Karl Valentin - From Compulsory Theatre (c. 1925)
LULU (1986)
Why all those empty theatres? It's simply because the public stays away. And who's responsible? The State, no-one else. Why don't they introduce compulsory theatre? If everyone had to go to the theatre, things would be totally different. Why did they bring in compulsory schooling? If he wasn't obliged to, no schoolkid would go to school.
Isn't theatre also a school, question mark!
Compulsory theatre could start from childhood. The programme for children would certainly be based entirely on fairy tales like 'Hansel and Gretel' and 'The Wolf and the Seven Snow-Whites'.
There's a hundred schools in the city, each school has a thousand children a day, that's a hundred thousand children. These hundred thousand children, every day, school in the morning, theatre in the afternoon, admission per child 50 pfennigs, at the State's expense naturally, that's a hundred theatres, a thousand seats each. So 500 marks a theatre - with a hundred theatres that's 50,000 marks.
Think how many actors would get a chance of a job! Compulsory theatre, introduced district by district - it would put new life in the whole economy.
Compulsion! Today it's only compulsion that'll get our audiences into the theatre. Kind words have got us nowhere for years...
But what an amazing atmosphere there's be in a packed house with an audience of fifty thousand - only an actor could know about that. It's only with such eminently forceful measures that we can help get these empty houses back on their feet - not with free tickets, no - solely by making it compulsory - and the citizen can't be compelled except by the state.
(back to Manifesto page)
Isn't theatre also a school, question mark!
Compulsory theatre could start from childhood. The programme for children would certainly be based entirely on fairy tales like 'Hansel and Gretel' and 'The Wolf and the Seven Snow-Whites'.
There's a hundred schools in the city, each school has a thousand children a day, that's a hundred thousand children. These hundred thousand children, every day, school in the morning, theatre in the afternoon, admission per child 50 pfennigs, at the State's expense naturally, that's a hundred theatres, a thousand seats each. So 500 marks a theatre - with a hundred theatres that's 50,000 marks.
Think how many actors would get a chance of a job! Compulsory theatre, introduced district by district - it would put new life in the whole economy.
Compulsion! Today it's only compulsion that'll get our audiences into the theatre. Kind words have got us nowhere for years...
But what an amazing atmosphere there's be in a packed house with an audience of fifty thousand - only an actor could know about that. It's only with such eminently forceful measures that we can help get these empty houses back on their feet - not with free tickets, no - solely by making it compulsory - and the citizen can't be compelled except by the state.
(back to Manifesto page)
