Editing The Entertainment

{{DISPLAYTITLE:''The Entertainment''}}
{{Acts}}
{{title}} is the second {{KRZ}} interlude, released online on November 22, 2013. It takes place between [[Act II|Acts II]] and [[Act III|III]].

[[File:EntertainmentHead.png|thumb|right|The cover for the ''Entertainment'' script.]]
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 [http://kentuckyroutezero.com/the-entertainment/ here].

== Development & background ==

The game was originally developed for the [[wikipedia:Oculus Rift|Oculus Rift]] headset. This '''virtual reality version''' is now unavailable and unsupported, and instructions on its operation have since been amended to direct players on how to instead host a live stage production of the play. The former VR design 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 [[wikipedia:Eugene O'Neill|Eugene O'Neill]], [[wikipedia:Samuel Beckett|Samuel Beckett]], and [[wikipedia:Maxim Gorky|Maxim Gorky]].<ref>[http://kentuckyroutezero.com/pub/newsletter-archive/2013-dec-kentucky-route-zero-release-schedule-update-the-entertainment-other-news.html Kentucky Route Zero - Release schedule update, "The Entertainment" & other news]</ref> The "brick sandwich" on the Bar-fly's table is in reference to a circumvention of [[wikipedia:Raines law|Raines law]], a prohibition-era law outlawing the sale of alcohol on Sunday except for in hotels (the setting of both ''The Entertainment'' and O'Neill's ''[[wikipedia:The Iceman Cometh|The Iceman Cometh]]''). Some bar owners would mock the law by serving a clay brick between two slices of bread – as seen in the play – thus satisfying the minimal legal requirement of serving food.

=== Print version ===
The [http://www.lulu.com/shop/http://www.lulu.com/shop/lem-doolittle/the-entertainment/paperback/product-21312732.html "Paper and Ink" version] of the script is printed with a Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN) of {{Code|57-6498}}, which it shares with a published version of [https://lccn.loc.gov/57006498 ''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 to adhere to the present format, which in this case would be {{Code|57006498}}.

A PDF of the print version can be found [[:File:TheEntertainment_Final.pdf|here]] and the sound cues can be downloaded from the ZIP linked [http://kentuckyroutezero.com/the-entertainment/vr.txt in this document] (direct link [https://web.archive.org/web/20230725054424/http://kentuckyroutezero.com/the-entertainment/TheEntertainment_SoundCues.zip here]).

== 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:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| [[Harry Esperanza]]
| Edgar Foy
|-
| [[Lawrence Slade]]
| Allen Vogel
|-
| [[Pearl Slade]]
| Sarah Wakefield
|-
| [[Rosa Slade]]
| Sydney Mueller
|-
| [[Evelyn Hickman]]
| Paula Graves
|-
| Bar-fly
| Uncredited
|}

== Real-life productions ==
=== 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.<ref>[https://www.handeyesociety.com/event/wordplay-schedule-announcements-a-brick-sandwich/ WordPlay Schedule, Announcements, a Brick Sandwich – Hand Eye Society]</ref><ref>[https://www.handeyesociety.com/event/wordplay-fest-pics-and-showcase-links/ WordPlay Fest Pics and Showcase Links – Hand Eye Society]</ref>

=== 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.<ref>[http://www.beta-public.com/beta-public-presents/ Beta Public Presents – Beta Public]</ref><ref>[https://www.cptheatre.co.uk/production/beta-public-presents/ Beta Public Presents – Camden People's Theatre]</ref>

== Gallery ==

<gallery>
File:The Entertainment 1.png|Opening scene to ''The Entertainment''
File:The Entertainment 2.png|The Bar-fly's table
File:The Entertainment 3.png|Evelyn and Harry
File:The Entertainment 4 draft.jpg|A [[Hard Times boys|Hard Times boy]] appears at the end
File:WordPlay 1.jpg|A player at WordPlay 2013
File:December 2013 newsletter - the entertainment wordplay 2 scaled.png|Another player at WordPlay 2013
File:WordPlay 2.jpg|A talk by the developers at WordPlay 2013
File:Beta Public Entertainment.jpg|Rehearsal ahead of the Beta Public show
</gallery>

== References ==

<references/>


[[Category:Games]]
[[Category:The Entertainment|*]]
[[Category:The Lower Depths]]
[[Category:Real world]]
[[Category:Fictional]]