Together with two 12-year-old kids, I go to a theatre performance. To a theatre performance labelled 'adult performance'. Tickets cost 25. Discount for students. Discount for CJP. No discount for children, excuse, youngsters, because yes, those two bridge class kids are already 12.
Is this performance made for children? No. It is made for the curious, open viewer, for people engaged with society. Is this performance suitable for - well ahead - young people? Yes. With a 'pass', I could have possibly got a discount. An identity card with the age on it is not enough.
Cultural country closes borders
While behind the scenes, dozens of marketers, cultural policymakers, education departments, theatre directors, and, yes, even theatre-makers, are desperately trying to figure out how to get new audiences into the theatres after all. And how to get especially young people into the theatres. And preferably voluntarily. Without coercion.
Only: we are in cultural land. There, it is not enough to be a juvenile; an identity document is unfortunately not valid in cultural land. The state: disabled. Only a special pass gives you the permission to gain affordable access to culture as an intended target group. Exception to this rule? No. Policy is policy. (By the way, I was allowed to send a personal email to info@ to inform the theatre management of my opinion. Somehow I understand the word customer service and demand-driven working differently anyway).
To take a look across borders so close to the European elections: I have attached a photo of a neighbouring Dutch country. It says: school pupils and students 7,-. It can be as simple as that. And remember: schoolchildren and students really go to the theatre. Because that's an evening out. Very affordable. Cheaper than the cinema.
Separate worlds
One cause of this absurd policy could be that theatre and policymakers tend to separate target audiences and produce audience-specific shows. Whereby only the targeted chosen few (toddlers, adults, children, 55+ etc) are approached and allowed to enjoy a VIP treat.
Or maybe young people are simply underestimated, that people think in advance that they cannot handle a certain theme, concentration or length. And that they are then deliberately tried to keep them out of the theatres by erecting a price barrier.
Or maybe it reflects a certain Dutch educational view. Only at 18, according to that idea, you might only have the maturity to go to a theatre performance with texts written in the last 2,000 years.
Fifty euros
I paid the fifty euros for those two adolescents. Because they want to go to theatre so badly. Because we haven't been for far too long. Because the performance got five stars in the newspapers. I did tell them that other teenagers who had already seen the performance gave it a scant seven. And that it was going to be a long sit. That could not deter my two 12-year-olds. They want to watch it themselves and draw their own conclusions. And they are looking forward to it. So am I.
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