Affected by the Covid crisis, private theaters in the capital want to offer their shows earlier in the evening to attract another audience
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Parisian private theaters, which saw attendance drop 40% last season due to the health crisis, will raise the curtain earlier in the evening, in the hope of attracting spectators again, according to Bertrand Thamin, president of the National Syndicate of Private Theatre.
“We ended the season (2021-2022) at minus 40% and a little more than that, because we realized that there is a real break in people’s mentality”said Bertrand Thamin, on the sidelines of a press conference. “At all times, it was complicated to bring spectators to the theater, it was a fight, but this is a hard-fought fight”he added, citing among others the “malaise” linked to inflation.
However, he wanted to be optimistic, considering that it is still too early to judge reservations a few days before the start of the school year, and that after a two-year break, “people want theater and live shows and that’s what is reassuring”.
Among the initiatives proposed by the theaters is that of advancing the time of performances. “In Paris, we raise the curtain too late, there are a lot of theaters now that bring the curtain closer to 7:00 p.m., 8:00 p.m.”tell Bertrand Thamin.
“We found that we have completely cut ourselves off from all suburban customers. When we raise the curtain at 9:00 p.m. and finish at 11:00 p.m., people don’t want to find themselves on trains” at that time, he added, noting that smaller venues will continue with performances at 7:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.