Consumerism and Shopping relating to Theatre
by chrissy holloway - Friday, 18 January 2008, 11:17 AM
Consumerism is the movement seeking to protect and inform consumers by requiring such practices as honest packaging, and advertising, product guarantees and improving standards.
One media example of this consumerism is “Shiny Shiny bright new hole in my heart” which was a TV drama on BBC 2. It is a useful example of how consumerism is driving many peoples relationships. It also shows many examples of how advertising is turning people into addicts in this society.
Not only does it concentrate on the consumerism as a bad trait in people but it also shows that our culture is advertising and goods orientated, this drama brings peoples attention to the addiction we have to buying the goods that we see as necessities, but in actual fact they are pretty unnecessary.
In regards to theatre, we can see this consumerism coming out,with the adverts for all of the West End musicals, and Plays down the London Underground, in the Newspapers and adverts on TV even. These adverts are making theatre more accessible to the general public but many years ago there was little advertising for the shows that were around. They were simply advertised on billboards outside the theatre, now these posters and adverts are all over the country trying to bring people to the West End and surrounding areas to see these shows.
With regards to shopping, I wanted to research how much of these shows that we are being drawn to are available in shops, and what form the productions are available. Obviously, there are the the CD's of the musicals, which bring in a lot of revenue to the companies, but we see very few show DVD's of the actual stage shows. Shows such as “Jesus Christ Superstar” that have been around for many years are available on DVD, but most of the musicals that were once films are obviously available everywhere.
Are we making theatre too commercial?
Is consumerism taking over the theatre world?
Is this consumerism and availability of merchandise making theatre more accessible?
Has it drastically changed the way we see theatre as a whole?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/shinyshiny/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGaOQKJik-s - Just because it is quite amusing and shows how consumerism can be portrayed
Chrissy
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Re: Consumerism and Shopping relating to Theatre
by Julian Bryant - Friday, 18 January 2008, 01:15 PM
Have you checked out Naomi Klein yet?
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Re: Consumerism and Shopping relating to Theatre
by chrissy holloway - Friday, 18 January 2008, 01:49 PM
Naomi Klein is the author of "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism" which illustrates how America’s “free market” policies have come to dominate the world, this is done through the exploitation of disaster-shocked people and countries. The book does not only concentrate on the disasters since september 11th, but looks back 50 years, to the disasters that were seen, such as Pinochet’s coup in Chile in 1973, the Falklands War in 1982, the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989, the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Asian Financial crisis in 1997 and Hurricane Mitch in 1998. These were mainly commented on by Milton Friedman, who noticed the shock tactics that were being used in the media.
http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine/short-film
This short film i ony ten minutes long and is an accompaniment to the book, it is well worth watching and shows exactly how Naomi Klein wants to stop this "Disaster Capitalism".
Useful Links.
http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20071001/klein_disaster_capitalism_video
Chrissy
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Re: Consumerism and Shopping relating to Theatre
by Julian Bryant - Friday, 18 January 2008, 02:50 PM
From Jordan
First of all, sorry this is just coming as an email, but I don't seem to be able to access the website. So hopefully this will be ok for now?
In response to Chrissy's post, surly it is a good thing that retail’s aren’t selling DVD's of the current West End productions? Because although, as discussed by people in other posts theatre is becoming more accessible and there fore more popular we are still a nation of TV lovers. A 2005 National statistics survey concluded that in an average day we would spend 491 minutes sleeping, 157 minutes watching TV and a mere 5 minutes experiencing “culture”.
So surly by making the shows that are still running in the west end available on DVD people would just stop going to the theatre altogether?
I don’t think we are making theatre too commercial. I feel that by making theatre commercial to a certain extent, i.e. only selling the merchandise at the theatre showing that show, creating shows of modern day classic films, using famous well known music and performers is drawing people in, and perhaps in someway creating a new meaning to the word “culture”?!
