The Show Doesn't Have To Go On, And That's Okay

Greg Ehrhardt, OnStage Blog Editorial Staff

“The Show Must Go On” is an old adage of show business that goes back to at least the 19th century circus business, although some attribute its origin to Shakespeare’s play Henry the IV, with his line in Part 1, “Play Out The Play”.

For the purposes of this commentary, let’s assume it originated with the circus, because frankly, “The Show Must Go On” an idea that in 2023 is as silly as the circus.

Allow me to explain.

On Monday, in a hotly anticipated NFL matchup between the Bills and the Bengals, Bills Safety Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest on the field after being hit in the chest by an opposing football player during the course of the play. It was a perfectly legal play, and looked innocent enough in real time, but of course led to a truly traumatizing event for everyone involved, especially Hamlin, who as of this writing is in critical condition and fighting for his life.

Play stopped for over 10 minutes as the team doctors desperately tended to his well-being. No one cared about the game, well, no one, except the NFL league office. As is widely being reported, after this abnormally long delay, the league office relayed to the teams that the game would resume after a 5 minute warm up period, despite all the players being emotional wrecks watching medics give him CPR and have him transported to the ER, not knowing whether he would make it there alive.

In other words, the NFL said the show must go on.

Thankfully, both teams weren’t having it. The coaches huddled with their teams and with each other, and it appears they told the referees they were all heading to the locker room.

Damar Hamlin is still fighting for his life, but sanity eventually overtook the league office, and the game is postponed indefinitely, even though playoff matchups are dependent on the game’s eventual outcome.

Why am I writing about sports on a theatre blog? Because the lessons from the football game apply to all forms of entertainment, especially theatre. The NFL is fundamentally an entertainment product, just like theatre. Sure, sports aren’t an art like theatre, but the reason for their existence is to entertain the audience.

The entertainment industry believed for a long time that paying customers must be served at all times, no matter the cost to the performers. Admittedly, for a long time, this was an admirable trait. “The show must go on” represented determination, fortitude, resilience, and ambition. All of these are admirable traits in every profession.

Other admirable traits in every profession, however, are compassion, empathy, kindness, and spirituality.

If we focus on those traits, we come to no other conclusion than that it’s ok for the show to not go on.

In fact, the show MUST not go on when its performers emotional well-beings are at risk.

The theatre industry is ahead of the game in understanding this. During the pandemic, the theatre industry was the last entertainment arena to open its doors, and it did so more cautiously than most, if not all other entertainment venues. Theatre values the safety and well-being of its performers more than any other performer sector.

But what happened in the Bills/Bengals game is more than that. After all, as of this writing, it looks like what happened to Hamlin was a freak accident. No one else was at risk, physically. The players “could” have continued playing.

However, emotionally, everyone was at risk.

And that’s where we need to make the most progress across the board. Employers, like the NFL league office, only care about financial well-being, and that often times transfers to the employees out of necessity.

We ignore our emotional well being because we need to pay the rent or make our employers happy. A loved one may pass away, but if we’re scheduled to perform that day, whether a show or a regular job,  many of us will go forward, especially if there’s no backup or understudy. The mantra has always been to do your job, no matter what.

Sure, employers can be flexible of course, as long as the production line keeps moving. But the production line is always looked as the first priority by employers.

This should end.

Turning this back to theatre, we often hear that the show must go on if the lead of the play has the flu, a key prop goes missing, or some cast members get stuck in traffic. Should this adage apply in these circumstances? Probably yes, as there isn’t emotional baggage tied up in these events.

What if a cast or production member is in critical condition in the hospital? What if there’s another national tragedy on the scale of 9/11 or worse? What if there’s a community tragedy?

The old school of thought says yes, on with the show. Put your emotions in the back of your brain, turn it off, and perform for the audience who don’t want to be bothered with your life story.

But for what? So paying customers can watch a show for a couple hours?

Its 2023, these customers can entertain themselves in ways people in the 19th century couldn’t.

The customers will be fine.

The financiers of the performance will be fine too without a gate for a night, or two, or seven if needed.

The performers won’t be fine. Their memories of the show will be performing under duress, and looking back with regret instead of happiness.

The arts aren’t meant for that.

The Bills and Bengals players got to spend their time in prayer, in support of each other, and Hamlin’s family. That’s what they needed to do, and, if Hamlin turns out ok, that’s what they will remember fondly.

If Hamlin takes a turn for the worse, and they were forced to perform because their employers told them to do it, they will regret it for the rest of their lives.

In 2023, we shouldn’t need to make these choices. The decision should be automatic in support of empathy, compassion, kindness, and spirituality.

Yes, the economic machine of capitalism is relentless. However, the nice thing about machines is they can be turned off, paused, and turned on again. If they break, they can be fixed.

Human beings aren’t machines, and don’t work that way. They shouldn’t work that way.

It’s not an admirable trait to turn off your emotions, and, if you live long enough, you know that emotions can never be turned off. They just stay dormant, like lava in a volcano, until it roars out at a moment you least expect.

The NFL learned the hard way that it is ok for the show to not go on. We have so many other shows going on that the customers will be ok for a couple weeks while they reset. Hell, we survived months without any entertainment options whatsoever.

But the last thing I’ll say is that are the arts really the arts if we ask the performers to suppress their emotions, their soul?

It is not, and it never was.

The show can not go on, and that’s ok, because it was never about the show.

It’s about the performers.

Like Damar Hamlin.

May he make a full recovery, because in the end, the show is not what matters, it’s the performer’s life that matters.

If the day comes that we ever forget that, then there’s no show on earth that could ever restore our humanity.