[00:05.73]2006 Text2

[00:08.45]Stratford-on-Avon, as we all know,

[00:11.88]has only one industry--William Shakespeare

[00:15.91]--but there are two distinctly separate

[00:18.33]and increasingly hostile branches.

[00:21.29]There is the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC),

[00:25.13]which presents superb productions of the plays

[00:27.55]at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre on the Avon.

[00:31.65]And there are the townsfolk

[00:32.95]who largely live off the tourists who come,

[00:36.27]not to see the plays,

[00:37.80]but to look at Anne Hathaway's Cottage,

[00:40.23]Shakespeare's birthplace and the other sights.

[00:44.14]The worthy residents of Stratford doubt

[00:46.36]that the theatre adds a penny to their revenue.

[00:49.28]They frankly dislike the RSC's actors,

[00:52.81]them with their long hair and beards

[00:55.42]and sandals and noisiness.

[00:58.16]It's all deliciously ironic

[00:59.97]when you consider that Shakespeare,

[01:01.59]who earns their living,

[01:03.51]was himself an actor (with a beard)

[01:06.54]and did his share of noise-making.

[01:09.47]The tourist streams are not entirely separate.

[01:12.98]The sightseers who come by bus

[01:15.10]--and often take in Warwick Castle

[01:17.62]and Blenheim Palace on the side

[01:20.14]--don't usually see the plays,

[01:22.26]and some of them are even surprised to

[01:24.45]find a theatre in Stratford.

[01:27.08]However, the playgoers do manage

[01:29.48]a little sight-seeing along with their playgoing.

[01:32.61]It is the playgoers, the RSC contends,

[01:35.64]who bring in much of the town's revenue

[01:37.94]because they spend the night

[01:39.96](some of them four or five nights) pouring cash into

[01:43.81]the hotels and restaurants.

[01:46.72]The sightseers can take in everything

[01:48.73]and get out of town by nightfall.

[01:52.39]The townsfolk don't see it this way

[01:54.93]and local council does not contribute directly to

[01:57.83]the subsidy of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

[02:01.46]Stratford cries poor traditionally.

[02:04.60]Nevertheless every hotel in town seems to be adding

[02:07.85]a new wing or cocktail lounge.

[02:10.97]Hilton is building its own hotel there,

[02:13.59]which you may be sure will be decorated with

[02:15.80]Hamlet Hamburger Bars, the Lear Lounge,

[02:19.64]the Banquo Banqueting Room, and so forth,

[02:22.65]and will be very expensive.

[02:25.18]Anyway, the townsfolk can't understand

[02:28.21]why the Royal Shakespeare Company needs a subsidy.

[02:31.76](The theatre has broken attendance records

[02:34.09]for three years in a row.

[02:36.41]Last year its 1,431 seats were 94 percent

[02:41.46]occupied all year long and this year they'll do better.)

[02:46.19]The reason, of course, is that costs have rocketed

[02:49.62]and ticket prices have stayed low.

[02:52.43]It would be a shame to raise prices too much

[02:55.27]because it would drive away the young people

[02:57.89]who are Stratford's most attractive clientele.

[03:01.40]They come entirely for the plays, not the sights.

[03:05.15]They all seem to look alike (though they come from all over)

[03:09.04]--lean, pointed, dedicated faces,

[03:12.22]wearing jeans and sandals,

[03:14.12]eating their buns and bedding down for the night

[03:16.55]on the flagstones outside the theatre

[03:18.98]to buy the 20 seats and 80 standing-room tickets

[03:22.49]held for the sleepers and sold to them

[03:24.51]when the box office opens at 10:30 a.m.