Jordan 18/01/08
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Re: Consumerism and Shopping relating to Theatre
by jessica davey - Saturday, 19 January 2008, 03:32 PM
I agree with Jordans post that if west end musicals would be avaiable to buy on DVD or download through the internet we as a nation would become " lazy" and instead of gaining the experience of going to the theatre with a live show we would be buying into what i would call a growing culture of convenience. It can be seen for instance that people are downloading their favourite songs instead of buying them on CD, therefore changing how people buy and play their music with for instance the introduction of the i pod a few years ago. This is the culture we as a nation are now in , where we dont want to have to go out to the cinema to see a film we'll wait for it to come out on DVD , many dont want to go out to see a show. They'll buy the sound track and wait for a movie version at their convenience to see.
As a nation it seems we dont have time to experience culture , with a average day of five minutes priortising it. We wont make the time to see a show and experience that couple of hours of culture that we could.
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Re: Consumerism and Shopping relating to Theatre
by anthony watson - Friday, 18 January 2008, 10:52 PM
ok i found this today on the sociaty of london theatres website http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/news/display?contentId=97535 i think that what is here is very interesting that the whole idea that we dont find many versions on dvd of the actual stage show but there is the rise of film versions of succsful musicals in film that is around atm films like rent (whitch has brought it back to the west end) and phantom of the opera and also sweeny todd. i saw sweeny todd in the west end about threeish years ago and it had a really good effect. the idea of buying the music on CD's is very accessable you can download majority of musicals off itunes now and places like amazon there all very accessable. it some cases of certain shows you can buy a whole audio of a show so you get everything of the show but on cd. whitch is interesting to listen to. i think in the comeing couple of years we will see a rise of shows comeing out on DVD and CD's of shows becomeing more accesable to us as consumers. especially shows like any dream will do and the new one i'd do anyfing (the search for oliver and nancy) will only make shows more accesable to a consumer to buy and veiw like a film hope this helps
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Re: Consumerism and Shopping relating to Theatre
by Michelle Greer - Wednesday, 23 January 2008, 05:13 PM
Its a shame that it has had to come to this we can buy theatre on DVD's, i can understand that it is expensive to see theatre (in the westend and major theatres) and at the end of the day all you will have for seeing the show is a ticket stubb but thats what you get for going to see theatre you are buying an experience, and if this not enough for some people then maby they should just not see theatre and stick to or support some of our cheaper theatres there are plenty of places that will sell tickets for as little as £5.00
Two of these places are The Globe and Greenwich Playhouse two completly different places showing complety different types of theatre but in their own right both amazing places.
What i think we need to ask ourself as the future generation of technical theatre workers what happens when all theatre is shown on DVD and the audiences stop coming to see theatre as they can watch it all at home on there flat screen tv's and theatres are only open potentially 3 nights a week that will means job losses for all in the industry, thus meaning that one of the oldest types of entertaiment will be coming to an end you could almost say it would be like people never going to pubs ever again because they can brew their own alcohol at home.
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Re: Consumerism and Shopping relating to Theatre
by john pullig - Thursday, 24 January 2008, 03:47 PM
One authority that appears to have something to say on Consumerism and Theatre is Dr. Dorothy Chansky, Assistant Professor, Theatre History, Theory, and Criticism, Texas Tech University. As all of the links that I have tried are subscription only I cannot give you her views yet, but I have emailed her to see if I can get one of her papers.
My own views on this are that yes, consumerism in the form of advertising and merchandising does of course exist and is becoming greater with time. This is inevitable because theatre is like any other business; it needs to make a profit. Without this there will be no future productions and theatres will be forced to close. Michelle has also said this. There is one possibility that might save theatre from consumerism and that is subsidy (however unlikely that is) but it can and does play some part (Arts Counsel and Local Authority Grants for example).
Advertising the theatre production (not merchandising products) can only be a good thing. It will help to make a wider public aware and bring in greater audiences. Where is the problem in this? We can expect to see more and more of this as theatre competes for the public’s entertainment budget with other forms of the leisure industry.
