Three Kinds Of Scenes

From Vitruvius, De Architectura, on the theater, c. 27 B.C. -

"There are three kinds of scenes, one called the tragic, second the comic, third the satyric. Their decorations are different and unalike each other in scheme. Tragic scenes are delineated with columns, pediments, statues, and other objects suited to kings; comic scenes exhibit private dwellings with balconies and views representing rows of windows, after the manner of ordinary dwellings; satyric scenes are decorated with trees, caverns, mountains and other rustic objects delineated in landscape style."

Business theater can combine scenes from both the tragic and comic. As described by Andew Ross Sorkin in his book Too Big to Fail: The inside story of how Wall Street and Washington fought to save the financial system and themselves (2009) - - defrocked Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, John Thain, of Merrill Lynch preferred his business theater to look like the following:

Thain hired celebrity interior decorator Michael S. Smith (whose clients included Steven Spielberg and Dustin Hoffman) to renovate his office, the adjoining conference space, and the reception area, including repainting, carpentry, and electrical work. Thain didn't pay much attention to the details, focusing mainly on the fact that Smith had happily brought over his favorite desk from his old office at the NYSE. But Smith billed the firm $800,000 for his services and submitted an itemized list of goods that included an $87,000 area rug, a $68,000 credenza, and a $35,115 commode. The executives in the billing department who cut the checks, however, were so aghast at such profligacy that they made copies of the receipts, which they would later used against him.

Business theater at its best - set design by Vitruvius and a play of Shakespearean quality.