Young audiences wanted: British government will pay

A million free theater tickets to people younger than 26? American producers will no doubt be green with envy over the British government's largess.  But reports about the Department for Culture, Media and Sport's initiative, designed to spark a love affair between Shakespeare, Shaw and Stoppard and a generation that has spent its youth blankly gazing at screens, made me wonder if there might not be another, less politically correct reason for the program.      

For years, there have been whispered complaints among unpensioned theatergoers about the "gray menace" -- you know, the invasion of cumbersome canes and aisle-blocking walkers at matinees, the crinkling of lozenge wrappers during pivotal plot points and that unignorable combination of listening devices and hearing aids that tend to explode just as opening numbers start getting good. 

Theater producers are perennially wringing their hands about the difficulty of attracting twentysomethings to their musty warhorse offerings.  But couldn't this ticket giveaway be a sneaky way to lower the median age of audiences from where it's been for the last few decades (somewhere around 62, by my unscientific estimate)?

Playwright Richard Greenberg stirred up controversy a few years back when he spoke out against the geriatric cacophony of Manhattan Theatre Club's audiences.  His comments may have been misjudged, but he's not the only one to have wondered why seniors can't get their sucking candies all lined up before the curtain rise.

With economic Armageddon upon us, there's no chance of this kind of cultural food-stamps program happening in the States any time soon.  And that gives us time to reflect on some of its flaws.  For example, do we really want to make 27-year-olds feel like they're over-the-hill? And will constant texting and BlackBerry-fondling be quieter than fishing for Kleenexes and butterscotches in bottomless pocketbooks?

All joking aside, without the AARP crowd, American theater would have collapsed ages ago. If anyone deserves free tickets, it's those stalwart patrons on fixed incomes who have made theater a regular part of their lives. If college kids would rather replace yet another iPod left at the gym than see a show at the Mark Taper Forum or Geffen Playhouse, so be it.  As adulthood grows more complicated, so too will the desire for more complex drama.

In the meantime, let's advocate for a theater that's affordable for people of all ages. One that invites everyone on a risk-taking adventure, without having to justify exorbitant ticket prices. Age discrimination (or favoritism) is never a good idea. Think about it: If we're to go that route, where would it end? A twenty-dollar Treasury check for watching "60 Minutes" and the "NewsHour"?

-- Charles McNulty

Photo credit: Robert Caplin/ Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Joseph Angier]

At least as far as New York goes, there's already a fair amount of cheap and freebie theater tickets being distributed to the senior set. My mother could spend most days of the week watching live performances. What's needed is something like what I had when I was in my teens in the late 60s - early 70s: cheap enough tickets so you could take a chance on something being surprising or snoozy. (This was a time when even a Broadway musical sold last row tickets for two to four dollars ... and that was retail.) Will that change the quality of the shows? Who knows, but it would be nice to mix the audiences up a bit, and my understanding is that a recent Lincoln Center experiment with inexpensive seating did, in fact, bring in a whole lot more of the pre-retirement crowd.

[Darlene Heller]

I have to agree with Joseph, there are many organizations that take care of senior theatre goers in New York City. The Theatre Development Fund is one of the organizations that come to mind. They help seniors attend the theatre at a huge discount. I'm a teacher and they also extend their membership to me. By offering tickets at a huge discount, I am able to attend theatre on a more frequent basis. I also began to offer the membership to my students. Those students who are interested in the live connection with performers on stage take advantage of the services TDF offers. I also like the fact that they only offer this service to a select group of people so they do not eat into any of the major sources of income for the theaters. Those who can afford it still have to pay full price. If I could make a major contribution to an organization that helps people of all ages make it to the theatre at an affordable price, I would give my money to TDF.