It is the subject of merchandising of theatre productions that seems to be creating the most views so far. Most of what has been said has been about the selling of DVDs of the theatre productions and this seems not to include DVDs of films of the plays. There are other types of merchandising, for example T-Shirts and again I can see no problem here. Taking the DVD issue I think we need to look at what type of theatre we are talking about. This can only be West End and Broadway productions and then only for productions that are already hit shows. Producers will not go to the time, trouble and expense of producing a DVD of market quality for a new production that might flop. It is the success of the show in the theatre that creates the market for the DVD. Take Caberet, Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats, Phantom of the Opera and Chicago to name a few only; these were all major hit shows before the DVD’s were produced. Did the release of the DVD’s cause the shows to close? No. Perhaps the audience numbers or demand for tickets might have been greater if there had not been the DVD’s. If that were the case then the extra demand would have pushed up the ticket prices even more.
Another point to consider on DVDs is the audience and its demographic makeup. West end theatre audience is largely made up from three groups. Tourist (mostly from USA), regular theatregoers (hobbyists) and those who go as a special occasion. I cannot see the tourists sitting in a hotel room watching a DVD of Cats. The special occasion will stay what it is but perhaps more and greater numbers of DVDs will reduce the numbers of hobby theatregoers. But in all of this we are still talking of West End theatre and none of this applies to rep or local theatre. An equivalent of local or rep is the comdey club which seems to become more and more popular. Audience queue to get into Jongleurs and Up The Creek for example and the demand does not seem to be affected by all of the DVDs released by Ricky Gervais, Lee Evans, Peter Kay and all of the other new wave/alternative comdeians.
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Re: Consumerism and Shopping relating to Theatre
by chrissy holloway - Monday, 4 February 2008, 01:59 PM
Your point on the DVD sales and sitting in a hotel room watching a DVD of the West End shows will reduce the amount of theatregoers, but the tourist aspect of the West End theatre does have fluctuations it is not a guarantee as to how many audience members the shows will have every night. The DVD may promote the show, such as Rent, which was first on in Broadway then released as a film on DVD and is now on the West End and if people have seen the DVd of the Film they may be more encouraged to go to see the show. This is only a thought and it is possible that so of the DVD films that are released may be promoting the West End theatre versions of these films.
Chrissy
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Re: Consumerism and Shopping relating to Theatre
by Sarah Miller - Monday, 4 February 2008, 05:16 PM
Theatre has certainly become more commercial recently, especially with the introduction of such shows as ‘Grease Is The Word (ITV) and ‘Any Dream Will Do (BBC), in which contestants compete for a lead role in a West End musical.
In some regard, this has increased the popularity of theatre-going, with the first few months of both shows selling out before they had even begun. However, these shows also received major criticism from viewers and those in the industry; an article in The Guardian quotes, “The theatre community, including Equity, was appalled that such methods were being employed to find a West End lead”. (Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/may/20/theatre.arts)
However, no mention has been made about the theatre community’s reaction since the success of the West End show.
I am in agreement with Chrissy on the subject of films of West End shows acting as a positive form of promotion. Other examples of shows that have been made into films but that are popular in the West End include Chicago and Hairspray.
In fact, film and TV are also taken and made into West End shows, such as Spamalot, Jerry Springer the Opera or Billy Elliot the Musical, and it is my opinion that the success of each show can be credited to it’s original TV/film format.
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Re: Consumerism and Shopping relating to Theatre
by jessica davey - Wednesday, 6 February 2008, 04:21 PM
I agree with the fact that theatre doesnt have a guarantee with how many audience members it will pull in each night and does rely alot on the shows promotion and what people know of the show already, whilst it does have a lot to do with its tourist nature and what show may be popular at that particular time creating competition between the shows on the west end.
In regards to a DVD promoting a show and encouraging people to go and see it i would want to take the case of 'Rent Remixed' origanlly starring Denise Van outen that was showing at Duke of York Theatre in the west end , promoted through the success of the film 'Rent' and its famility of the show performances on Broadway for many years. The run at The Duke of York was cut short because audience members didnt like the updated version that was being shown , different from the film and Broadway. The familiarity that many favoured encouraged many people to refuse to go and see it, or did see it and through word of mouth told people to stick to the DVD version they had at home. The use of DVD versions can be quite damaging at times with people becoming too likened with what they see on their tv screens at home , and when it is understandably different on stage people stick to their own DVD version and not to seeing the show live.
