An addendum to my addendum

"Founders keepers, losers weepers."


It gets me off that people are buying tickets for Hamlet that are over a thousand dollars. Isn't it great that a stage production that is four hundred years old should create such a commotion? This is something, I know, that would not happen in America. The stage is a dying art form in America. I know, I work for many theatre's, and all it is anymore is older people who buy tickets, people who grew up in a day when going to the theatre was a usual event, and actors and the shows they performed were appreciated.

I love the theatre because it brings people together. For a few hours people enjoy the same performance. They come together to discuss it; they remember it years later.

In Britain this form of social interaction is so much more vibrant. It is a part of the English character. Even people who don't care to go to the theatre cannot deny it as a part of their blood. It is impossible to walk in London without going past a theatre, or seeing a poster for a show, or reading an interview about a show in the local papers. What is most interesting about the English theatre, which may show why it is so much more prosperous than American theatre, is that the actors who do stage performances are generally not just theatre actors. They are, like David Tennant who is performing Hamlet, actors that are also known for doing BBC or ITV mini-series of classical works (like Jane Eyre -- Toby Stephens who played Rochester in the 2006 mini-series is a regular RSC player); they do television series' (David Tennant as Doctor Who; Richard Armitage, who started at the RSC, is a regular in "Robin Hood" and "Spooks"). Some even do movies. This coming spring's production of Hamlet is headlined by Jude Law. It is a common thing for most of these actors when they are not doing mini-series or television productions to be on the stage in the West End, or Stratford, or Bath.

The point is that whereas in America one is either a theatre actor, or works on television, or does movies, in England it is much more interwoven. In fact, it is very difficult to become a television lead or do mini-series productions without having had an extensive theatre background. These actors start with the theatre and when they move on to do other things it is often their theatre background that determines their level of salability.

It is this structure within the English arts that allows the stage form of theatre to be so much more appreciated in their society than in American culture. There may be many other things besides that contribute to their success. Theatre, for one instance, has always been more successful as an art form in Britain than in America and many more plays have been written for the English stage than for the American stage. But theatre as a principal art form in England creates the makeup for the actors' oeuvre, which in turn makes the English theatre world prosper.

People will pay thousands of dollars to see a show because they have seen these actors on their screens, have in many cases followed these actors since they first started their careers. They are more willing to see a four hundred year old play performed, a play that they may not otherwise care to see or study, because these well-loved and talented actors, just by their presence in the stage work, justify its worth.

For a time in which ipods, computers, television, youtube, downloads are an easy and relatively cheap way to entertain ourselves, it is almost amazing that anyone would care to spend over a thousand dollars on one ticket to leave the comfort of their home to see a stage performance of a play.