NationStates Jolt Archive

New Labour's latest ploy to try and get re-elected is free theatre tickets for young people.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7632214.stm

This has to be one of the most pointless wastage of public money I have ever come across. Why on earth should we pay for young people to go to the theatre?

As an ex-member of the Labour party I think this shows they have truly lost the plot.

Eh you already get them for an absolute pittance if you're a student or look a bit like a child, so I don't see what they're trying to pull here.

A lot of middle-class intellectuals between the ages of 18-26 simply will not vote in the next elections, because they don't like New Labour because of Iraq, don't like the Conservatives and will know that voting Lib Dem is a profound waste of time.

It is probably some form of signalling, not necessarily targetted at this population group at all. I don't know politics on your side of the channel :shrug:

its Rome. get emergency housing and these free tickets. now you have free bread free wine and free gladiator events.

Unfortunately, all the tickets are for 'Puppetry of the Penis'. *nod*

Unfortunately, all the tickets are for 'Puppetry of the Penis'. *nod*

Unfortunately?

That show is amazing!

The dance of the giraffes alone...

I would only be slightly more inclined towards going to the theatre if it was free. Or if it was 'Puppetry of the Penis'

Unfortunately, all the tickets are for 'Puppetry of the Penis'. *nod*

Unfortunately?

That show is amazing!

The dance of the giraffes alone...

I would only be slightly more inclined towards going to the theatre if it was free. Or if it was 'Puppetry of the Penis'

It gets old after the twentieth time or so.

It gets old after the twentieth time or so.

Well, I suppose when you're one of the puppet masters the routine can get tedious but take heart, the kids love it.

Keep breaking those boundaries.

It gets old after the twentieth time or so.

When you can do the show yourself I imagine you'd get bored pretty quickly.

Aww, I was hoping this was in the U.S. They're doing Fool For Love at one of the small playhouses in the City! I want.

*<3's Sam Shepard*

Good intention but full of fail on the practicalities:

* Only 95 venues will be participating. What's the point if only a handful of venues (probably the blandest most "popular" ones) will be made accessible?

* Focusing on cost is pointless. Theatre in many areas is already cheaper than cinema for students taking the cheapest seats. You can go to The Globe for £5 FF. Anyone can afford that. Book in advance and don't' take the balcony seats, and you'll hardly ever have to part with a £20 note.

* Focusing only on the young, but all the young is silly. Some young people are cultured anyway, and could tell someone twice their age what the best performances are and where to find them. Many 40 year olds are culturally ignorant aging Chavez or yuppies who think The Globe is a pub and Shakespeare is a brewery.

* Focusing only on theatre is a mistake. It should be targeted to all the arts that display the greatest cultural and artistic merit. I.e. repertory theatre, arthouse cinema, opera. I think there is more benefit to be gained from sponsoring free admission to see a performance of Mahler than there is from a performance of Wicked.

A better policy would be to have a scheme open to anyone, and specifically target it, marketing/promotion wise, to groups and areas known to have low cultural development.

Eh you already get them for an absolute pittance if you're a student or look a bit like a child, so I don't see what they're trying to pull here.
You don't have to be a student, actually. The Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon holds back 50 tickets for sale at £5 on the day of each performance to 18-25 year-olds. If only I had a car, I'd go nearly every weekend.

In fairness to Labour, museum entries shot up once they were made free so I guess to them it looks like a sensible policy. I'll certainly be trying to take them up on it. But I won't necessarily vote for them.

My [pittance of a] livelihood used to depend on the theatre but this is such a waste of time. People don't want to go to the theatre and you can't make them.

But it pales in comparison to the high speed broadband + computers plan for poor kids. Makes me want to become a Daily Mail reader.
This government has taken seriously the class gap in pc games, chatroom use and porn watching and is determined to take measures to halt it. Decisive action. Decisive and moronic.

You don't have to be a student, actually. The Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon holds back 50 tickets for sale at £5 on the day of each performance to 18-25 year-olds. If only I had a car, I'd go nearly every weekend.
Oh, ok. Well in York if you show your student ID you get into the theatre for like a fiver. It's pretty ok times. Saw A Man For All Seasons, that was pretty spiff.
In fairness to Labour, museum entries shot up once they were made free so I guess to them it looks like a sensible policy. I'll certainly be trying to take them up on it. But I won't necessarily vote for them.
Fair doos.
My [pittance of a] livelihood used to depend on the theatre but this is such a waste of time. People don't want to go to the theatre and you can't make them.
Quite.
But it pales in comparison to the high speed broadband + computers plan for poor kids.

This government has taken seriously the class gap in pc games, chatroom use and porn watching and is determined to take measures to halt it. Decisive action. Decisive and moronic.
What is this plan?
Makes me want to become a Daily Mail reader.
Really?

Jesus. Haven't they been dismantling your national social safety net for the past two decades? And now they want to give out free theater tickets? What the fuck! How about putting more funds in the national health instead?

Jesus. Haven't they been dismantling your national social safety net for the past two decades?
No. Education and healthcare spending has increased massively since the times of the Major government.
And now they want to give out free theater tickets? What the fuck!
Aye this is weak.
How about putting more funds in the national health instead?
Eh the NHS has never been so well-funded. It's just that cancer drugs have never been so expensive, and that people have started to go to court about such things.

Interesting. Thank you for setting me straight. How are your immigration laws then?:D

Interesting. Thank you for setting me straight. How are your immigration laws then?:D
Confusing but sort of acceptable. Although the new ones they just brought in are going to fuck care-homes and Indian restraunts, which is a shame.

"Acceptable" from the perspective of someone who wants too keep mooching Americans with basically no job skills from settling in England's green and pleasant land, or from the perspective of such a mooching American?

"Acceptable" from the perspective of someone who wants too keep mooching Americans with basically no job skills from settling in England's green and pleasant land, or from the perspective of such a mooching American?
You're white and have some kind of eduction, I presume, so you'll get in.

Hurray for white privilege! Now for that pesky 'education'...

Hurray for white privilege! Now for that pesky 'education'...
Eh just learn to play cricket really well, you can get a passport pretty easily that way.

Cricket? Isn't that like baseball but with flat bats and matches that last for months?
Look, if I had the ability to compete in professional athletics, don't you think that I'd do it here where the rich basically pay no taxes?

Cricket? Isn't that like baseball but with flat bats and matches that last for months?
Oh, oh how wrong you are. No, it's like baseball but... err... not.
Look, if I had the ability to compete in professional athletics, don't you think that I'd do it here where the rich basically pay no taxes?
The national side is pretty weak at the moment, you stand a chance of great success, also getting a passport :tongue:

Everyone's looking at this from the supply-side, but maybe there's a corollary: theatre has done badly this last year. Two major musicals closed, the Fringe tanked, and lots of plays failed to mount successful runs. Whether it's an adjunct of the credit crunch or not is disputable; but by doing this initiative, the government can subsidise some theatre without being seen to. (Of course, that wouldn't be needed if they hadn't hacked away at the Arts Council, but that's water under the bridge.)

Shit, you think maybe I can get a British passport if I write a decent play?

Oh, oh how wrong you are. No, it's like baseball but... err... not.

The national side is pretty weak at the moment, you stand a chance of great success, also getting a passport :tongue:

Yeah well you need someone if you want to win those ashes again next year.

Shit, you think maybe I can get a British passport if I write a decent play?
We've got plenty of plays. Just shitty actors.
Yeah well you need someone if you want to win those ashes again next year.
We shall see, smart-arse :p

We shall see, smart-arse :p

haha, touched a nerve there :p