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Re: Consumerism and Shopping relating to Theatre
by Julian Bryant - Wednesday, 6 February 2008, 07:20 PM
We seem to have a number of things going on here: DVDs being used to promote shows; and DVD's being used as a substitute for shows. Samnm thing holds true with You Tube clips - intersteding that Jess pointed us to one at the atrst of the debaste; which also acts as trailer for NK's book. You can even buy 'no Logo' T-shirts now, which I find amusingly ironic and self-referential.
There does seem to be a change in viewing habit now, ad it may be to do with the sheer bulk of material available - I can't keep up with the stuff on my Video recorder at home
But this thread is about consumerism. Is the impulse to 'consume' the show, as a product, or is it to 'participate' - or even, to help 'create' in some way? These seem to be different reasons for engaging in theatre.
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Re: Consumerism and Shopping relating to Theatre
by Aimee Hulme - Friday, 8 February 2008, 12:35 AM
I think that everyone has a good point, Yes all these things aid promotion of theatre, and yes it is good that DVD's/Films help promote shows that are currently moving in and out of the west end. I personally think that this is yes drawing new people to see shows in the west end, but to back up Chelle's point is this not drawing people away from the less commercial theatre, the shows which have culture and teach us something about life. I can say that no show in the west end have ever influenced my life like other shows i have seen and experienced outside the west end. I am not saying that I haven't enjoyed them; just they are not necessarily life changing.
http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/articles/140101a.htm
This web link is an article about how some of the best theatre is outside the west end, even still inside London there is some amazing cutting edge theatre that is better than some shows in the west end but is overlooked because it hasn't been commercialized. This proves that consumerism has been taken over and people are influenced too easily by the majority. This links with post modernism, and the idea of putting theatre auditions into the typical "pop idol" format...but instead of using cutting edge new shows and promoting theatre and new writers but instead using old fashioned shows, and only because they seem to be popular.
It is only recently that new shows have been becoming more accessible in west end like Wicked, although thinking about it this has been open now for five years. Looking at shows like this makes me think about tourists who come to see shows in the west end. Somehow when I see shows I end up talking to some Americans who are seeing the show, and I can honestly say that almost all shows with some exceptions, that they have been to see the show because they saw it in America and they wanted to compare. This is major example of consumerism in theatre, and especially commercial theatre, and how we use it as a form of international relationships.
Also yes there are some people who are substituting theatre with Film, but is this a substitute or just something that they have never experienced. This could be their form of entertainment and their consumerism is buying these films.
http://artsandfaith.com/index.php?showtopic=94
This website is a forum of theatre vs. film and some people make some good points on there, it makes a good read. It seems to read that a lot people agree that if you see the stage version first then the film was never as good but it also works the other way around. Where does the idea of consumerism affect this? It seems to all breakdown into people taste and their categories. Again linking to other sections on the forum, are all these topics linked by the idea of society?
Also links to the idea of money, What can anyone afford now a days? Society is so expensive, and how do we keep up with consumerism without causing debt? We are a nation of unnecessary products and trade marking.
Family outing to see Porgy and Bess: £400. Three-night shopping trip to New York: Considerably less. Realising the West End can be a bit of a rip-off: Priceless.
Above quote from the guardian is kind of true, however much we all love seeing a good show in the west end, it is proven that we would all love for the theatre to be cheaper.
All things are about the reason and consume and indulge, but we are stopped by price or are we? I know that even if I don’t have the money I will try and find it if I want something wouldn’t we all?? So consuming is about participating and fitting into society. Peer pressure in all age ranges and especially in London is high. Do we need to have the best things? Or do we think we can’t survive without them?
Oscar Wilde said “that we live in, I regret to say, in an age of surfaces, appears to have displayed remarkable prophetic power” A statement that was said more than a century ago that still runs true in the whole world.
http://consumeristtheatreofdesire.com/
This website is part of an art show that is being set up about the consumerism in the world. We are all consumers. This is about getting people together to show how consumerism is spoiling existence. It is about substituting reality with the idea of what we think we need. This is relation to theatre because people think they need to see the most popular, most commercial, accessible theatre when they can get exactly the same sense of ideology from other shows. This idea of theatre needs to be more consumers driven for it to ever take form on another level.
