enter the carnival of democracy
ride the rollercoaster of free trade
and prepare for an evening of exuberant exchange…
Wealth of Nations is a theatrical event that can be presented indoors or outdoors amidst the luxuriant folds of a Rajasthani circus tent. Named after Adam Smith’s seminal economic treatise published in 1776, Wealth of Nations is both a celebration and parody of the systems that shape our modern world. Wealth of Nations is an interactive performance - audience members are required to apply for visas, change money, play the fluctuating market, cast their votes and even, if they want to, join the ‘merchants of mania and hawkers of hubris’ to peddle their wares in the Wealth of Nations market place.
Wealth of Nations evolved out of Sanctum Theatre’s Zero Projects 2009 developmental season and was highly commended as a Melbourne Fringe special event (2009).
click here to download an event brief in .pdf format
September 2009
"There is no such thing as society," Maggie Thatcher.
Sanctum Theatre and Fenestra Productions celebrate the 233rd anniversary of Adam Smith’s seminal work, Wealth of Nations, as part of this year’s Melbourne Fringe Festival.
The ship may be sinking, the ‘invisible hand’ might have lost its grip on the invisible wheel, but there is an alternative...
Experience Smith’s ideal of a true and unfettered market at Wall Street on Barkly in Brunswick.
Bands include:
Pete and the Tar Gang * Minstrels of the Revolution * Mamushka * Sex on Toast
The Kurtletts * the PANTI-CHRI$TS
Guests performers include:
Suitcase Royale * Daniel Oldaker * Cabaret Existenz * The Gibbon Twins
The Sewell Family Cabaret * An Inconvenient Spoof
...and also the GFC DJ Collective (the Grand Funk Connection), DJ Jimmejay and DJ Joey Lightbulb!
The Wealth of Nations meritocracy will be upheld through compulsory democratic elections woven through the night full of performances and Live music descending into the night, as the squalid underbelly of the metropolis Gog and Magog to do battle and wreak havoc.
The business community takes notice of Wealth of Nations!
"...it looks like a decadent night of bands and performers, rather than a discussion place for economic theories..." writes Mark Hawthorn in his column, 'Trading Room', in The Age, 9 September. Click here to read the full article.
March 2009:
"There's no such thing as society,” Margaret Thatcher.
On Friday 20th March Sanctum Theatre celebrated the 233rd anniversary of Adam Smith’s seminal work, Wealth of Nations.
The ship may be sinking, the ‘invisible hand’ might have lost its grip on the invisible wheel, but there is an alternative. On the 20th Sanctum broke away from the globular economic system and realised Smith’s ideal economic order on a small patch of turf in Brunswick.
credits
Other pages & documents:
“A few thousand years ago there was a marketplace. Never mind where. Traders returned from far seas with spices, silks, and precious, magical stones. Caravans arrived across burning deserts bringing dates and figs, snakes, parrots, monkeys, strange music, stranger tales…
“In the market language grew. Became bolder, more sophisticated. Leaped and sparked from mind to mind…
“Markets are conversations. Trade routes pave the storylines. Across the millennia in between, the human voice is the music we have always listened for, and still best understand.”
--Christopher Locke, The Cluetrain Manifesto, 2000
"In almost every other race of animals each individual, when it is grown up to maturity, is intirely independent, and in its natural state has occassion for the assistance of no other living creature. But man has almost constant occasion for the help of his brethren, and it is in vain for him to expect it from their benevolence only. He will be more likely to prevail if he can interest their self-love in his favour, and shew them that it is for their own advantage to do for him what he requires of them."
--Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, 1776.
“If…[money] were made of iron and could be converted into knives, axes and chisels, there would be some sense in placing a value on it, but as it is I see none. If a man…has more yams than he wants, let him exchange some of them away for pork or gnatoo. Certainly money is much handier, and more convenient, but then, as it will not spoil by being kept, people will store it up, instead of sharing it out, as a chief ought to do, and thus become selfish; whereas, if provisions were the principal property of a man, and it ought to be, as being both the most useful and the most necessary, he could not store it up, for it would spoil, and so he would be obliged to share it out to his neighbours, and inferior chiefs and dependants, for nothing.”
--Finow, King of Tonga, 1806
Fenestra Theatre Productions
Wealth of Nations is produced in cohorts with Fenestra Theatre Productions. Fenestra creates highly interactive theatre and events , sometimes combining with other theatre and community organizations to create unforgettable experiences. For further information on Fenestra please click here.
Festival partner
Wealth of Nations is produced as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival 2009. All tickets can be ordered and purchased at www.melbournefringe.com.au.
Sponsors
The Zero Projects 2009 season has been supported by Bulleen Art and Garden, 6 Manningham Rd West Bulleen, www.baag.com.au.
The September/October production of Wealth of Nations has been kindly supported by The Village Festival, held annually (except this year) at the Edinburgh Gardens, North Fitzroy - www.thevillagefestival.com.au.
Thornbury beer, 3 Ravens, will be served as well as mulled wine and organic, vegetarian soup - www.3ravens.com.au.
Last Updated (Monday, 01 August 2011 13:55)