Editor’s Note Front of House
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Please don’t destroy us
Aleading German politician has advocated that theatres and opera houses will need to prepare for long-term closures as a protective measure if the Covid situation is here to stay. His words have sent a chill across the opera world, already reeling from almost two years of mothballing, cancellations, postponements, job losses and moving goalposts.
Bernd Loebe, the general director of Frankfurt Opera, was the first to respond to Volker Bou er, minister-president of Hessen (see page 11 of this issue). The minister’s statement, he concluded, was tantamount to spelling the end of opera in Germany, the world’s largest national producer of the artform. Loebe’s despair was accompanied by a heartfelt plea to his political masters: ‘Please do not destroy what we have built up over decades.’
An email that I received from Alan Robbins in England (published on page 6 of this issue) coincidentally provides a British echo of Bernd Loebe’s frustrations. Theatres and operas houses seem to have been unfairly singled out through all the ups and downs of the pandemic as easy targets for strictures and heavy-handed regulations. With double vaccination certificates, investment in good ventilation systems, mask-wearing recommendations and sensible social distancing provision now in place in so many opera houses, the thought that the emergence of every new variant will inevitably lead to draconian theatre closures is both depressing and unsustainable.
Mr Loebe, in a letter responding to the ministerpresident of Hessen, points out that there is a lot more at stake than the mere inconvenience of locking the doors and switching off the lights every time a theatre shuts: ‘The applause at the end [of a performance] makes it clear how emotionally beneficial a visit to a theatre is in the current situation, giving people strength to face everyday life.’
Every society must attend to the health and safety of its citizens. But in the long term, preventing illness can only be one aspect of our definition of how we keep ourselves healthy. Into the mix of considerations about the way we live our lives in future, the importance of real, shared experiences of art, music and theatre to the mental wellbeing of a society has to be taken into account. With so many robust measures now in place in the spaces where people meet and mingle, a knee-jerk reaction that totally shuts opera houses down again should be avoided.
Ashutosh Khandekar
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Opera Now captures the drama, colour and vitality of one of the most powerful of all the performing arts. In our print and digital issues, we showcase the creative spirit of opera, both on stage and behind the scenes, with profiles of opera companies, singers, directors and designers. Our in-depth features reflect how diverse cultural elements have influenced opera, including travel, history, literature, art, architecture, politics and philosophy. Our lively reviews and opinion pages are a platform for writers and critics drawn from all over the world. Our aim is to inspire our opera-loving readers to broaden their knowledge and deepen their passion for this fascinating and stimulating artform.
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