I feel like my head is concrete 'cause I have no idea what this is supposed to mean. If I got one of these in lieu of a playbill I'd be hollering "Yeah but WHO PLAYED THE BUTLER?"
I think putting budgets instead of Playbills makes a good point. Metatheatre, and if I recall Brecht used this device a lot, comments on itself. This tears down the illusion that theater, or for that matter society, just "happens". It's the same when you buy a candy bar. One sees the shiny wrapper and eats the tasty chocolate, but forgets about the workers picking the coco beans.
I saw people with the playbills-I liked them. The playbills were really nice and I was hoping for that when I see the show. This is just trying too hard, in my opinion.
When I saw this at LaMama I found it interesting--and staggering--to see what unbelievable costs went into a production that looked as low-tech as GOOD PERSON is.
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
~ Muhammad Ali
It's their prerogative, but I think it's overkill. You don't need to bang the audience over the head with the idea that we're not going to the theater to escape, but to be reminded that the people on stage are WORKING, and, wait for it, the show costs money to mount. (Gasp! As if those of us in the audience don't work, too, and don't realize that things cost money?!)(I've been to productions where they did something similar-it feels fake every time. It's like something my cousin and I would have done around the age of nine.)
Also, I don't NEED to GO! (And for the record I don't care if I don't get any Playbill at all, but this is just excessively phony and forced to me.)
Updated On: 11/6/13 at 11:14 AM
Not nearly as excessive as the reaction to this. Is it really that big of a deal that they did this?
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
~ Muhammad Ali
I think the problem arises with the intended reaction.
Am I supposed to be impressed? Shocked? Guilty?
Do they want to see how much of a percentage of my monthly income it cost me to buy a ticket to their show? Will that make them better performers? More appreciative of their audiences if they know the trouble and expense I took to see it?
I'm not pissed off by it, but I think it's trying too hard to prove something ... I don't know what. I don't think they know either.
Yes, it's "work" to put on a show. It's "work" to see a show, too.
Now shut up, and let's all enjoy (as much as we can) the fruit of "our" labors.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22