Why Pay Full Price?

Dan and I just returned from seeing Pericles at the Shakespeare Theater. The bard must have been a genius to write so many plays that continue to draw a packed audience. We paid $10 apiece for standing room tickets that entitled us to no more than a chance to stand against the back wall and watch this fantastic play, which we did for the first half.

However, I had spied out a couple of empty seats, so at intermission I claimed a seat in the center of the first row (can you believe it?) and Dan did the same in the center of the second row. I was literally 10 feet away from the stars of the cast at the end of the play. The seats were so good that they made us totally forget the pain of standing up for the first hour and a half!

The play was my kind of play. It was not silly with the clowns that Shakespeare tends to use in his comedies. But it had a happy ending, unlike the blood-and-guts tragedies when everyone dies in one way or another. The special effects of storms at sea and glitter out of nowhere were really well done. The costumes were strikingly beautiful. The live dog behaved himself.

All in all a real bargain. I would bring my book to read and wait for the cheap seats again. Why ever pay full price?