Experiencing the performing arts in Ireland, for now, is mostly online. That isn't the case in many other countries, which worked to find ways in this pandemic to enable the live performance experience that means so much to audiences.
Yet here, the arts seem to have come low on the list for Covid planning, even though Ireland is synonymous with the performing arts, a creative resonance that forms a core part of national identity.
As time has passed, countries have chosen different arts paths. In the EU, Germany and Austria moved rapidly to restore live performance, as detailed in my Berlin-based colleague Derek Scally'sweekend feature story. Austria successfully staged a festival attended by 80,000. Germany has a wide range of concerts back on track, with distanced, smaller audiences and hygiene accommodations. Italy, too. Milan's famous La Scala has ballet and music ongoing. Initially I thought these must be online events, but no, it's all live (and only live).
The Government has appointed a welcome new working group to consider how the arts are to survive in Ireland. It will report to Minister for Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht Catherine Martin.
But as Irishwoman Catherine Staunton, assistant director at Berlin's Staatsoper, noted in Scally's piece, Ireland has spent months discussing reopening pubs, but not arts venues.
“It seems that in these times, the arts are seen in Ireland as a luxury,” she said, whereas in Germany, “they’re seen as a necessity”. Ouch.
Hopefully, our view will change. But for now, the arts remain online, and this will be a crucial format for some time to come worldwide.
New audiences
In an earlier column, I noted that online is likely to offer some positives, including opportunities to find and connect with new audiences. But I also argued that the initial rush to serve up free access, rather than move to develop income through ticketed events, risked the arts becoming another de-valued, struggling online content generator.
I thought arts organisations were underestimating the desire of audiences to continue to give their support by paying for performances.
Months later, new online performance experiments have indeed emerged. The Met Opera in New York, which I had noted was blasting us with an overwhelming firehose of nightly free shows, now has a season of moderately-priced, live, big-name concerts.
Many Irish venues, small and large, are also offering ticketed events, from performances in local settings to a wide range of acts in the National Concert Hall (which had been set for distanced live events until Dublin went to Level 3).
I’ve bought tickets for an assortment of events in different online formats, and while online isn’t the same as live (obviously) and can be frustrating at times, it can also be audience-engaging and inventive.
One of online's biggest positives is that it allows for the close engagement you cannot get from the seats in large venues
A stellar example of an online format that worked fantastically well – perhaps better than live – was composer Jennifer Walshe’s hilarious, provocative Ireland: A Data Set, last weekend in the NCH. Watching at home we could better see the performers’ faces, costumes and onstage props while the background projected screen could go full-screen on our devices.
Irish National Opera also streamed a fantastically creative adaption of Mozart's Abduction of the Seraglio in bite-sized videos, entitled Seraglio: the Mini-Series, which took full and funny advantage of its online format.
One of online’s biggest positives is that it allows for the close engagement you cannot get from the seats in large venues. Another is that it enables delayed viewing. For me, that encourages a purchase, because I cannot always watch at the time of broadcast.
I don’t get the point of London’s Old Vic theatre selling only its real theatre’s individual “seats” for virtual stage performances – once the “real” house is “full”, they’re gone. I could understand if a major worry was whether seats would sell at all, but with big names in interesting plays, attendance is limited to a scrum won by the fortunate. Excluding paying customers seems short-sighted at a time when fresh audience reach could be significantly extended.
La Scala
Likewise, I think La Scala and other venues could grow income and audiences by doing a live stream of select shows on the night of performance.
I also wish the NCH and others would allow more than just 24 hours to watch a missed live broadcast. Perhaps there are licensing or platform issues, but that window is so narrow, especially at a time when many people have extra work from home duties and family burdens.
That said, limiting streaming availability does create time value. I’m more likely to watch if I know I have a viewing slot with a deadline. The Met Opera events, which can be accessed for about 12 days, seems a good balance between flexibility and gentle pressure.
But everyone is still finding their way: audiences, performers and venues. This long virtual road will continue to unfold its twists and turns – ideally, in increasingly co-ordinated strategies that benefit the arts once the pandemic ends, too.
