Clearing up a few misconceptions about Paradise Lost in Second Life

The Pharaoh of Egypt

Sometimes we fail to communicate as clearly as we could. But to be fair, Pharaoh would have saved himself a whole heap of trouble if he’d only listened to Moses when he first said “Let my people go!”

Neither Harvey or myself are as clear as Moses was, so we have to take part of the responsibility when our messages get a bit lost in translation.

So, I thought I would clear up a few misconceptions that we’ve inferred through personal discussions, reading comments on the blogs, and our experiences with early ticket sales.

In summary:

1. There are 12 scheduled performances (see the bottom of the post for a full schedule)
2. You need to buy a ticket to see a performance (and tickets are limited)
3. You can’t buy multiple tickets on the Marketplace for yourself and share them with others (you can however, buy them as gifts)
4. This is not an adult show
5. Don’t be threatened by the works of Mozart or John Milton, this show is for everybody

And now for the wordy version…

1. There are 12 scheduled performances.

Yes, the Premiere Performance on April 5th has indeed sold out, but this does not mean you have missed your chance to see Paradise Lost! We have 11 more scheduled performances of Paradise Lost in Second Life – scheduled over a Premiere Season, over 3 months. You can buy tickets for any performance that is convenient and that has available tickets. These dates, scheduled over weekends to enable as wide a viewing audience as possible, are displayed in the table at the bottom of this post.

2. You need to buy a ticket to see a performance and they are limited.

Charging for events in Second Life is not a common practice. Still, we feel it’s completely appropriate in this case for three reasons:

1. To help recoup significant development costs (nearly a quarter of a million Linden Dollars)
2. To help secure donations to the WWF Adopt-A-Gorilla Program (50% of ticket sales are donated), and most importantly…
3.  Because it’s worth an hour of premium entertainment in world or out (L$1000 = $4 USD).

Further, tickets are limited to 40 attendees per performance, which means, once they’re gone, they’re gone.

3. Buying multiple tickets for yourself to give to others will not work.

Many people understandably want to share watching this production with one or many friends. In doing so, many have purchased multiple tickets through the marketplace with the aim of handing them out. Unfortunately, the tickets are “no-transfer”, so this will not work. If you’d like to buy tickets for friends, please use the Marketplace’s “Adding to cart as gift” option on the right hand side of the screen and enter your friend’s information there (see below). We strongly suggest you let your friend know of your intentions (and check their availability) so that you’re sure your friends know to expect the ticket arriving in their inventory.

4. This is not an adult show

In a recent interview, I was asked if I was at all concerned at giving offence because there is nudity and suggestive scenes of a sexual nature in the play.

I’d like to make it very clear, if you find nudity or scenes of a sexual nature offensive, you may want to give this one a miss. While saying that, this is the story of Adam and Eve, and as the story goes, they were… well… nude.

Further, according to the poem on which this interpretation is based, Adam and Eve had sex, both before and after eating the apple. And if you’re a believer, well, you’re probably pretty grateful they did!!! (Think about it 😉

We take great pains to make sure the sex and nudity in this show is tasteful and incidental, and certainly not the focus of the show! One more thing, the show is performed in an Adult Region (The Basilique) and you’ll need to set your search settings in the marketplace to General/ Moderate/ Adult to see and buy the tickets online.

5. Don’t feel threatened by the works of Mozart,  John Milton, or the Bible, this show is for everybody

I’m going to quote my fellow blogger Harper Beresford on this one, because she said it really, really well:

Now, before you go “Blech, high culture,” hear me out on this. There is a reason this stuff keeps coming back again and again, being performed over and over in variations. It’s really good! Ignore that it’s Milton, who is some dead guy you never got to in college. Don’t think about it being Mozart, something your grandma wouldn’t even listen to. And completely forget this is a story from the Bible. Consider it’s SL and wonder how a group of people could put together this story and keep your attention. Because they can.”

I really couldn’t have said it better myself. So, I’m going to leave you with one little plug: Get over to the marketplace store get your tickets for what I guarantee will change your perception of what theatre in Second Life can feel like.

And without further ado, below are the show times:

Performance Dates and Times

Press Show (by invitation only)

No.	Performance Date	Time	Sponsored by	Sponsored by
1	Saturday, March 29	1300 SLT

Premiere Season

No.	Performance Date	Time	Sponsored by	Sponsored by
1	Premiere 1: Saturday, April 5	1300 SLT	MIAMAI	L’Amour Nexus University of Fashion
2	Premiere 2: Sunday, April 6	1200 SLT	Solidea Folies	Forren Ashford
3	Saturday, April 12	1300 SLT	An Chailin Alainn	Sian Pearl
4	Saturday, April 19	1300 SLT	Fleur De Lis Floral Shoppe
5	Sunday, April 27	1200 SLT	Dutchie
6	Saturday, May 3	1300 SLT	Lola500.ghost
7	Saturday, May 10	1300 SLT
8	Sunday, May 25	1200 SLT
9	Saturday, May 31	1300 SLT
10	Saturday, June 7	1300 SLT
11	Saturday, June 14	1300 SLT
12	Saturday, June 21	1300 SLT