Aimee J
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by chrissy holloway - Friday, 18 January 2008, 11:17 AM
Consumerism is the movement seeking to protect and inform consumers by requiring such practices as honest packaging, and advertising, product guarantees and improving standards.
One media example of this consumerism is “Shiny Shiny bright new hole in my heart” which was a TV drama on BBC 2. It is a useful example of how consumerism is driving many peoples relationships. It also shows many examples of how advertising is turning people into addicts in this society.
Not only does it concentrate on the consumerism as a bad trait in people but it also shows that our culture is advertising and goods orientated, this drama brings peoples attention to the addiction we have to buying the goods that we see as necessities, but in actual fact they are pretty unnecessary.
In regards to theatre, we can see this consumerism coming out,with the adverts for all of the West End musicals, and Plays down the London Underground, in the Newspapers and adverts on TV even. These adverts are making theatre more accessible to the general public but many years ago there was little advertising for the shows that were around. They were simply advertised on billboards outside the theatre, now these posters and adverts are all over the country trying to bring people to the West End and surrounding areas to see these shows.
With regards to shopping, I wanted to research how much of these shows that we are being drawn to are available in shops, and what form the productions are available. Obviously, there are the the CD's of the musicals, which bring in a lot of revenue to the companies, but we see very few show DVD's of the actual stage shows. Shows such as “Jesus Christ Superstar” that have been around for many years are available on DVD, but most of the musicals that were once films are obviously available everywhere.
Are we making theatre too commercial?
Is consumerism taking over the theatre world?
Is this consumerism and availability of merchandise making theatre more accessible?
Has it drastically changed the way we see theatre as a whole?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/shinyshiny/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGaOQKJik-s - Just because it is quite amusing and shows how consumerism can be portrayed
Chrissy
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Re: Consumerism and Shopping relating to Theatre
by Julian Bryant - Friday, 18 January 2008, 01:15 PM
Have you checked out Naomi Klein yet?
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Re: Consumerism and Shopping relating to Theatre
by chrissy holloway - Friday, 18 January 2008, 01:49 PM
Naomi Klein is the author of "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism" which illustrates how America’s “free market” policies have come to dominate the world, this is done through the exploitation of disaster-shocked people and countries. The book does not only concentrate on the disasters since september 11th, but looks back 50 years, to the disasters that were seen, such as Pinochet’s coup in Chile in 1973, the Falklands War in 1982, the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989, the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Asian Financial crisis in 1997 and Hurricane Mitch in 1998. These were mainly commented on by Milton Friedman, who noticed the shock tactics that were being used in the media.
http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine/short-film
This short film i ony ten minutes long and is an accompaniment to the book, it is well worth watching and shows exactly how Naomi Klein wants to stop this "Disaster Capitalism".
Useful Links.
http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20071001/klein_disaster_capitalism_video
Chrissy
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Re: Consumerism and Shopping relating to Theatre
by Julian Bryant - Friday, 18 January 2008, 02:50 PM
From Jordan
First of all, sorry this is just coming as an email, but I don't seem to be able to access the website. So hopefully this will be ok for now?
In response to Chrissy's post, surly it is a good thing that retail’s aren’t selling DVD's of the current West End productions? Because although, as discussed by people in other posts theatre is becoming more accessible and there fore more popular we are still a nation of TV lovers. A 2005 National statistics survey concluded that in an average day we would spend 491 minutes sleeping, 157 minutes watching TV and a mere 5 minutes experiencing “culture”.
So surly by making the shows that are still running in the west end available on DVD people would just stop going to the theatre altogether?
I don’t think we are making theatre too commercial. I feel that by making theatre commercial to a certain extent, i.e. only selling the merchandise at the theatre showing that show, creating shows of modern day classic films, using famous well known music and performers is drawing people in, and perhaps in someway creating a new meaning to the word “culture”?!
