You want to watch an all-star cast of A-List actors for free?

8: A Play About the Fight for Marriage Equality is available through www.archive.org. The play is mostly taken from the transcript of the landmark California Supreme Court case of Perry v Schwarzenegger.

The play stars George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Martin Sheen, and Kevin Bacon.

Fast Forward to 17:30 for the beginning of this video, which was originally streamed live.
Fast Forward to 30:00 if you don't want to watch the synopsis of the California Proposition 8 issue by means of clips from TV news and other programmes. It's informative, though. After that, the play reading begins. The actors aren't off-book, but, well, they're tops in their business, so even a reading with book in hand is pretty impressive stuff.

The reason for this play: When the civil case against Proposition 8 was tried, supporters of Proposition 8 (which banned gay marriage) panicked. The claims they made on television in order to get California voters to support Proposition 8 wouldn't stand up in court. 'Experts' who pontificated on TV wouldn't testify to their opposition in a court of law, under oath, for fear of perjury charges. So the supporters of Proposition 8 got the Supreme Court of California to ban the courts from televising the trial.

In order to let people hear the arguments, the playwright decided that the transcript of the trial should be re-enacted. By actors that people would pay to see. Like George Clooney and Brad Pitt. And Kevin Bacon, who was willing to read the 'bad guy' part and give everybody a higher Bacon Number. The performance was streamed live over Youtube, and is now available online on video. Pretty cool stuff.

You may think this is going to be dull and legal. It's not. I defy you not to laugh, and maybe be moved. If you think this is a California story, think again: these questions affect everyone in the global community.

A side note for those who aren't versed in US Constitutional history: The other landmark case they're referring to, which is called Loving v Virginia, involved a mixed-race couple who went to court for the right to be married. Back then, you see, people thought it was 'only natural' to prevent a couple from marrying because they were of different 'races'. (Quick, kids: what's a 'race'? You mean, like Klingon or something?)

Be sure to stick around at the end, when they invite all the real trial participants up on the stage. Those twin boys must have been chuffed to see themselves played by actors. And I'm suspecting that Jamie Lee Curtis kind of got a kick out of the line, 'I've never sued Arnold Schwarzenegger before.' After all, she made a film with him.

Take the time, when you have it. You'll be glad you did.