I went to Shakespeare in the Park quite frequently during my twenties. When I’d go it was a nice, relaxing sea of people on blankets, enjoying picnics and/or wine as much as the performance. It’s exactly how you’d think it would be. There was an organic beauty to all of it. A community show put on for free to people sprawling all over the soft, wonderful grass in unison ready to be entertained. It was so chilled out and perfect.
Last summer I went back for the first time in maybe 3 years and there was something noticeably different. There was a slight tension to the crowd that you could feel but could not see. However something new you could definitely see were lawn chairs far and wide. The tension I felt came from people scrambling to get a great spot and plop down their chairs on the hill.
Yes Shakespeare was getting really popular so there were more people and that was part of the tension but instead of the majority of fans sitting on the grass, the vast majority were now sitting in lawn chairs. I discovered that a small spot in the very front was reserved for people who brought blankets, sheets or who simply wanted to sit in the grass. Meanwhile going up the hill were lines and lines of chairs which made the grassy hill look more like an auditorium than a grassy hill. This immediately ruffled my feathers, stuck in my craw AND got my panties into a bunch. So yeah, I didn’t like that.
Who do these “chair people” think they are? As you can tell I am against people bringing lawn chairs out to these events… and don’t get me started on the Bidwell Park concert series. When did we suddenly feel the need to bring chairs to these shows? Did some people just get jealous of the old people who NEEDED to bring them? Yeah, I understand that some people have to bring a chair otherwise they would not be able to see the show. They numbered very few, but now people like me who’d prefer to sprawl out on the grass are the dying breed. How and why did this happen?
Is this just another example of negative American culture? You know the spoiled, take things too far kind of deal? Are we becoming so selfish and self absorbed in our lives that we’ve extended that behavior to when we are at play? On the grass we are all equals but now at certain shows across the country they have to split the chair people and the blanket people up. Splitting up the crowd? When you divide a crowd who are basically there for the exact same reason, it just seems wrong to me but in some cases it may need to be done so everyone can see. Perhaps we simply need taller stages and it wouldn’t matter any longer. I don’t like the division. Part of the reason I go to these things is to feel the warmth and the community of enjoying art with my neighbors. Maybe I’m just too much of an idealist. A co-worker earlier today called me a hippie when I brought up this topic.
I was at a show earlier this summer and I saw firsthand the tumultuous relationship the chair people have with us blanket folk and their own arch nemesis, the Standers. This instance is actually what inspired me to write down “chair people” in my idea notebook for future use and is how this blog came to be today.
These people arrived as early as I did to an outdoor show in the neighborhood. I sat more towards the back but they sat towards the front. They threw down a sheet and all 3 of them were able to fit on it comfortably. I remember this because I found one of the females in this party of 3 very attractive and she had my attention. Okay so it’s not all about nobility.
As the parkway filled up, a couple with a cooler and a few lawn chairs sat down right in front of them and in front their view of the stage. I remember thinking, well that seems kind of rude. What happened to common courtesy? Later in the show as more and more people started moving to the front I did as well as I came up alongside the standing crowd in front of the stage to take a few pictures of the show. As I got into the 80 or so people who were standing I ventured close to where those 2 chair people were as well as the 3 ladies behind them on the blanket.
Now to their credit, the 3 ladies didn’t seem to care that they could not see the band because of the people standing in front of them. Perhaps they were used to it because of the chair people. Speaking of which, the people in those chairs were less than happy. I could actually hear the woman say to the man how all of these people standing in front of them sucked. I wanted to retort. Oh, I so wanted to retort and say well, how do you think the people on the blanket may have felt when you plopped your chairs down in front of them like Magellan claiming the land for Spain ? I was astonished at the sense of entitlement.
I think until the bigger, taller stages are erected or some other solution is discovered the forthcoming war between the chair people and the blanket people may be inevitable. I’ve chosen my side… which side are you on? Viva la Resistance!
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