Artist Erik de Jong, better known as Spinvis, also regularly receives standing ovations. “If they are not standing for once, it will be noticed,” says De Jong. “Bad performances also get standing ovations. People think it’s right, but I don’t have to.”
He notices that it is really a Dutch phenomenon. “We also play a lot in Belgium, where a standing ovation is rare.” But Belgium is not the only country where the bar is set high and makers do not have to count on an ‘undeserved’ standing ovation.
“In America it is customary to stand alone if a performance is very good,” says culture vlogger and critic Marco Dreijer. “When it’s bad, some people don’t even applaud there. You really have to work for it.”
The sprinkling of standing ovations influences Dreijer’s work as a reviewer. “I can no longer tell a room whether the performance was really good or not. People stand up at almost every performance and a standing ovation is given. It no longer depends on the value of the performance, whether something is good is or not. People see it as something that goes with it.”
Value for your money
According to Dreijer, a standing ovation is for some people a coping mechanism for the money they’ve already spent on a show. “Everything is so expensive that people really save a lot to go to the theater,” continues the vlogger. “Then you actually want your performance to be really good, so to make yourself feel good, you just stand up. But what do you do next time, if you really like it?”
Nevertheless, the exceptionally good performances still manage to distinguish themselves. “At the premiere of Aida, the protagonist sang a song with a huge swipe halfway through. She received an open cloth: a standing ovation during the performance. So I can see that the audience was really enthusiastic,” says Dreijer.
2023-08-28 16:28:10
#Worth #standing #ovation #habit