Jordan 18/01/08
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Re: Consumerism and Shopping relating to Theatre
by jessica davey - Saturday, 19 January 2008, 03:32 PM
I agree with Jordans post that if west end musicals would be avaiable to buy on DVD or download through the internet we as a nation would become " lazy" and instead of gaining the experience of going to the theatre with a live show we would be buying into what i would call a growing culture of convenience. It can be seen for instance that people are downloading their favourite songs instead of buying them on CD, therefore changing how people buy and play their music with for instance the introduction of the i pod a few years ago. This is the culture we as a nation are now in , where we dont want to have to go out to the cinema to see a film we'll wait for it to come out on DVD , many dont want to go out to see a show. They'll buy the sound track and wait for a movie version at their convenience to see.
As a nation it seems we dont have time to experience culture , with a average day of five minutes priortising it. We wont make the time to see a show and experience that couple of hours of culture that we could.
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Re: Consumerism and Shopping relating to Theatre
by anthony watson - Friday, 18 January 2008, 10:52 PM
ok i found this today on the sociaty of london theatres website http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/news/display?contentId=97535 i think that what is here is very interesting that the whole idea that we dont find many versions on dvd of the actual stage show but there is the rise of film versions of succsful musicals in film that is around atm films like rent (whitch has brought it back to the west end) and phantom of the opera and also sweeny todd. i saw sweeny todd in the west end about threeish years ago and it had a really good effect. the idea of buying the music on CD's is very accessable you can download majority of musicals off itunes now and places like amazon there all very accessable. it some cases of certain shows you can buy a whole audio of a show so you get everything of the show but on cd. whitch is interesting to listen to. i think in the comeing couple of years we will see a rise of shows comeing out on DVD and CD's of shows becomeing more accesable to us as consumers. especially shows like any dream will do and the new one i'd do anyfing (the search for oliver and nancy) will only make shows more accesable to a consumer to buy and veiw like a film hope this helps
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Re: Consumerism and Shopping relating to Theatre
by Michelle Greer - Wednesday, 23 January 2008, 05:13 PM
Its a shame that it has had to come to this we can buy theatre on DVD's, i can understand that it is expensive to see theatre (in the westend and major theatres) and at the end of the day all you will have for seeing the show is a ticket stubb but thats what you get for going to see theatre you are buying an experience, and if this not enough for some people then maby they should just not see theatre and stick to or support some of our cheaper theatres there are plenty of places that will sell tickets for as little as £5.00
Two of these places are The Globe and Greenwich Playhouse two completly different places showing complety different types of theatre but in their own right both amazing places.
What i think we need to ask ourself as the future generation of technical theatre workers what happens when all theatre is shown on DVD and the audiences stop coming to see theatre as they can watch it all at home on there flat screen tv's and theatres are only open potentially 3 nights a week that will means job losses for all in the industry, thus meaning that one of the oldest types of entertaiment will be coming to an end you could almost say it would be like people never going to pubs ever again because they can brew their own alcohol at home.
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Re: Consumerism and Shopping relating to Theatre
by john pullig - Thursday, 24 January 2008, 03:47 PM
One authority that appears to have something to say on Consumerism and Theatre is Dr. Dorothy Chansky, Assistant Professor, Theatre History, Theory, and Criticism, Texas Tech University. As all of the links that I have tried are subscription only I cannot give you her views yet, but I have emailed her to see if I can get one of her papers.
My own views on this are that yes, consumerism in the form of advertising and merchandising does of course exist and is becoming greater with time. This is inevitable because theatre is like any other business; it needs to make a profit. Without this there will be no future productions and theatres will be forced to close. Michelle has also said this. There is one possibility that might save theatre from consumerism and that is subsidy (however unlikely that is) but it can and does play some part (Arts Counsel and Local Authority Grants for example).
Advertising the theatre production (not merchandising products) can only be a good thing. It will help to make a wider public aware and bring in greater audiences. Where is the problem in this? We can expect to see more and more of this as theatre competes for the public’s entertainment budget with other forms of the leisure industry.
