east Midlands audiences being overlooked? This week BBC Radio 6 Music announced that its festival would be in Manchester this year, and every year from now on. After being held in Glasgow, Newcastle, Bristol, Liverpool, Belfast and Cardiff in the past, I was hoping for an east Midlands (or indeed any Midlands) city this year. Also, bands seem increasingly to be bypassing the east Midlands on their UK tours. Please don’t ignore us. – Lesley Allman
This is an interesting issue, Lesley. And it’s one that, of course, isn’t solely restricted to people in the east Midlands, or even in other parts of this country – I have a friend in Valencia who is always lamenting the fact that loads of UK and US bands skip over his city in favour of Madrid and Barcelona.
Lesley’s specific concern over bands bypassing the east Midlands on their UK tours probably has a lot to do with general pressures of touring at the moment. As touched on in Dave Simpson’s excellent piece on the crisis facing live music, small and mid-level artists are struggling to make much money from live performance, with costs for performance having risen 40%. The understandable reaction then is to scale down touring in various ways, one of which might be the number of dates. East Midlands venues are in a tough spot in that regard, facing competition from Sheffield and Leeds to the north, Manchester to the north-west, Birmingham to the west and, of course, London to the south.
This speaks to a more general problem facing the east Midlands, says the Guardian’s Midlands correspondent Jessica Murray:
“I think there is a general sense across the Midlands that the region has been overlooked in recent years as lots of investment and cultural capital has gone to the north instead. When it comes to the whole north v south narrative, particularly surrounding issues like ‘levelling up’, the Midlands is left somewhere in the middle.
“This is being rectified in the West Midlands,” Jess adds. “We’ve had Coventry City of Culture and the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. The east Midlands still feels a bit left behind though, and there is definitely a need for greater cultural investment there. An east Midlands devolution deal is in the works which would bring Derby and Nottingham together with an elected mayor, which some think would give it a greater voice on the national stage.”
For the sake of all of us who love a gig at Nottingham Rock City, let’s hope so!
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