The owners of performance halls have the sad impression of living on groundhog day, when they will have to reduce their capacity by half from Monday onwards because of the rise of the Omicron variant. A real headache to be expected, knowing that several shows will be “sold out” in the coming weeks.
"Are we drawing lots among the ticket holders to see who can come? Will the promoters agree to do a second show so that everyone who has a ticket can see the show? ? Or is it not easier to cancel everything? asks the owner of Club Soda, Michel Sabourin, who has not yet found answers to these questions.
Faced with this difficult dilemma, Mr. Sabourin was still trying somehow to take the shock on Friday morning, the day after the press conference by the Prime Minister, François Legault, who was reminiscent of the hours darkest of the pandemic. A period that we thought was over at Club Soda, where we were planning the spring program before the government announcement cut short the hopes of the last few weeks.
Ticket sales were going well. Many shows were "sold out", which will force difficult choices in the coming days. With a capacity of 900 or 500 seats – depending on whether the public is seated or standing – Club Soda will have to settle for a maximum of 250 seats with the entry into force of new health instructions next week.
“Operating at 250 is not profitable. For it to be, you must have sold at least between 60 and 70% of the seats. […] The promoters would have to agree to take the risk, but I'm really not sure. […] We thought we saw the light at the end of the tunnel, but no… ” regrets with some bitterness Michel Sabourin, also spokesperson for the Association of independent performance halls of Quebec.
This text is part of our Perspectives section.According to him, several cinemas will prefer to cancel everything until spring rather than reorganize according to the new health rules. Especially since many fear that this new tightening is only the tip of the iceberg. Theater owners still remember the long confinement of the second wave. They also remember the disappointment of last spring, when they were able to resume presenting shows before the curtain fell again with the third wave.
Nervousness
At the Fairmount Theater in the Mile-End, the decision has already been made. For the next month, the shows for which more than 50% of the tickets had been sold will be canceled or postponed indefinitely. It would be too complicated to choose for each performance which ticket holder can attend.
"Opening two months after a year and a half of closure, and having to close again: it's heartbreaking. I understand why we are doing this, I know that the health situation is critical, but it is still really tough, ”says Olivier Corbeil, who is also co-owner of Bar le Ritz PDB and Newspeak.
The biggest problem we had during the time we were open was finding staff because of the labor shortage. We had finally succeeded with difficulty and misery. There are people in there that we hired with an annual salary. What do we do now ? It is appalling.
— Olivier CorbeilHe consoles himself by telling himself that the government aid in place for performance halls is for the time being maintained at least until March. Olivier Corbeil also finds a way to keep calm by remembering that the weeks between the end of December and the month of February usually correspond to the off-peak period for performance halls. "If everything is to be closed, as well as it is now," he illustrates.
But if the restrictions were to extend into the spring, venue owners wouldn't find it funny at all. Another source of concern for them: what will happen to recently hired employees?
“The biggest problem we had during the time we were open was finding staff because of the labor shortage. We had finally succeeded with difficulty and misery. There are people in there that we hired with an annual salary. What do we do now ? It's terrible, ”describes Olivier Corbeil, still a little stunned by the announcement of the day before, even if he had seen things coming.
Not a surprise
At the Théâtre du Rideau Vert, we were also prepared for it at the beginning of the week when rumors began to circulate that the government was considering reducing the gauges in theaters again. Tickets for three additional performances of the year-end show Reviewed and Corrected had not yet gone on sale. Thus, spectators who had purchased their place for next week will be offered to attend one of these three performances instead in order to respect the 50% capacity.
“We will start by calling those who bought their ticket last. This is deja vu for us. We did the same thing last spring, ”continues the general manager of the theater, Céline Marcotte, tired of constantly playing in this film for almost two years, but still optimistic in the circumstances.
It must be said that his theater had had a very good season since October, when the government decided to drop the distance in the performance halls in order to allow them to be filled to the maximum of their capacity. The compulsory wearing of a mask initially put off some spectators, but since then ticket sales have resumed a certain cruising speed, a “relatively normal” level compared to before the pandemic, according to Céline Marcotte.
Virtual shows
This momentum is now coming up against new restrictions announced by the Legault government.
Promoter Karl-Emmanuel Picard is therefore betting on virtual shows, and hopes that the public will be there, as in previous waves. At Anti, the bar-show he owns in Quebec City, he wanted to keep the equipment in place for the recordings, with the instinct that things can sometimes change overnight in times of a pandemic.
“Even when the rooms could be filled, there continued to be a demand for virtual shows. Maybe not as much as during confinement, but still. But anyway, there is a good chance that we will go back there for the next few months, ”plans Karl-Emmanuel Picard, resigned, but ready this time.
