productions | the theatre

the theatre

You awaken in a darkened theatre.

In front of you is an enormous cinema screen. On it plays everything that's currently happening in the mansion, accompanied by appropriate sound effects and background instrumentals when fitting. The seat you're sitting on is large and plush, and while there's many of them, there's enough room in the theatre for you to fully recline the seat into a comfortable bed if you wish. Under each seat is a sleeping mask and noise-cancelling headphones, in case you'd like to take a break from watching the show.

Follow the stairs up and you'll reach what should be the projection room. There are no projectors in here, however; it is simply a large and well-lit room above the main seating area, and a good place to hang out with your fellow eliminated contestants if shouting at each other across the aisles proves too much to handle.

If you leave the theatre through the door in the back, you'll find yourself in a hall. On one end is a concession stand. It's stocked with standard movie snacks - popcorn, candy and the like - but if you're feeling the urge for something else, you'll be able to find it stocked somewhere in the back. On the other end is a table with thirty wrapped bags and a placard reading 'A star for our stars! Please accept these lovely giftbags as a token of appreciation for your hard work, sponsored by [illegible smudge]'. Each bag has a tag bearing the name of someone in the mansion; you will only be able to open the bag with your name on it. As soon as you open it, any memories that have been taken from you, including those of the other people in the mansion that you may have forgotten, will be returned in their entirety. Within the bag are also objects from your home that you may want for your stay here, though you will find no weapons.

There are no other doors in the hall save for the one leading back into the theatre room. There are also no windows; it is impossible to tell where you are and what is going on in the outside world. Any attempts to break out will fail. So in the meantime, why not sit back and enjoy the show?

Oh, and one more thing. At midnight following each execution, once all those who've died that week have woken up, a video will begin to play on screen.

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[For a moment he pauses, and then he leans back in his chair with a thoughtful expression]

They wouldn't... I'm pretty sure it would never be allowed to air.

But I never thought about it. Maybe it isn't being broadcast to earth at all. After all, you're unlike any of the aliens I've met, isn't Miss Sailor Aluminium Siren an alien too? There must be so many different worlds out there maybe this is a broadcast for one of them.

But that sounds just as ridiculous as this show!

And I have to wonder why all the contestants but myself and Reiko would be of identical external biological presentation. Who would really want to watch a bunch of mostly pink-skinned aliens rather than members of their own species?

Is there a reason this is going on...

Wouldn't it be easier to watch a group of a different species kill each other off? I suppose it's the same reasons humans are okay with eating animals but not other humans. It's that sense of detachment, isn't it...?

As for reasons... I don't know. I couldn't even begin to guess.

The Hostess isn't incapable of emotion. They must not completely regard us as toys. On some level... there has to be... a reason we went through all this.

The fact that we're all still here after having 'died' makes it all the more confusing...

Is it meant to be some kind of social commentary? Some kind of experiment? And then the memories too... It feels like the more we learn the more questions there are. Even if there is a reason I couldn't possibly guess it right now.

It's probably a really bad one too...

Guinea pigs.

Lab rats.

Back home, people played games with rats to see what they could do, if they could be trained, that sort of thing. The set a goal for the rat and reward it if it achieves the goal.

It's considered unethical to do experiment on creatures of the same species.

We're lower life forms to them. We're their lab rats.

Even so, that's a bit...

I-It's not like people haven't done similar experiments before though. And it seems like people will go out of their way to prove how terrible humanity is.

Do they really hope to get anything new out of this...?

Money is generally a time-honored motivation. If there really is a television show, ratings translate to money.

But just how much money would it even cost to put on a television show like this? You'd have to bribe so many people, not to mention the special effects budget.

I mean... When everything changed for Halloween it was instantaneous. It wasn't like something happened overnight, which would have been easier and cheaper, it was like you blinked and everything was new. I don't even know how they would do something like that. It must take so much money...

With product placement and sponsorships, they could make money. And this is an advanced civilization - it might not be as expensive for them to do some of these things as we think.

Or it could just be smoke and mirrors.

I guess that's true. I've only been thinking of things in the context for the world I come from...

It's still hard to believe that we could have been kidnapped by an advanced civilization though.

If it were just social commentary... this is too game-like for the study of human nature uninhibited to be the only reason, not to mention the variety.

That's true... it seems odd to have a human majority, with several nations but then only one or two aliens. It's not a particularly big sample size either.

At the very least they could tell us everything after we 'die'. It's not like we have any way of leaking the information to the general public.

Don't they want us kept in suspense to an extent? For example, the victim's late arrival means we have to solve the mystery at the same time as the living cast.

Do we have to...?

Ugh, if Mr. Tanaka gets executed I don't know how I'll be able to stand it. Can you imagine him ranting day-in, day-out about this whole thing? Honestly it's difficult enough just to watch him in the trial.

They could have at least given us a bigger place to wait in. Maybe somewhere with windows...

[It's been less than a week and Latvia's already starting to get stir crazy]

Pace a little. It will do you good.

...I almost hope he hangs just to be spared whatever terrible execution they have dreamed up in the not-improbable event he ends up guilty later on.

Why can't someone just mass murder everyone else already and get it over with? Surely that'll be the dramatic end they've been hoping for! Wouldn't some kind of twist like that get more ratings?

[Yup, definitely stir-crazy. How everyone else has been able to stand it so long he'll never know. With a quiet groan he holds his head in his hands]

I want to but there's nowhere to go. I want to walk outside...

Didn't you read the rules? Maybe not, I don't think you ever had that sort of malicious intent.

Only two a week are allowed.

That's too long...

[And he jolts up, suddenly remembering something important]

I'll have to spend my birthday here! I can't spend my birthday here!

Your birthday? Oh, you mean--

Princess Nevermind crossed that river traversal guidance structure already, you know.

E-excuse me?

No, that has nothing to do with it. I-I guess independence day would be more accurate. I really need to spend it at home. It would be wrong not to celebrate with everyone.

the theatre

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