Theatre (ETW building)
| Theatre | |
|---|---|
| Category: | Entertainment |
| Level: | 2 |
| Turns to build: | 4 |
| Building cost: | 2000 |
| |
| Requires | |
 Bawdyhouse | |
| Enables | |
 Pleasure Gardens | |
Sensation and spectacle for the people can keep them occupied and entertained, not to mention distracted from politics.
A night at the theatre is a bawdy, rambunctious, rowdy, exciting, and novel experience. The theatre holds up a mirror to society, and sometimes society does not like what it sees. The audience show little respect, heckling is an art, and performers play to their claques rather than follow the text. Yet each great performance, each actor-manager, each new work, is eagerly followed by the chattering classes.
Historically, theatres could mean a great deal of trouble for the authorities. Riots were not uncommon if unpopular or provocative plays were staged, and David Garrick, the leading light of the London stage, was forced to kneel in apology before a fickle audience he had offended. They were in the process of completely wrecking his theatre and his livelihood! Because of this public excitability, and the potential for subversive propaganda, in the interests of “public morality” all governments closely monitored theatre performances. Indeed, Great Britain only scrapped censorship of theatres in 1968 when the Lord Chancellor’s Office no longer required London theatres to have approval for every production.