MONEY - It's Dramatic Potential Hugh Chapman, 26 January 2013 Money. It's involved in so much of what we do. It feels like an important thing to get a handle on in terms of representing life on stage. Making it, spending it, spending it wisely, blowing it, hoarding it banking it investing it gambling haggling - all totally dramatisable. “Throw a million pounds off a balcony” Felix says It is possible to get paid to ghost write Facebook posts for plastic surgeons. Characters need an economic context. Pinter had his list of fifty questions he asked about each one of his characters. “How do they make money?” should probably come pretty high up the list. Inheritance, selling, sales, The Death of a Salesman, The Good Woman of Setzuan, Mamet at his best. We all have a political influence equal to our spending power. The example I always give is why buy a coffee in Starbucks when you could buy one in the independent coffee place next door? This is ethical consumerism in action. The other key thing every ethical consumer needs is an awareness of the ethical values of the different goods on offer. Where did they come from? Who was involved and what were the conditions of their manufacture? This is something I've distilled in a project – to date still conceptual – called ‘The Provenance Project’ https://hughchapmanblog.wordpress.com/2012/11/25/the-provenance-project/ Loans, DEBT, currency exchange, sorry we don't accept that currency here, credit, tax, gifts. Lucy Prebble, David Groeber. I like the idea of having money on stage. Real money. Perhaps the money that people paid for their tickets. Images: Tags: economy, money, loans, consumerism, ethical consumerism, Mike Harding, investment, Corinne, Death of a Salesman, economical, Lucy Prebble, Debt, Investment, Consumerism, David Mamet, Money