“It is clear that the end of the pandemic gave a very strong boost to live entertainment, to the possibility of meeting and, hopefully, that spirit continues and is not strongly felt in ticket sales, but it is undeniable that there will be an economic contraction and that the first thing that is cut is culture and entertainment,” the theater producer and owner of the Buenos Aires El Picadero, Sebastián Blutrach, who, since March, has also held the role of president of the Argentine Association of Entrepreneurs, told Télam. Theatrical and Musical (Aadet).
Some of the pieces planned for the summer in its room located in the Enrique Santos Discépolo passage will be “After the rehearsal”, by Ingmar Bergman and directed by Daniel Fanego; Marilú Marini’s monologue “The heart of damage”, directed by Alejandro Tantanian, and the play “Nothing you don’t want” directed by Corina Fiorillo.
“We are coming from one of the best years in the last ten in terms of number of spectators, both in theater and music, and there is a lot of encouragement for production in places like Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires and Carlos Paz, which will have very good proposals,” he remembered.
However, he warned that “in the face of this new panorama that is opening up, we must be very cautious and careful regarding ticket prices.”
Businessman Carlos Rottemberg, owner of ten venues in the City of Buenos Aires and six in Mar del Plata, announced on December 13 that the value of tickets for the start of the 2024 season of his shows would remain at the same level. , without variations.
His decision, as he explained to this agency, is to “try to reach the greatest critical mass of the public”: “In the 50 years of my profession that I will celebrate in a few months, I have already had to overcome crises by driving down the value of the ticket against the inflation or against the relative prices of other inputs or activities”.
In that half century of activity, Rottemberg acknowledged that he learned to read the industry “like a movie and not like a photo of the situation.”
In this regard, he listed: “Hyperinflation, corralito, lebacs, lecops, patacones, pesos ley 18,188, australes, national pesos, black dollar, official dollar, blue dollar, influenza A epidemic, Covid pandemic, seasons without electricity to light canopies, dictatorship, democracy, banned artists and several other coordinates I spent as a theater entrepreneur and one grows hard to prepare better.”
Despite everything, he chose to continue taking big risks: while preparing for another month (from January 12 to February 13) with performances of “Matilda”, the successful musical starring Laurita Fernández that exceeded 140 thousand viewers in eight weeks, continues with the pre-production of “Escuela de Rock”, another great bet that will be released in May.
The scriptwriter and playwright Javier Daulte, who during the summer will direct the play “El Sonido” at Espacio Callejón and who manages that historic independent theater venue, acknowledged that “it is obvious to say that these are and will be difficult weeks, because we are, a once again, swimming in waters of great uncertainty”.
However, he stressed that “you never know what society’s reactions are like in the face of situations, even the most pressing ones.”
“Of course, we are always imagining strategies to attract the public but it is very difficult to see how people are going to behave beyond the inevitable anguish generated by this adjustment that we are all suffering,” he said.
In that sense, he recalled that during the summer of 2001 “when the corralito and political instability had society exhausted, there was an unexpectedly good theater season in Buenos Aires.”
The director, playwright and actor, Francisco Lumerman, noted that in 2023 Moscow Theatre, the theater he founded together with Lisandro Penelas in the Villa Crespo neighborhood, had fifty percent more audiences than in previous years.
“However,” he added, “the latest developments discourage any type of consumption, but especially theater, which, because it is not something of primary necessity, is going to have a strong impact, I suppose.”
At the same time, he acknowledged that he harbors the “expectation, hope or desire that in hard times, when reality becomes so harsh, theater and art function as an escape valve to continue thinking and process emotions and disappointments.”
Personally, he will aim to continue working during the summer season: the play “Muerde” – which he wrote and directed and performed by Luciano Cáceres – will travel from Moscow Theater to Mar del Plata; He will also premiere “Quieto” at the Teatro Nün in Buenos Aires and for March he plans the return of “Life without fiction” and “Love is a good” which will be celebrating its tenth anniversary.
Finally, he stressed that independent theater “does not have commercial purposes”: “It keeps us continuing to generate aesthetics, currents of thought, and since we understand that part of that audience may be affected, we probably take the necessary impulses from the theater because “Probably the State does not give much support to the activity, in order to try to keep the flow moving.”
“Interesting movements have also emerged from major crises, such as in 2001,” he concluded. “It is still too early to risk conclusions.”
2023-12-27 22:23:41
#midst #uncertainty #theaters #seek #refuges #crisis
