Shakespeare Electronic Conference, SHK 7.0882.  Tuesday, 26 November 1996.

(1)     From:   Gabriel Egan <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Monday, 25 Nov 1996 17:30:45 -0800
        Subj:   Globe v. Southwark Council

(2)     From:   Andrew Walker White <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Monday, 25 Nov 1996 21:46:41 -0500 (EST)
        Subj:   Define Elitism, Please!

(3)     From:   John Drakakis <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Tuesday, 26 Nov 1996 09:40:02 -0000
        Subj:   RE: SHK 7.0877 Re: Politics and Interpretation


(1)----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Gabriel Egan <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Monday, 25 Nov 1996 17:30:45 -0800
Subject:        Globe v. Southwark Council

Following up the recent claim that the Globe project received a large boost
when it won a court case with Southwark Council, I looked in Barry Day's _This
Wooden O_ (London: Oberon, 1996). Day's attitude towards the council is clear:

"In May local elections changed its complexion dramatically from a blushing
pink to a choleric red and now some old scores could be settled." (p. 139)

But my favourite is...

"The trouble with theoretical socialism is that it doesn't often come face to
face with the brute force of the commercial imperative." (p. 145)

Which patronizing tones miss the point that a reaction is created precisely out
of contact with the brute force of capital.

Day would, no doubt, enjoy reporting that the project benefited from the legal
case but he reports that the case was settled out of court (p. 148) and quotes
David Orr's opinion:

"We came out with zero. Not a penny in compensation from Freshwater. We'd
wasted three years getting back what we had in the first place but along the
way we'd lost both credibility and momentum." (p. 149)

Maybe it was a different court case...

Gabriel Egan

(2)----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Andrew Walker White <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Monday, 25 Nov 1996 21:46:41 -0500 (EST)
Subject:        Define Elitism, Please!

Mr. Egan wrote:

>However popular drama used to be, it can hardly be said to be popular now. Just
>on numbers and the self-identification of class by theatre-goers
>(predominantly, they say they are 'middle') it must be called an elitist
>entertainment whether or not you approve of it being so. I recall Terry Hawkes
>writing in the 1960s or 70s on exit polls at theatres in Stratford on Avon.

That's funny.  A friend of mine and I just raised a production of Hamlet in
Sidney, Illinois, population 900 (excluding cattle).  The cast consisted of
kids from local grade - to - high schools, a smattering of adults, a couple
students from the U of I for good measure.  Tickets were $5 a head, with the
exception of a Benefit performance we held to raise money for reopening a local
clinic (Sidney recently lost its clinic when the HMO-owner decided it wasn't
profit-worthy.  If they can raise enough dough to reopen the place, they'll get
a doctor back).

Attendees for both weeks were a combination of locals, parents of the cast, and
classmates.  Not a tuxedo in sight -- lots of blue jeans, scraggly hair,
sneakers.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this doesn't fit your stereotype of theater, does
it, Mr. Egan?  There are still many of us who practice it because it is our way
of enriching lives -- both our own and that of our neighbors.

It is true that people with too much money have a patronizing interest in the
arts -- but for you to take that small fact and tar the whole profession with
one brush is extreme.  It's also one of the reasons I frankly despise Marxists,
because they haven't spent much time in the hinterlands as I have, getting to
know real people who get real enjoyment and meaning from the theatrical
experience.

Andy White
Urbana, IL

(3)----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From:           John Drakakis <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Tuesday, 26 Nov 1996 09:40:02 -0000
Subject: 7.0877 Re: Politics and Interpretation
Comment:        RE: SHK 7.0877 Re: Politics and Interpretation

I think Bill Godshalk can put off the day no longer...He will have to go back
and read some Marx!  Capital vols 1-3 might be a start.  You can't do a
practical criticism of Althusser's ISA essay without knowing where it's coming
from and what issues it is addressing.

Il n'y a pas hors de texte as the late Maurice Chevalier used to say

Best wishes
John D

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