Thursday, August 5, 2010

David Mamet on Theater and the Free Market

The theatre is a magnificent example of the workings of that particular bulwark of democracy, the free-market economy. It is the most democratic of arts, for if the play does not appeal in its immediate presentation to the imagination or understanding of a sufficient constituency, it is replaced. ... It is the province not of ideologues (whether in the pay of the state and called commissars, or tax subsidized through the university system and called intellectuals) but of show folk trying to make a living.

- from Theater, just published by Faber & Faber, and a hat-tip to Terry Teachout for his excellent review that called my attention to this quote.

No comments:

Post a Comment