It was February of 2020 when Colleen Winton stood with her castmates and said “Curtain” to bring the Arts Club Theatre’s run of Noises Off to an end.
She didn’t know it would be two years before she set foot on a stage again.
Now, opening night is nearly upon her. The remount of the Arts Club production runs Feb. 15 to 27 at the Massey Theatre – marking the largest show of the season not just in New Westminster, but on the wider Metro Vancouver theatre scene.
For the team behind the production, it’s do-or-die time.
“It is now or never,” said Jessica Schneider, the theatre’s executive director.
Talking to the Record less than two weeks before opening night, Schneider was feeling “cautiously concerned” about ticket sales.
She’s facing the starkness of the arts world’s 2022 reality: There’s no rosy future unless audiences are willing to come back.
“Showing up sends a message to the artistic community that people want those big, fun activities to start again," she said.
The success of this Noises Off run may very well influence decisions by Vancouver theatre companies as they plan for 2022/23.
“Right now, the leadership world in the arts is kind of looking around at each other and saying, ‘Should I just sit the next year out?” Schneider said.
“Everybody is very dependent on ticket sales. There’s no professional arts organization that’s not dependent upon ticket sales; like, significant ticket sales.
"Companies are not going to do big shows anymore if they're not selling tickets."
She pointed out that a show on the scale of Noises Off – with its large professional cast and extravagant, revolving set – wouldn’t even be taking to the stage right now if it weren’t a remount, because no theatre company could afford to take the financial risk of such a large-scale production.
The only reason it’s a go right now is because Schneider talked to the Arts Club back in 2020 about putting the show’s trappings into storage with an eye on bringing it to the Massey that fall.
That wasn’t fated to happen.
Two years of challenge
The arts sector has taken a beating since March 2020, when productions all over the country abruptly shut down in the face of the novel coronavirus.
“I think our audiences don’t really understand what we’re dealing with,” Schneider said.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has surged and retreated in relentless waves, producers and artists have faced a series of ever-changing public health orders.
Theatres were shuttered. They were limited to 50-person audiences. They coped, and continue to cope, with the cancellation of show after show as touring artists have curtailed travel – a particular challenge for the Massey, which relies heavily on touring shows.
“We’re kind of stuck at a place where a lot of events won’t necessarily even commit. They’re about to be announced at all times, and the right moment to announce them doesn’t seem to quite appear,” Schneider said.
Under current public health restrictions, theatres in B.C. can stage shows at 50% capacity – which, in the 1,260-seat Massey Theatre, still offers the potential for large audiences.
But those audiences haven’t come back.
“We’re missing that essential audience connection. Nothing matters if the audience isn’t here. We know that’s what the audience needs to do, but it’s like everybody’s waiting for that signal to be like, ‘Go back; start acting normal,’” Schneider said.
“Those people who know in their hearts that it’s good and that other people should come too? We need that grassroots encouragement to keep going, from that grassroots arts fan, theatre lover, music lover.”
Safe spaces
Schneider knows it’s not simple. She knows people have been cautious for the past two years and there’s still plenty of anxiety out there about being in crowds, especially for those with vulnerable people in their lives.
But she hopes those people who can’t or won’t go to the show themselves will still help spread the word – or that they’ll take advantage of the Massey’s half-price ticket offer to buy tickets for the front-line workers or artists in their life.
For those still sitting on the fence about going, Schneider offers a message: “I think it’s time to have some fun again, and the theatre is a pretty safe place to do it.”
She stresses there’s been no evidence of COVID transmission between performers and audience members, or among audience members, at live theatre productions.
Winton, too, notes how seriously the performers are taking COVID safety. The cast adheres to strict health protocols, including regular rapid testing and masking in rehearsals. With no understudies, they all know that having one actor out sick means the show wouldn’t go on.
“We’re taking it very seriously that we want audiences to be able to come see this show,” she said.
Schneider and the Massey team are determined to keep this production as safe as humanly possible.
Ticket sales are currently capped at 50% capacity, and Schneider says that won’t change even if health restrictions are relaxed in the next couple of weeks. Many shows will have even smaller audiences than that, and ticket sales are arranged to leave space between parties.
Vaccine passports are required to get in, and masks must be worn throughout the facility – except in the special lounge area that’s been set up in Studio 1C (a.k.a. the former small gym in the Massey wing at NWSS). That room will be licensed for the occasion, with separate seating areas scattered throughout the 4,000-square-foot space.
Those who feel comfortable with the idea will be able to enjoy their pre-show glass of wine and socialize with friends, just like in pre-COVID times. Those who don’t can head straight into the theatre and take their seats.
“Sitting still, facing forward, with a mask on – it is, I think, safer than a restaurant,” Schneider said.
Those who are still leery of sitting around other people can take seats in the balcony, which will be kept open but mostly unsold.
“You can go to the very top corner; there’ll be nobody else around,” Schneider said.
'A big, loud, exuberant show'
Much as the theatre needs its audience, Winton says, the audience needs the theatre too.
As far as the actor is concerned, Noises Off is the perfect show for audiences right here, right now. If laughter is an antidote to the bleakness in daily headlines, then there’s no better play than Michael Frayn’s acclaimed comedy – often hailed as the funniest farce ever written.
“The set is huge; there’s loads of action. This show is going to fit perfectly in the Massey – it’s a big, loud, exuberant show, and the Massey is a great place for it to play,” she said. “This show needs a big space, and the Massey will be perfect for it.”
Schneider hopes audiences will embrace the chance to experience live theatre after two years of staying in their living rooms.
“It’s a totally different experience than Netflix, even a great Netflix show, because the energy and the skills of the actors – they have to be absolutely on point, and alive, and super-super-talented to pull it off. Just witnessing their talents fully, and also hearing a whole bunch of other people laughing at the same time, is a good feeling, it really is,” she said.
“You just feel like you’re all friends at the end of the night, and you’ve had this great time together.”
'I just can't wait to hear people laugh again'
Winton, too, embraces the feeling of connection that live theatre creates.
“I just can’t wait to hear people laugh again,” she says. “The magical sound of a baby laughing – that’s what it’s like to hear an audience laugh.”
For an actor, she says, that sound sends a message that you’ve had an impact on somebody’s life: that you’ve helped their well-being and mental health.
“For me, it’s a feeling of being in service. When all this came down, that was the thing I missed most. I missed the feeling of being in service to other human beings. That’s what I feel we do as artists, all artists; we help define the human condition. We’re storytellers for each other.
“During all this time, gosh, haven’t we all been glued to our Netflix, Crave, all the streaming services, because we need to hear stories?
“But there’s nothing better than being in a room with other people, having that story told to you live.”
Get your tickets now
Tickets for the show are $75 regular, $55 for seniors and students; preview pricing for Feb. 15 is $45/$35. Call the box office at 604-521-5050 or buy online.
Follow Julie MacLellan on Twitter @juliemaclellan.
Email Julie, jmaclellan@newwestrecord.ca.
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