Source: Toronto Star
What, you may wonder, was I doing at a wrestling press conference one afternoon this week?
I wasn’t there to report on Trish Stratus going to play Juliet at Stratford (or Stratus-ford, as it would have to be renamed).
Nor was I about to find out that Edge had been asked to restage the combat sequences for the Canadian Opera Company’s production of the Ring Cycle.
I was there to find some clues as to why some leisure-time activities (wrestling) keep bringing in the fans with ease, while others (the arts) constantly have to fight to maintain their followers.
The actual reason for the event was a fairly cut-and-dried affair: the WWE was announcing a network change in Canada, from TSN to The Score.
It’s the kind of thing that normal entertainment outlets might have handled by an emailed announcement, or a quiet media gathering.
But not in the world of the WWE. After all, those initials stand for World Wrestling Entertainment, with the emphasis definitely on entertainment.
Word was spread far and wide in advance of the event that it would feature superstars Stratus, Edge, Torrie Wilson and Ric Flair.
Fans who arrived early enough would be allowed inside the press conference at the Second City Theatre to get up close and personal with their idols.
The devoted started gathering around sundown the night before, and the police had to close off Mercer St. to handle the crowds thronging there by lunchtime.
Inside, the stage area was boldly bannered and brightly lit, while cheerful Second City staff circulated with trays of appropriate finger food (pizza, wings, etc.) and beverages (beer and some lethal-looking “Smackdown Cocktails”).
When the time came to start, the fan-stacked house helped to whip everyone into a frenzy.
I couldn’t help but contrast the mood with that of the typical arts press conference, which usually drifts off toward the land of nod on a tide of obsequious apathy and lukewarm chardonnay.
Watching Stratus and Edge strutting around like the diva and superstar they claim to be, I couldn’t help but think back to the Mirvish press conference this past winter where those fine actors Jonathan Goad and Seana McKenna stumbled through an ad-libbed chat about how they had to buy clean underwear that morning.
I know I’m talking about two totally different things, but don’t you think our arts could use a little more flair in their presentation?
No, I don’t want Martha Henry to show up in a leather halter-top to tell us how she’s going to smackdown Ibsen in the upcoming Stratford production of Ghosts.
But I’d like our theatres to have one-tenth of the bravura, imagination and downright nerve of the WWE when it comes to promoting and presenting their own.
We live in the world of the self-fulfilling prophecy, where perception is more important than actuality.
Wrestling figured that out a long time ago; now it’s theatre’s turn.
