Performing in winter: creating COVID-safe super venues and sharing the stage

Composer and postdoctoral researcher at the Maastricht Classical Music Innovation Center, Maastricht University

You pass through the wide doorway into a large space with good ventilation. Inside, the greeter behind the screen will scan your ticket and send it to you. The sign on the carpet takes you to the large auditorium, which is lined up in a row, one for each household. In the middle of the room, the stage is set as a complete band. The same stage will be used for drama production tomorrow. The lights dimmed. The music begins.

If we think creatively, this situation may become a reality. The art world is in a terrible state,

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Among other things, the venue continues to be required to re-represent the troubled theater department and its many tasks. But winter is here, and with it comes the prospect of poor prospects.

. Before things get better, things may get worse.

In many viewers over the age of 65, this is not only a problem of R-value and daily cases, but also people's sense of security. It is extremely unlikely that traditional venues will cater to the needs of a broad audience for at least six months, and it may not be until the vaccine is created and widely used.

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For centuries, people have seen it as the main narrative of reshaping urban space, and maintaining hygiene in the COVID era is truly difficult.

Following the rule of even 1 meter length will reduce the capacity of most venues to below 50%, and frankly, it almost feels meaningless, except in larger halls. This puts the performing arts in a terrible situation, it seems that a choice can be made between a loss-making performance by a few performers or a contribution to a huge performer.

. It is increasingly felt that the latter’s proximity to the live experience will only reduce their satisfaction, just like providing plastic food to hungry people.

Now is the time for the government and local authorities to take action and create performance conditions that can work in all but the most severe lockdown situations. This will be no small effort, but if we want to carry out a large-scale live performance for us to spend another winter, it must be done.

What is needed is space. The space that can be circulated, the space that can be placed separately, the space between the venue staff and the audience. In the winter in the UK, outdoor activities will be difficult to maintain. The capacity of the toilets in the church is limited (if you think this is not important, you have not read many venue feedback forms). In fact, the conference center is the most likely solution. The reduction of large-scale events means that they have vacancies, and should be able to accommodate large numbers of people and flexible seating arrangements.

There is only one viable stage that can bring comedy, music, mini-opera and drama back to the city, although the requirements of dance on a particular stage may be more difficult. The seats must be flexible and not arranged in a row. Maybe the stage should be placed in the center of the large room. This may not be a perfect aesthetic experience, but it beats the other half-watched live broadcast or broadcast to a few people.

Take Scotland as an example. A super stadium in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen can revive the country's three major orchestras, and there are more. of

For example, in the Edinburgh International Conference Centre, the maximum capacity is usually 2,000 and the raised floor is movable. If it reaches 40% of the total, it will start to provide organizations with something similar to fixed income.

The technical and stage management teams in the theater and music fields are used to getting things done in a short time. Together, they will be unstoppable. In the case of theaters, the acoustics of these spaces can be subtly enhanced through amplification and electronically assisted resonance of classical music. The latter can provide amazing natural reverberation, just like before

Held in London's concert hall for decades.

Although the initial costs will be huge, this plan is beneficial because it enables the organization to increase revenue and provide some much-needed employment opportunities for box office and temporary workers.

Currently, we are making payments to institutions. If they keep half of their employees intact during this period, then it is considered a success. Government support for a broad space command system will be a significant investment and will provide larger institutions with better means of self-support, although this emphasis should be combined with similar efforts on behalf of small organizations and freelancers . Indeed, this may be a sharing stage for smaller companies, attracting more and more people to participate in their programs, while also sharing the revenue generated.

When looking for space, it also left the problem of venue. The bands and theater companies that took away their main attraction seemed to have little help in their careers. But what I want to say is that there is almost no financial guarantee for a 200-person concert, not to mention the risk of being closed again once the virus recurs. The limited but safer employment opportunities for employees, and the ability to reposition smaller venues (whether as university lecture halls, smaller performance venues or community hubs), are more likely to see them during this time.

One of the lessons of the lock-in is that life without art is indeed a very gloomy life. If it can replace on-site experience, it has not been discovered yet. If performances can be performed as safely as entering a store or eating in a restaurant, then the art world and society should have ample opportunities to take advantage of their opportunities to improve lives. All it needs is that the government takes decisive and positive action to lead this issue.

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