Should we be worried about losing intervals? Theatre critic, Lyn Gardener, at The Stage thinks that we should scrap them entirely. Her comments came after the Globe Theatre announced their 2021 season would resume without intervals. This is mainly for covid safety reasons above anything else. But her argument is that intervals are really just for a toilet break and therefore aren’t necessary… so let me tell you other reasons why intervals are integral to theatre.
1. To go empty your bladder
Whatever The Stage thinks, some people just can’t hold it. I’m making this my first point as The Stage article argued this was the only reason intervals seem necessary. Personally, I try to avoid the toilets in a theatre – the line for the ladies just isn’t worth it! But if you gotta go, you gotta go.
The argument that you can go to the toilet regardless is ignoring the fact that maybe some people don’t want to have to miss part of the play so they can go relieve themselves. It’s also a very ableist view to assume that everyone can wait the entire length of the show.
2. Chitty chats
It’s a time for you to collect your thoughts and discuss everything that has happened so far. There’s often far too many things happening to remember everything you want to discuss and so it gives you a breather to reflect on the events of act one.
Going to the theatre with friends should be a social outing. You can’t talk during the show, so intervals give you the space to do that.
3. Grab a drink from the theatre bar
Getting a drink at the theatre turns an ordinary evening into a special night out. It’s also part of that ‘social aspect’ I talked about above. But at the end of the day, it’s a great opportunity for theatres to be able to make a little more profit. Some people will spend a fortune on drinks at the theatre, and right now this is more important than ever that they continue to do so.
4. Interval ice creams
Another way for theatres to make a little more money is selling ice creams during the interval. Growing up, this was such a huge part of my theatre experience, and it’s still a hugely popular aspect of going to the theatre.
The line for ice creams is always so long which sounds to me that the people have spoken, and they still want their interval ice creams! At the end of the day, I’m happy for anything that helps theatres make a little more money right now.
5. Give backstage a breather
Intervals give the cast and backstage team the chance to have a breather. Especially in a show that is tech heavy or if some of the actors rarely leave the stage. It also gives a chance for any major scenery or costume changes to take place.
6. Structure of the show
Many shows are designed specifically with an interval in mind. They set up a big show stopping number or leave us on a cliffhanger, making people eager to jump right back in. For a show like this, it wouldn’t make sense to remove the interval. As they say in the article, Shakespeare’s plays weren’t written to have a break in the middle and therefore it can sometimes feel unnatural.
There have been debates regarding intervals in Shakespeare plays for years. This is a totally valid argument! In this situation, it is perfectly acceptable to remove the interval. For shows designed with an interval in mind, this probably wouldn’t make much sense.
On the other end of the spectrum, it’s like you wouldn’t choose to add an interval to Fun Home or Come From Away. Some shows are designed to have an interval, and others aren’t. We can’t then add or remove them as an afterthought.
To interval, or not to interval?
The choices made by the Globe Theatre for their 2021 season are reasonable for two main reasons. The first being adapting to make their theatre space safer for covid times, the other being that Shakespeare’s plays didn’t originally have a break in the middle. The argument made in The Stage article that intervals benefit neither the art or the audience is, in my opinion, misjudged.
Intervals serve a financial purpose for theatres, a social aspect for audience members, and a well-deserved break for the people working on the show. Some plays and musicals are hardwired to include an interval. Taking this out therefore wouldn’t make any sense.
Can you imagine Wicked going straight from ‘Defying Gravity’ to ‘Thank Goodness’? It would be such a bizarre mood change. Or & Juliet going from the flashy ‘It’s My Life’ number straight into ‘Love Me Like You Do’. It would feel almost… anti-climatic.
I think whether you can add or remove an interval depends entirely on how the show in question is written, and differs greatly from show to show.
What are your thoughts on intervals? Let me know in the comments!
Loo breaks become more necessary as the years go by. A full-length play without a loo break would become an ordeal, to be dreaded. Nobody misses live theatre more than me but the outing has always been an event, happily anticipated. We need to get that feeling back.
Exactly! Theatrical experiences shouldn’t be an uncomfortable experience. I don’t understand this argument to remove intervals. They are so necessary for so many different reasons!
Intervals are a must! Loo breaks, chat breaks – as you should shut up completely during the show – and, of course, for the sake of the actors and backstage crew. I also think that it’s sometimes absolutely neccessary for the narrative to have a break – plays and musicals that don’t benefit from this fact simply don’t have intervals anyway (Come from Away, Love Story…).
This is so true! The break is necessary for most shows when you consider the length.
I absolutely need a break during a standard show! I definitely need to go to the loo so I can enjoy the whole performance (and not have to wriggle uncomfortably in my seat or- worse still – have to disturb everyone else around me while I have to go to the Ladies during the final part of the show).
I’m sure the performers, orchestra members and tech/stage crew all need a break, too, and the theatre needs to sell drinks and merchandise…
PLEASE don’t take away the interval…!!!
This is so true! It’s not just audience members that need to be considered, but everyone who is working on the show
Imagine how annoying it would be having people getting up all the time as they don’t have that interval time to wait till to pop to the loo!
It’s always frustrating when you’re interupted by people getting up and down. It would definitely be ten times worse if there was no interval :/
Did any one mention that going with the “you can go to the toilet regardless” argument also creates the almost certain probability of multiple distractions for both the audience, for whom it can be annoying, and those on stage where it again becomesan annoyance for the actors, but more importantly, at times the distraction could create a moment of danger and become am unsafe working g environment.
This is so true! No one likes being distracted during the show and having no interval opens up a lot more opportunities for that to happen.
The interval definitely needs to stay!! As an audience member, I would never be able to sit through an entire show without needing to pee, plus it gives everybody a chance to wake up if they’re feeling a bit sleepy! From a performer’s perspective, it’s also a welcome break, and sometimes it’s the only time we have to change our costumes/makeup/etc!!
It’s a really long time for audience members and performance/backstage staff to go without a break inbetween