Clover Windlow
Times Editor-in-Chief
All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts. –from As You Like It
On or around October 29th, the 4-sim Globe Theatre and SL Shakespeare Company will make their final inworld curtain call. An artisitic and cultural institution in Second Life since 2008, the virtual Globe brought the works of William Shakespeare much like its historical RL counterpart did in days of yore. But now, due to lack of funding and poor communications from Linden Lab, the sims are forced to close by the end of this month.
“There’s always the mystery and the hope that what we do here would reach out and change the lives of our audience – whomever they are, whether rich and famous or a moviestar or just yourself,” says Artistic Director Ina Centaur in her blog. “For a while, we held onto the odd notion that the creations in Second Life might get to live on beyond its usual time… In Second Life, our ventures have survived many passings – from patrons to founders to prospective actors. But, we simply do not have the significant reach to be saved.”
Centaur goes on to describe in detail the lengthy struggle with Linden Lab to secure a future for the sims of Shakespeare, Primtings, sLiterary, and Skin City. It’s a tale worthy of The Bard himself, filled with mysterious disappearances, broken promises, and questions of whether a conspiracy or simply miscommunication are ultimately to blame for the Globe’s impending demise.
The soon-to-be closing of the four sims continues to raise questions about the wisdom of Linden Lab’s current tier pricing, and whether such pricing is realistically sustainable. If, after all, an educational, artistic, and cultural undertaking such as the Globe– which raised over 5 million lindens in funds (never mind the 10 million out-of-pocket lindens contributed by Centaur)– can not continue to live in Second Life with this current pricing strategy, what can?
“Many of you would cite the fashion empires of SL as successful, and they never ask for ‘donations,’” Centaur explains in her blog. “We could take such a strategy, but doing so viably would force us to resort to commercialism” such as charging outrageous rents, excessively high ticket prices to shows, and abandoning “Shakespeare for the strip mall.”
Perhaps Shylock in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice said it best: “You take my life when you take the means whereby I live.”
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