Does everything really go with coffee? A recent item that caught my eye was tauting Shakespeare with a “scoop of coffee.” My immediate reaction was that some theatre or Shakespeare Festival was installing a Starbucks or a Seattle’s Best in their theatre. The idea isn’t so ridiculous. After all, we’re living in the age where any place can become a mall. Got some shopping to do? Go to the airport. Need a latte? Get it at your local grocery store. Cross-selling is apparently the wave of the future.
In this case, the article is merely noting a coffee clatch about Shakespeare. It sounds perfectly lovely, but I couldn’t help wondering if there was some kind of corporate coffee tie-in. If theatre and industry merged, I wondered how far the idea might be taken. On television and in movies, product placement has become a way to generate revenue. Could theatre adopt a similar strategy? What would it be like to see The Bard redone as a coffee commercial?

Imagine The Merchant of Venezuela, wherein Shylock becomes a South American coffe vendor, or A Midsummer Night’s Cream and Sugar, wherein a group of young baristas are beset by magical spirits. For tragedy, they might present Mochabeth with a Lady M. who’s out to take over “Duncan Donuts.” It might sound farfetched, but since people are always lamenting that the theatre is about to die, corporate sponsorship might be the way to put it on life support.

Posted Tue, 12 Feb 2008 11:45:13 and filed under A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice, Macbeth, Theatre, Adaptations. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.