The Entertainment
Act I ⋅ L & D ⋅ Act II ⋅ The Entertainment ⋅ Act III ⋅ H.A.T.A.T.E. ⋅ Act IV ⋅ Un Pueblo De Nada ⋅ Act V ⋅ Death Of The Hired Man
The Entertainment is the second Kentucky Route Zero interlude, released online on November 22, 2013 between Acts II and III.
It is also the name of a play directed by James B. Carrington, with adaptation by Joseph Wheattree of two original plays: A Reckoning and A Bar-fly (both written by Lem Doolittle), to be performed simultaneously. The setting was designed by Lula Chamberlain. In the interlude, it is performed in the Lower Depths.
The Entertainment is available for download here.
Development & background
The game was originally developed for the Oculus Rift, a version which is now unavailable and unsupported. This design, which gave players direct control of the camera, constrained detailed action to happen close to the player character and resulted in the decision to put the player on-stage as an actor, albeit one with no lines. Cardboard Computer stated in a December 2013 newsletter that the game and one-act play was inspired by modern-era playwrights Eugene O'Neill, Samuel Beckett, and Maxim Gorky.[1]
The "brick sandwich" on the Bar-fly's table is in reference to a circumvention of Raines law, a prohibition-era law outlawing the sale of alcohol on Sunday except for in hotels (the setting of both The Entertainment and Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh). Some bar owners would mock the law by serving a clay brick between two slices of bread, thus satisfying the minimal legal requirement of serving food.
The Paper and Ink version of the script is printed with a Library of Congress Card Number of 57-6498, which it shares with a published version of The Iceman Cometh. Of note, the LCCN listed is in a format that was in use before the year 2000. A modern printing would require the LCCN in a modern format, which in this case would be 57006498.
Cast list
In the world of Kentucky Route Zero, the play was first presented at the Buffalo Street Student Theatre on the evening of November 16, 1973 with the following cast:
| Harry Esperanza | Edgar Foy |
| Lawrence Slade | Allen Vogel |
| Pearl Slade | Sarah Wakefield |
| Rosa Slade | Sydney Mueller |
| Evelyn Hickman | Paula Graves |
| Bar-fly | Uncredited |
WordPlay premiere
The Entertainment debuted at the 2013 edition of WordPlay, a festival hosted by the Hand Eye Society in Toronto, Canada. The event, which took place on November 16, 2013, featured a recreation of the table set where guests could sit and play the VR version of the game.[2][3]
Beta Public performance
Beta Public, an event series at the Camden People's Theatre in London, hosted a production of The Entertainment on April 21, 2016.[4][5]
Gallery
Opening scene to The Entertainment
The Bar-fly's table
Evelyn and Harry
A Hard Times boy appears at the end
A player at WordPlay 2013
Another player at WordPlay 2013
A talk by the developers at WordPlay 2013
Rehearsal ahead of the Beta Public show
