When every rehearsal message is urgent

Text: an original contemporary media-commentary-style practice extract.

I used to think that putting URGENT at the top of a message was a harmless way to make sure the cast saw it. During the week of our community theatre’s production, the heading appeared on requests to bring mugs, return a key and move a scenery panel. Then the venue changed the entrance for that evening. That message had the same heading as the others.

The problem was not that nobody read the messages. People replied with questions: did the key have to be returned before the mugs arrived, and was moving the panel more important than telling latecomers about the new entrance? One person brought the mugs; the scenery panel stayed where it was. The heading had announced importance without saying what needed doing first, by whom or by when.

For the next production, the organiser sent one message headed URGENT: the entrance change, the time it took effect and a request to tell anyone arriving. The other jobs went in a separate list with their own timings. People passed on the entrance information, and the list made it easier to divide up the remaining work. That is a small example, not a controlled comparison: the group and the evening were different. Still, it suggests the label can help when it marks a specific consequence and instruction. Used as a general decoration, it can make several different tasks compete for the same priority.

In this extract, the writer tries to question the effectiveness of repeatedly using urgent language.

Evaluate how successfully this is achieved. Support your views with detailed reference to the extract.