This theatre critic hurt his back and couldn't sit. Standing at shows changed his perspective

As It Happens6:32This theatre critic hurt his back and couldn't sit. Standing at shows changed his perspective

Naveen Kumar is used to getting the best seats in the house. 

But when the Washington Post theatre critic was recovering from a slipped disk, sitting for long periods of time became unbearable. So, for several months, Kumar found himself taking in shows from a whole new vantage point — usually, way in the back.

In a column for the Post, Kumar details how standing at shows changed his relationship with the performance, the audience and theatre staff, while making him reflect on accessibility, affordability and the history of theatre. 

He spoke to As It Happens host Nil Kӧksal about his recent shift in perspective — both literal and figurative. Here is part of their conversation. 

What became clear as you started to stand at shows? What did you start to notice? 

We're all very used to sitting down in the theatre and just looking at what's in front of us. And I think regardless of where you sit, as you get comfortable, you sort of get lost in the show and your experience is what's on the stage. 

For me, I was still able to have that experience, but also the whole viewing experience became part of what I saw. Think of it like stepping back from an art form and taking in its relationship with the audience. Like when you see everyone crowded around a famous painting and you're watching them look at the painting.

I could see what the audience response was, and how that played into the show's success or what it was trying to do. 

So it elevated the experience for you? 

Yeah, it added more data. Like, it added more information for me to work with in terms of, you know, how are people receiving this? You can feel that when you're sitting in the audience, of course. But for me it was sort of foregrounded. 

Are people laughing, or is it really quiet when they're supposed to be laughing? [Is there] a big applause after [performances], or is it sort of tentative? Like, all of that becomes like part of the temperature of what I'm seeing.

Critics are often at odds with what audiences are thinking and feeling, regardless of what they see and hear in the theatre, though. Did you find that there was a disconnect at all?

That's very true. I mean, for the shows that I saw during this period — which was about a dozen — I wasn't in high disagreement with what was going on around me. And also, you know, I can take in this information and still have some distance and perspective on it. If it's a big campy comedy and everyone is roaring, I wasn't more easily convinced that I should be roaring as well. 

Where are you watching from? Is it just right at the back of the theatre where standing room only is? Or did you try out a few different positions? 

The press agents and the producers would place me somewhere, and it was usually in the back. 

There was one show early on where it's a huge theatre … and the producers were concerned if I stood in the back that I would not be able to see the top half of the stage because of the mezzanine overhang.

So I suggested … how about I go over to the side? But then I was over there and realized the whole audience could see me. 

Very shortly into the show, an usher came over and was like, "Are you in the show?" And I was like, "Oh my gosh, no."  And he was like, "Well, you either need to sit down or we need to move you." Because someone had complained. And I totally understood. I was, like, standing there with a book and everyone could see me. 

I bet there were also times, I imagine, where audience members thought you were an usher or someone who could give them information. 

Oh, all the time, yeah. I mean, if you're standing in the back aisle, you're open for questions of, like, "Can I go the bathroom? Is there time? Do you have programs?" 

Was there kindness and understanding? I mean, a lot of people experience chronic pain. So, if there was time to talk with people in intermission, what kind of reactions were you getting?

I was feeling like I was sort of barely holding on and being able to do my job, and people were so sympathetic and so nice. 

As someone who is able-bodied and relatively healthy, I really had taken for granted how easy it was for me to do my job beforehand. So when it became difficult, I had ... box office managers say, like, "Don't worry, I have chronic pain." Or, you know, ushers who said, "They told us your situation. Let me know if I can do anything." 

For what I was going through outside the theatre, coming there was just such a healing thing for me. 

We take it for granted that this is the way things are. We sit. But there are venues, and there were times, certainly, where standing was more commonplace. 

We can easily think of Shakespeare's Globe. People are standing right in the front of the stage, and then the seating is sort of reserved around the sides for people are better to do. So it's always been sort of this populist thing of people standing up in the front. 

On Broadway, there are certain shows that when they sell out, they sell standing room in the back. And that's associated with people who are really enthusiastic to be there. 

So I realized I was also in a position that the biggest fans of theatre are used to being in. That they just want to be in the room, and it doesn't matter if they're standing up or far away. So that was interesting, too. 

Do you think there should be more room for this, then? That it become more common? 

It is a great access point for people. You know, I know if you go on Reddit, there's people asking each other about standing room at different theatres, because it lowers the cost of entry. 

But it's also an accessibility issue. I sort of came to expect [that] people have to accommodate me because, essentially, it has to do with my ability to sit or not. It's not whether I wanted to. 

So I think if it's need-based, you should absolutely ask for the accommodation because it's required that they give it to you and work it out somehow. 

How is your back now? 

It is better. I did have surgery, and it's been very successful. So I'm sitting down right now and, in fact, I'm sitting probably more than I should.