It is the subject of merchandising of theatre productions that seems to be creating the most views so far. Most of what has been said has been about the selling of DVDs of the theatre productions and this seems not to include DVDs of films of the plays. There are other types of merchandising, for example T-Shirts and again I can see no problem here. Taking the DVD issue I think we need to look at what type of theatre we are talking about. This can only be West End and Broadway productions and then only for productions that are already hit shows. Producers will not go to the time, trouble and expense of producing a DVD of market quality for a new production that might flop. It is the success of the show in the theatre that creates the market for the DVD. Take Caberet, Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats, Phantom of the Opera and Chicago to name a few only; these were all major hit shows before the DVD’s were produced. Did the release of the DVD’s cause the shows to close? No. Perhaps the audience numbers or demand for tickets might have been greater if there had not been the DVD’s. If that were the case then the extra demand would have pushed up the ticket prices even more.
Another point to consider on DVDs is the audience and its demographic makeup. West end theatre audience is largely made up from three groups. Tourist (mostly from USA), regular theatregoers (hobbyists) and those who go as a special occasion. I cannot see the tourists sitting in a hotel room watching a DVD of Cats. The special occasion will stay what it is but perhaps more and greater numbers of DVDs will reduce the numbers of hobby theatregoers. But in all of this we are still talking of West End theatre and none of this applies to rep or local theatre. An equivalent of local or rep is the comdey club which seems to become more and more popular. Audience queue to get into Jongleurs and Up The Creek for example and the demand does not seem to be affected by all of the DVDs released by Ricky Gervais, Lee Evans, Peter Kay and all of the other new wave/alternative comdeians.
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Re: Consumerism and Shopping relating to Theatre
by chrissy holloway - Monday, 4 February 2008, 01:59 PM
Your point on the DVD sales and sitting in a hotel room watching a DVD of the West End shows will reduce the amount of theatregoers, but the tourist aspect of the West End theatre does have fluctuations it is not a guarantee as to how many audience members the shows will have every night. The DVD may promote the show, such as Rent, which was first on in Broadway then released as a film on DVD and is now on the West End and if people have seen the DVd of the Film they may be more encouraged to go to see the show. This is only a thought and it is possible that so of the DVD films that are released may be promoting the West End theatre versions of these films.
Chrissy
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Re: Consumerism and Shopping relating to Theatre
by Sarah Miller - Monday, 4 February 2008, 05:16 PM
Theatre has certainly become more commercial recently, especially with the introduction of such shows as ‘Grease Is The Word (ITV) and ‘Any Dream Will Do (BBC), in which contestants compete for a lead role in a West End musical.
In some regard, this has increased the popularity of theatre-going, with the first few months of both shows selling out before they had even begun. However, these shows also received major criticism from viewers and those in the industry; an article in The Guardian quotes, “The theatre community, including Equity, was appalled that such methods were being employed to find a West End lead”. (Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/may/20/theatre.arts)
However, no mention has been made about the theatre community’s reaction since the success of the West End show.
I am in agreement with Chrissy on the subject of films of West End shows acting as a positive form of promotion. Other examples of shows that have been made into films but that are popular in the West End include Chicago and Hairspray.
In fact, film and TV are also taken and made into West End shows, such as Spamalot, Jerry Springer the Opera or Billy Elliot the Musical, and it is my opinion that the success of each show can be credited to it’s original TV/film format.
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Re: Consumerism and Shopping relating to Theatre
by jessica davey - Wednesday, 6 February 2008, 04:21 PM
I agree with the fact that theatre doesnt have a guarantee with how many audience members it will pull in each night and does rely alot on the shows promotion and what people know of the show already, whilst it does have a lot to do with its tourist nature and what show may be popular at that particular time creating competition between the shows on the west end.
In regards to a DVD promoting a show and encouraging people to go and see it i would want to take the case of 'Rent Remixed' origanlly starring Denise Van outen that was showing at Duke of York Theatre in the west end , promoted through the success of the film 'Rent' and its famility of the show performances on Broadway for many years. The run at The Duke of York was cut short because audience members didnt like the updated version that was being shown , different from the film and Broadway. The familiarity that many favoured encouraged many people to refuse to go and see it, or did see it and through word of mouth told people to stick to the DVD version they had at home. The use of DVD versions can be quite damaging at times with people becoming too likened with what they see on their tv screens at home , and when it is understandably different on stage people stick to their own DVD version and not to seeing the show live.
