OFFICIAL37 How does the student feel about the idea of charging more for some seats than for others? [Click on 2 answers.]

[00:00.00]NARRATOR: Listen to a conversation between a student and a university theater manager.[00:05.38]FEMALE STUDENT: I'm sorry if my e-mail wasn't clear. [00:08.25]It's probably best that we're meeting now. [00:10.25]I have a lot of questions.[00:11.73]MALE THEATER MANAGER: So do I. [00:12.62]But first let me say that I'm so glad that this tradition is continuing. [00:16.40]I guess for the last twenty years now every senior class has put on a Shakespeare play.[00:21.00]FEMALE STUDENT: It won't be anything like the drama department's productions in the main theater, [00:26.59]but we're really excited. We're doing As You Like It this year.[00:28.32]MALE THEATER MANAGER: Great. Let's start with the timing. [00:30.56]You-you want the production to run on two consecutive nights...a Thursday and Friday?[00:35.19]FEMALE STUDENT: Right. [00:36.05]The end of April would be best. [00:37.59]Maybe the last Thursday and Friday? [00:39.42]We're flexible with the dates.[00:41.04]MALE THEATER MANAGER: The only bookings at the small theater are some recitals in the beginning of the month. So I'll make sure to get it on the calendar. [00:47.75]But your other questions. Let's see...[00:50.36]you want to use fire onstage?
[00:52.92]FEMALE STUDENT: Well, our idea is to reproduce the conditions of an Elizabethan playhouse, make it as authentic as possible. [00:58.98]And of course they didn't have electric lights five hundred years ago. [01:02.01] So we thought if we had candles...a lot of candles, actually...[01:05.93]MALE THEATER MANAGER: To light the stage?[01:07.26]FEMALE STUDENT: Yeah.
[01:08.60]MALE THEATER MANAGER: OK. Um...you'd need a special permit. [01:12.36]Y-You could get one from the city council. [01:14.87]But...for one thing, it's difficult and time-consuming to get permission—and expensive. [01:20.46]And it's not just the permit, you'd have to pay for an inspection and to have a fire marshal present at the shows?[01:27.04]FEMALE STUDENT: That does sound expensive. [01:28.61]If we had a budget like the drama department ...But it looks like we'll have to scale back a bit...
[01:33.78]MALE THEATER MANAGER: Are you charging admission?
[01:35.35]FEMALE STUDENT: There'll be a small admission fee. [01:37.12]In Shakespeare's time, if you paid a little more you got a more comfortable seat. [01:41.07]I don't see how we could do that, though. [01:42.87]I mean, all the seats are the same, right?[01:44.96]MALE THEATER MANAGER: Right. I guess you could charge more for the seats up front. But it's a small theater?
[01:50.29]FEMALE STUDENT: And there isn't much difference between the front and the back.[01:53.01]MALE THEATER MANAGER: Anyway, for lighting, you could buy those electric lanterns that are made to look as if they have a natural flame.
[01:58.86]FEMALE STUDENT: If that's the best we can do. Not exactly authentic, though.[02:02.70]MALE THEATER MANAGER: But safer and less expensive. [02:05.39] And about the food?[02:06.85]FEMALE STUDENT: Selling food was also done in Shakespeare's time. [02:09.25]It's related to the candles, actually. [02:11.27] When the candles burned down, they stopped the play—so they could bring out new ones—and that's when they sold snacks. [02:17.25]That's how the custom of having an intermission started.
[02:19.96]MALE THEATER MANAGER: I'd always thought intermissions began as a way to change the scenery.[02:23.52]FEMALE STUDENT: Oh, speaking of scenery, do you have the exact dimensions of the stage?[02:28.38]MALE THEATER MANAGER: Sure.