The last time I watched the Nutcracker ballet I must have been about twelve years old. Now, as an adult, I have experienced The Imperial Ice Stars’ production of The Nutcracker on Ice held at the Artscape Theatre in Cape Town. I have to say that in general I prefer the ballet to the ice spectacular. Although I must admit that hearing the skates cut through the ice and seeing the ice spray out into the audience is quite something.
There is no question that The Nutcracker is a favourite among both children and adults, loved for many reasons. My money is on the fantastical transformation of the Nutcracker toy into the Prince and his battle against the Rat King; then, of course, there is the love story between Maria and the Nutcracker Prince. But most of all I believe it is Tchaikovsky’s enduring score - which is kept forever familiar and playing through our minds by its use in films and television commercials – that has the ability to draw the audience (regardless of age) into the magical story of Maria and her Nutcracker Prince.
I would love to reflect on the finer performance and production details of this ice spectacular, however, for the bulk of the show I found myself turning back every few minutes, attempting to put an end to the persistent distraction behind me. This was not at all what I expected for my Sunday evening.
The theatre was a packed house with an impressive number of children in the audience. I truly commend parents who expose their young ones to the arts, and in particular to the theatre, which can often be a hard sell. Unfortunately this was also the cause of my inability to engage properly with the show. There are two issues that need to be considered and addressed by both the parents and the venue in attempting to remedy the problem I (and I am certain others too) experienced. If you are going to take your children to the theatre you should expose them to a certain level of etiquette. An example from my experience at this specific show was the family seated behind my friends and me. The children appeared to be no more than ten years old. Throughout the show we were distracted by a running commentary from the mother and daughter. Not even in whispers, spoken to close to the ear (which we all indulge in from time to time). This commentary was delivered in what one could call an “outside voice”. Not only was there the commentary to deal with, but also, come the second half we were forced to endure the continuous fussing and fidgeting of their young son. This brings me to the second issue: if your child is too young to sit through an entire production, wait a year or so until they can actually enjoy it. The Artscape Theatre, like many others, offers a matinee show and this is the time to take your young children to the theatre. If I were to attend a matinee performance I would expect to hear the excited voices of children and what would otherwise be considered inappropriate behaviour.
Theatre houses should consider age limits for the evening shows. It is completely understandable for a child to become irritable during an almost two-hour long show on a Sunday night. I find it incredibly inconsiderate that some people expect other members of the audience to tolerate the constant disruptions during a show that they have paid to watch. The whole joy of the theatre experience is to immerse oneself in the fantasy. As my group and I experienced first-hand, this is not possible when you find yourself periodically glancing backwards attempting politely to make the folks behind aware that they are ruining your night. We were unsuccessful in our attempts. This, for the most part, ruined my experience of the production and as a result I found myself being more invested in trying to block out the noise coming from behind me than I was in focusing on the excitement on the stage before me.