The double-bill put on by Sock ’n’ Buskin last week featured two plays about fighting the odds—against madness and against society. But what both truly fought against was the classroom space they were performed in. The performances worked around a desk in the middle of the “stage” which couldn’t be moved.
This space in Residence Commons is what the organizers of the performance had to use after surveying a variety of spaces. Sock ‘n’ Buskin, a student-run, Carleton University Students’ Association-funded theatre company simply couldn’t afford to put on their production anywhere but a small classroom.
There used to be a theatre in Athletics, but that space was demolished during renovations. In recent years, the theatre company has spent nearly all their budget on renting out spaces.
The last play, Bonnie and Clyde, cost the company more than $10,000 in rental costs alone, as it was performed in Kailash Mital Theatre.
Sock ’n’ Buskin is a levied group, but that does not mean Carleton shouldn’t be subsidizing the cost for groups like Sock ‘n’ Buskin when they need spaces on campus.
By simply contributing to the cost of renting theatre space or offering it for a discounted price, the university could enable groups like Sock ‘n’ Buskin to better amplify artistic student voices. This goes beyond finding spaces with no desk in the middle of the stage.
