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Stratford –on－Avon， as we all know， has only one industry—William Shakespeare—but there are two clearly separate and different branches．There is the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC)， which presents excellent productions of the plays at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre on the Avon．And there are townsfolk who largely live on the tourists who come， not to see the play， but to look at Anne Hathaway’s Cottage， Shakespeare’s birthplace and the other sights．
The townsfolk of Stratford doubt that the theatre adds a penny to their income．They frankly dislike the RSC actors， those who walk with Jong hair and beard and great noise．
The tourist stream are not entirely separate．The sightseers， who come by bus and often take in Warwick on the side， don’t usually see the plays．And some of them are even surprised to find a theatre in Stratford．However， the playgoers do manage a little sight－seeing along with their play－going．It is the playgoers， the RSC declares， who bring in much of the town’s income because they spend the night (some of them four or five nights ) pouring money into hotels and restaurants．The sightseers can take in everything and get out of town by nightfall．
The townsfolk don’t see it this way and local government does not put away some money for the RSC．Stratford cries poor traditionally．Nevertheless， every hotel in town seems to be adding a new wing or a cocktail room．Hilton is building its own hotel there， which you will be sure will be decorated with Hamburger bars， dinner rooms ad so forth， and will be very expensive．
Anyway， the townsfolk can’t understand why the RSC needs help from the government．The theatre has broken attendance records for three years in a row．Last year， its 1，431 seats were 94 occupied all year long and this year they will do better．The reason， of course， is that costs have rocketed and ticket prices have stayed the same．It would be a shame to raise prices too much because it would drive away the young people who are Stratford’s most attractive customers．They come entirely for the plays， not the sights．They all seem to look alike， though they come from all over．
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