Who set the time for this show? Maybe in a world without clocks and watches on every surface – start times are a little more fluid. Especially when a king shows up and says, “I’m ready for the show now.” I imagine that the players couldn’t say, “But we’re still warming up. The clown is only in half his costume. We couldn’t possibly.”
I romanticize the old school player’s life – I love the notion of having all our gear in a cart, traveling and playing up and down the road. But the notion of having to start without time to prepare gives me anxiety. Of all the trappings of modern theatre, I think I’d appreciate having a consistent start time the most.