A Tale of Two Theatres
Nov. 8th, 2012 09:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jamesqLongtime readers and friends know that, until it was closed, the Uptown was my favourite Calgary theatre. It was funky, retro, showed lots of truly odd movies and was the centrepiece of the beautiful Barron Building - Calgary's first skyscraper!
My current favourite theatre isn't even in Calgary, it's in Vancouver: The Rio. I've been to about four shows at the Rio in the last year (two for each visit) and I've been paying attention to it for the last several months.
The Rio has done everything right and it's still around. The Uptown largely half-assed it and it's gone.
In the Uptown's defence, they also had an adversarial relationship with Strategic Equities, the Barron building's owners. Even if you intend on doing everything right, and have the people and money to pull it off, it's hard to get any traction when the theatre is cold and empty. They also had to contend with being in downtown Calgary (dead after 6pm) rather than the Commercial Drive/Broadway area of Vancouver (only dead after the bars close). True, Calgary is slowly adding condos downtown, but it's still a ghost town in some areas in the evening.
In the end, they gave up the fight, claiming "...movie piracy and the popularity of internet services such as Netflix, industry prospects are poor for cinemas specialising in 'Art House' product."
I aim to show, with the Rio's example, that that's not the case.
The Rio has, to my mind, done four things well. First, they bring in a good class of art house movies. Now in Vancouver they're not unique in that, just like the Uptown wasn't unique in Calgary for art house movies. The big difference is that the Rio doesn't depend on that, but the Uptown did.
Second, the Rio brings in a lot of unique live acts. So far I've yet to see a movie at the Rio, what I have seen is D&D Live (serial improvisational comedy) and the East Side Spectacular (a sexy variety show). The elements of those things already exist in Calgary, and I think we have a large enough population that we could grow more if there was a venue for such a thing.
Next, the Rio brings in cult movies and heavily advertises them. You know, films we all own already, which gives the lie to Netflix or movie piracy. I can watch Serenity any time I please, but the Rio will let me watch it while dressed up with a couple hundred other people!
Looking at their schedule for this month I see:
And that I think is where the Rio really succeeds: They're not just building a theatre - they're trying to build a local arts community centred on their theatre. Hell, they're even offering matinee screenings for parents with toddlers.
Finally, they have a liquor license. They fought long and hard for this but it does make it rather unique. Given some of the acts, it makes sense. I'd rather have a highball if I'm watching burlesque or a live band. The Uptown had the Marquee Room, but you couldn't watch a movie with the drinks you bought there. Sadly, they can't have liquor sales at the same time as the toddler shows - I think that would be epic. Stupid laws.
The Rio also put a lot of effort into making the venue nice. The Uptown was still using the seats they had in the eighties. The place looked run down. Little improvements appeared here and there, but it seemed like it was the work of one person or a small group working when they could fit in the time, rather than a positive effort to refurbish the joint. The Rio on the other hand has been extensively remodelled (new, modern, theatre seats; a nice stage and screen; a brand new lounge). Of course this takes money, which the Uptown clearly didn't have. However the variety of the shows and their self-promotion are a good way of making the money to improve the theatre.
I see no reason why Calgary couldn't have something similar. Perhaps the Plaza will do it since it's the next most Rio-like of the Calgary theatres.
My current favourite theatre isn't even in Calgary, it's in Vancouver: The Rio. I've been to about four shows at the Rio in the last year (two for each visit) and I've been paying attention to it for the last several months.
The Rio has done everything right and it's still around. The Uptown largely half-assed it and it's gone.
In the Uptown's defence, they also had an adversarial relationship with Strategic Equities, the Barron building's owners. Even if you intend on doing everything right, and have the people and money to pull it off, it's hard to get any traction when the theatre is cold and empty. They also had to contend with being in downtown Calgary (dead after 6pm) rather than the Commercial Drive/Broadway area of Vancouver (only dead after the bars close). True, Calgary is slowly adding condos downtown, but it's still a ghost town in some areas in the evening.
In the end, they gave up the fight, claiming "...movie piracy and the popularity of internet services such as Netflix, industry prospects are poor for cinemas specialising in 'Art House' product."
I aim to show, with the Rio's example, that that's not the case.
The Rio has, to my mind, done four things well. First, they bring in a good class of art house movies. Now in Vancouver they're not unique in that, just like the Uptown wasn't unique in Calgary for art house movies. The big difference is that the Rio doesn't depend on that, but the Uptown did.
Second, the Rio brings in a lot of unique live acts. So far I've yet to see a movie at the Rio, what I have seen is D&D Live (serial improvisational comedy) and the East Side Spectacular (a sexy variety show). The elements of those things already exist in Calgary, and I think we have a large enough population that we could grow more if there was a venue for such a thing.
Next, the Rio brings in cult movies and heavily advertises them. You know, films we all own already, which gives the lie to Netflix or movie piracy. I can watch Serenity any time I please, but the Rio will let me watch it while dressed up with a couple hundred other people!
Looking at their schedule for this month I see:
- A talent show.
- A grindhouse festival.
- Live music on eight separate occasions.
- Serial improv comedy.
- Burlesque.
- Niche documentaries.
- Spike and Mike.
- Five cult movies.
And that I think is where the Rio really succeeds: They're not just building a theatre - they're trying to build a local arts community centred on their theatre. Hell, they're even offering matinee screenings for parents with toddlers.
Finally, they have a liquor license. They fought long and hard for this but it does make it rather unique. Given some of the acts, it makes sense. I'd rather have a highball if I'm watching burlesque or a live band. The Uptown had the Marquee Room, but you couldn't watch a movie with the drinks you bought there. Sadly, they can't have liquor sales at the same time as the toddler shows - I think that would be epic. Stupid laws.
The Rio also put a lot of effort into making the venue nice. The Uptown was still using the seats they had in the eighties. The place looked run down. Little improvements appeared here and there, but it seemed like it was the work of one person or a small group working when they could fit in the time, rather than a positive effort to refurbish the joint. The Rio on the other hand has been extensively remodelled (new, modern, theatre seats; a nice stage and screen; a brand new lounge). Of course this takes money, which the Uptown clearly didn't have. However the variety of the shows and their self-promotion are a good way of making the money to improve the theatre.
I see no reason why Calgary couldn't have something similar. Perhaps the Plaza will do it since it's the next most Rio-like of the Calgary theatres.
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Date: 2012-11-11 12:14 am (UTC)The Plaza is a wreck. Substandard heating; straw in the rafters for what little insulation there is; the electrics are ancient. To make the Plaza into something decent would also take a metric fuckton of cash. Also, being a single screen theatre imposes severe limits on how things can work. (I've not been to the Rio so can't comment on how it works...)
The biggest impediment, however, is vision. I attempted to bring in more offbeat stuff to the Plaza, but was kaiboshed at every turn. Pete Harris experienced similar limitations at the Uptown; while he had more leeway at the Plaza, he was hampered there by it being a single-screen venue. Even given unlimited funds, to do what the Rio does would takes a ton of work by one inspired individual and it is unlikely that person could be adequately recompensed for the work required; s/he would have to do it for the love of the job.
All this without considering that Calgary has one third the population of Vancouver, and the people here are generally less interested in the arts than Vancouverites (at least in my experience). 'Cuz, really, what it comes down to is bums in seats. And if you don't have that, the most inspired programming in the world counts for bupkes.
On a related note, Landmark will be closing the Globe in the near future. So. The only 'downtown' theatre that will be left is Eau Claire...