by Gail M. Burns
Let me make it very clear that this issue surrounding the BTF production of “Ghosts” is the proverbial Tempest in a Teapot. This is just a summer stock production, and the only people this really affects are those who have purchased or are planning to purchase tickets, but the larger questions it raises about the responsibility of producers, directors, set designers, and the press to inform potential ticket buyers of what they will, or will not, get for their money are worth considering.
Some one said to me that I should stop making a fuss just because I wasn’t happy with my seat and I want to make it very clear that I LOVED my seat! I was sitting in my very favorite seat in the house. I was happy as a clam in that seat and I want to sit there again. What I am not happy about is that I couldn’t see the full production from that seat and that, even though the management had known for several days in advance that that would be the case, I was not told about it.
Obviously, the BTF cares very little about what I write about their productions, and even less about my readership. I am under no illusion that I am anything other than a very small fish in the local media pond, but I take my responsibility to my readers VERY seriously, which is why I still refuse to run a review based on a partial experience of a production.
The company has issued an open letter stating that they have decided the scenic elements that are invisible to the majority of the audience are not integral to the production.
Before I knew I had missed anything, I was extremely happy with what I saw. The cast is exceptional and the new adaptation/translation by director Anders Cato and dramaturg James Leaverett moves Ibsen’s rather ponderous Victorian melodrama along at a smart pace that makes it much more accessible to a modern audience. So it is possible to attend “Ghosts,” not see the full design, and have a good experience.
But the BTF’s stance begs two questions. If the full design is not important, and if its presence raises questions about disenfranchisement of the majority of the audience and value for money, then why wasn’t it cut entirely? And what does the BTF’s statement say about the six young actors involved in the largely invisible portions of the show? Is their work of no value?
I am distressed also by members of the critical community whose response to this issue has been: “Well, I could see the whole show so there’s no problem.” That’s a problem right there. People do make decisions on whether or not to buy a ticket based on reviews. If they buy tickets expecting to see the full design described by critics who could see it, then they are more likely than not to be disappointed. If they buy tickets based on the reviews of critics whose sightlines were limited, they will also not be seeing what was described to them.
That is how I learned of this problem – a GailSez reader e-mailed me and asked why I had written that the six ensemble actors listed in the program hadn’t appeared on stage when they had. Why would I misrepresent the production in that way?
My question is, why would the BTF allow me to do so?
I was not the only critic who commented on the absence of the ensemble actors. Publicity materials, such as programs, have to be printed well in advance of opening night, and I assumed that the director had decided to cut the ensemble at the last minute. I mentioned their absence in my review so that my readers wouldn’t waste time waiting for them to appear.
Actually, I am quite careful to walk around the theatre at intermission or after the final curtain and look at the stage and the set from different positions in the house. I made a special point of checking the set from house right (I had been seated house left) because I thought that the people on that side were getting cheated. A major feature of the set I saw, and liked, represented accurately in this press photo, was the large glass wall on which the rain fell. That was not visible from house right – a fact I mentioned in my review.
What I didn’t know was that the wall and rain was visible in shadow as part of the effects I missed. But I have to say, when I stood house right and looked at the set, I didn’t see the screen I keep hearing about.
Also, during the performance, when it became apparent that there were six actors listed who didn’t appear to be on stage, I pondered whether they were somewhere on the set where I couldn’t see them, but dismissed the idea because I literally didn’t see where you could completely hide six people. While most of their action was projected video, there were apparently times the actors were physically on stage. I never saw an elbow or the swish of a skirt – not even a shadow on a set where shadows loomed large.
I also never heard them. I know that they didn’t have any lines, but I didn’t hear them moving on stage.
And because they were invisible to the majority of the audience, I didn’t notice any visible or audible crowd reaction that might have tipped me off that I was missing something.
I don’t know about you, but $130 is a big investment in my household. That is what it costs to buy two orchestra seats at the BTF. We have now ascertained that the full design cannot be seen from the majority of the seats in the BTF Main Stage. There are Broadway houses which have “partial view” seats that they sell at full price, but they are clearly labeled. You know what you are getting for your money. When I first raised this issue no apparent effort was being made by the company to inform consumers of the situation. Their open letter makes it clear that they have taken steps to remedy that situation and I am glad. The old guard mainstream media has made no mention of the problem. The BTF obviously believes that the majority of their ticket buyers get their information from newspapers, radio, and TV and therefore they are relatively safe. Only the handful of unimportant people who read GailSez.org, BerkshireBrightFocus.com and BerkshireFineArts.com will know anything about this.
Unimportant people of the world, unite! E-mail, Tweet, and Text links to this article, to the BTF Open Letter, and to my colleagues’ statements, and let the BTF know that you do not like being kept in the dark, defrauded, and dismissed.
Sure, compared to poverty, hunger, war, global warming, etc., etc., etc., this is trivial stuff, but taking the time to speak up and let theatres and the media know you expect value for your money and honest communication is painless and simple. We stay quiet about the small indignities of life way too often.