That Is The Question
This is a scene from episode five of the second season of a Canadian TV show called Slings & Arrows. In this scene, theatre director Geoffrey (Paul Gross) asks harried and strait-laced financial manager Richard (the back of Mark McKinney's head), to make a decision.
This two-second clip is a microcosm of the entire three seasons of this funny, sad and brilliant show, which I'm posting about because I think I'm the only person not living in Canada who's ever heard of it.
It's about a militantly idealistic schizophrenic theatre director dealing with the reality that if no one comes to see his plays, no one gets paid. And, unlike him, his actors insist on being paid. Also, he's haunted by the ghost of the previous theatre director. Not metaphorically: Oliver (Stephen "Have" Ouimette)'s ghost follows him around giving him advice that no one else can hear.
It has a lot to say about art, and money, and celebrity, and how truly fucking amazing Shakespeare is, but I'm making it sound boring. It's very well written and acted, it's paced perfectly, and it manages to be consistently surprising. It's full of neat ideas and snappy dialogue and flights of the imagination. You should check it out if you have any appreciation for how stories are put together.