Encores! Urinetown
Create Your Own Satire
Satire utilizes literary and comedic devices to make commentary on various topics. Urinetown is a satirical musical that employs several of these devices to critique society and allow audiences to draw their own similarities to the world around them. These include the parody of recognizable musical theater classics, puns, irony, symbolism, idioms, metaphors, physical comedy, gags, and low-brow humor.
Like all good satire, Urinetown resembles our world while exaggerating certain elements to make a point. In this case, in a world of growing capitalism and commercialization, the show presents a scenario where the essential human need to use the restroom becomes a privilege. It literally becomes a “Privilege to Pee.” This basic premise is the springboard for the plot of the show.
Dystopia Mad Libs
The characters in Urinetown live in a dystopia: an imaginary world where great suffering is hidden under the illusion of a perfect society. This illusion is maintained through greed, corruption, violence, limited access to resources, or all the above. Dystopian worlds often explore topics such as the risks of technological development, the loss of individuality, the consequences of environmental destruction, the dangers of propaganda, and the abuse of power. These topics are often placed in fantastical worlds with powerful characters at war with the systems that wish to control. For example, the characters in Urinetown live in a city suffering from a 20-year drought that forces people to pay to pee to limit water usage. Other examples of dystopias in popular media include The Hunger Games, The Giver, Divergent, The Maze Runner, and Gulliver’s Travels, among others.