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Re: Consumerism and Shopping relating to Theatre
by Julian Bryant - Wednesday, 6 February 2008, 07:20 PM
We seem to have a number of things going on here: DVDs being used to promote shows; and DVD's being used as a substitute for shows. Samnm thing holds true with You Tube clips - intersteding that Jess pointed us to one at the atrst of the debaste; which also acts as trailer for NK's book. You can even buy 'no Logo' T-shirts now, which I find amusingly ironic and self-referential.
There does seem to be a change in viewing habit now, ad it may be to do with the sheer bulk of material available - I can't keep up with the stuff on my Video recorder at home
But this thread is about consumerism. Is the impulse to 'consume' the show, as a product, or is it to 'participate' - or even, to help 'create' in some way? These seem to be different reasons for engaging in theatre.
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Re: Consumerism and Shopping relating to Theatre
by Aimee Hulme - Friday, 8 February 2008, 12:35 AM
I think that everyone has a good point, Yes all these things aid promotion of theatre, and yes it is good that DVD's/Films help promote shows that are currently moving in and out of the west end. I personally think that this is yes drawing new people to see shows in the west end, but to back up Chelle's point is this not drawing people away from the less commercial theatre, the shows which have culture and teach us something about life. I can say that no show in the west end have ever influenced my life like other shows i have seen and experienced outside the west end. I am not saying that I haven't enjoyed them; just they are not necessarily life changing.
http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/articles/140101a.htm
This web link is an article about how some of the best theatre is outside the west end, even still inside London there is some amazing cutting edge theatre that is better than some shows in the west end but is overlooked because it hasn't been commercialized. This proves that consumerism has been taken over and people are influenced too easily by the majority. This links with post modernism, and the idea of putting theatre auditions into the typical "pop idol" format...but instead of using cutting edge new shows and promoting theatre and new writers but instead using old fashioned shows, and only because they seem to be popular.
It is only recently that new shows have been becoming more accessible in west end like Wicked, although thinking about it this has been open now for five years. Looking at shows like this makes me think about tourists who come to see shows in the west end. Somehow when I see shows I end up talking to some Americans who are seeing the show, and I can honestly say that almost all shows with some exceptions, that they have been to see the show because they saw it in America and they wanted to compare. This is major example of consumerism in theatre, and especially commercial theatre, and how we use it as a form of international relationships.
Also yes there are some people who are substituting theatre with Film, but is this a substitute or just something that they have never experienced. This could be their form of entertainment and their consumerism is buying these films.
http://artsandfaith.com/index.php?showtopic=94
This website is a forum of theatre vs. film and some people make some good points on there, it makes a good read. It seems to read that a lot people agree that if you see the stage version first then the film was never as good but it also works the other way around. Where does the idea of consumerism affect this? It seems to all breakdown into people taste and their categories. Again linking to other sections on the forum, are all these topics linked by the idea of society?
Also links to the idea of money, What can anyone afford now a days? Society is so expensive, and how do we keep up with consumerism without causing debt? We are a nation of unnecessary products and trade marking.
Family outing to see Porgy and Bess: £400. Three-night shopping trip to New York: Considerably less. Realising the West End can be a bit of a rip-off: Priceless.
Above quote from the guardian is kind of true, however much we all love seeing a good show in the west end, it is proven that we would all love for the theatre to be cheaper.
All things are about the reason and consume and indulge, but we are stopped by price or are we? I know that even if I don’t have the money I will try and find it if I want something wouldn’t we all?? So consuming is about participating and fitting into society. Peer pressure in all age ranges and especially in London is high. Do we need to have the best things? Or do we think we can’t survive without them?
Oscar Wilde said “that we live in, I regret to say, in an age of surfaces, appears to have displayed remarkable prophetic power” A statement that was said more than a century ago that still runs true in the whole world.
http://consumeristtheatreofdesire.com/
This website is part of an art show that is being set up about the consumerism in the world. We are all consumers. This is about getting people together to show how consumerism is spoiling existence. It is about substituting reality with the idea of what we think we need. This is relation to theatre because people think they need to see the most popular, most commercial, accessible theatre when they can get exactly the same sense of ideology from other shows. This idea of theatre needs to be more consumers driven for it to ever take form on another level.
Aimee J
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