Chapter 2 - The Lively Art PDF

24 THE AUDIENCE 2 This chapter is devoted to the role we play as audience members. Before focusing on that role, however, we will examine two important background subjects that will enhance audience participation and awareness...

24 THE AUDIENCE 2 This chapter is devoted to the role we play as audience members. Before focusing on that role, however, we will examine two important background subjects that will enhance audience participation and awareness. The first is a look at theatre’s relationship to the arts in general and to other art forms. The second is knowledge of how a theatre production is conceived, developed, and presented, including a brief examination of the various elements of which a theatre production consists. Though we touch on these elements of theatre here, we will examine them in greater detail in the part “Creating Theatre: The Playwright.” In the second half of the chapter we will focus on the indispensable role the audience plays at a live theatre production. We examine how we, as spectators, might prepare for attending a production and also explore the variety, diversity and range of audiences at various kinds of theatrical presentations. Beyond that, we look at the way in which critics, reviewers, and bloggers can help us become more informed evaluators of a production and how we, as audience members, can develop our own criteria to evaluate our theatre experiences. WHAT IS ART? As has often been observed, art is a mirror or reflection of life: an extension or a projection of how we live, think, and feel. Art reveals to us what we treasure and admire, and what we fear most deeply. Art is not only something we find desirable and enjoyable; it is an absolute necessity for human survival. There are feelings, emotions, and ideas that cannot be expressed in any way other than through art. The beauty of a face or a haunting landscape may be impossible to convey in words, but it can be revealed in a painting; a complex personality can be captured in a novel or a play in a way that reveals the person’s THE ACTORS MEET THE AUDIENCE The essence of the theatre experience is the exchange between performers and audience members. The electricity, the vibrations, the chemistry between the two is at the heart of theatre. Here we see the audience applauding the actors at the conclusion of a 2006 production of Hamlet at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis. (©AP Photo/Andy King) 25  innermost soul; joy or anguish can often be communicated most directly and completely through music, poetry, or drama. Without these modes of expression— that is, without art—human beings would be as impoverished and as helpless as they would be if they tried to live without language. Characteristics of Art Art can be divided into three categories: literary, visual, and performing. The Visual arts These include literary arts include novels, short stories, and poetry. The visual arts include painting, sculpture, painting, sculpture, architecture, and photography. The performing arts are the- architecture, and atre, dance, opera, and music. (Film, another art form, partakes of both the visual photography. and the performing arts.) One characteristic of all art—visual, literary, or Performing arts These ­performing—traditionally has been that it is selective. As the three categories include theatre, dance, suggest, different art forms usually focus on certain elements and eliminate others. opera, and music, where The visual arts, for example, deal solely with sight and touch—what we can see there are live performers and feel—and they exclude sound. When we visit an art gallery, there is a hush and audience members. in the air because the concentration is purely on what the eye observes. Moreover, in the visual arts, a composition is frozen and constant. We value the visual arts partly because they capture subjects—faces, landscapes, a series of colors or shapes—and hold them fast in a painting or a sculpture. We can look at a statue of a Roman soldier from 2,000 years ago, or a Madonna and Child painted 500 years ago, and see exactly the same artifact that its first viewers observed. Music, on the other hand, concentrates on sound. Although we may watch a violinist playing with a symphony orchestra or observe a soprano singing at a recital, the essence of music is sound. We prove this whenever we close our eyes at a concert, and whenever we listen to recorded music. In both cases, the empha- sis is totally on sound. By concentrating on sound, we block out distractions and give our full attention to the music itself. This kind of selectivity is one quality that has traditionally defined each art form. However, art does not have rules. While we are describing the selectivity of traditional art forms throughout history, experimental artists have often tried to break down the barriers between them. In the contemporary art world, installa- tions mix visual, sound, and performative elements. There are concerts that use lights and projections. But these are more the exceptions and also reflect the constant experimentation within all of the arts. Another characteristic of art is its relationship to time or space; thus a second Spatial arts Art forms way to differentiate the arts is in temporal and spatial terms. The visual arts are spatial that exist in space and are arts; they exist in space, which is their primary mode of existence. They occupy a created to last over time. canvas, for instance, or—in the case of architecture—a building. By contrast, music Temporal arts Art forms moves through time; it is a temporal art. It does not occupy space; musicians per- that exist for only a specific forming a symphony exist in space, of course, but the music they perform does not. period of time. The music is an unfolding series of sounds, and the duration of the notes and the pauses between notes create a rhythm that is an essential part of music. This, in turn, becomes a time continuum as we move from one note to the next. Unlike painting and sculpture on the one hand or music on the other, theatre, dance, and opera occupy both time and space. Let’s now consider the special characteristics of the performing arts. Characteristics of the Performing Arts The performing arts, of which music, theatre, opera, and dance are a part, have several characteristics in common. One is the movement through time described 26 Part 1 Theatre in Today’s World THE PERMANENCE OF THE VISUAL ARTS If they are preserved, painting and sculpture—unlike performing arts such as theatre, dance, and music—are permanent and unchanging. An example is this sculpture of the Nike of Samothrace, goddess of victory, on display at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France. The torso enfolded in flowing robes and the outstretched wings appear much as they did when the sculpture was first created on the island of Samothrace in Greece around 200 b.c.e., about 2,200 years ago. (©Crystaltmc/iStock/Getty Images RF) Chapter 2 The Audience 27  THE PERFORMING ARTS Like theatre, opera, and music, dance shares a number of characteristics with these other performing arts. For example, all these arts move through time, they require interpreters as well as creators, and they must be seen live by an audience. In this photo, we see the Kremlin Ballet performing Swan Lake in Skopje, Macedonia. (©Boris Grdanoski /AP Images) above. Another is that they require interpreters as well as creators. A playwright writes a play, but actors and actresses perform it; a composer writes a piece of music that singers and instrumentalists will perform; a choreographer develops a ballet that dancers will interpret. Another quality shared by the performing arts is that they require an audi- ence. A performance can be recorded on film or tape, but the event itself must be “live,” that is, it must occur in one place at one time with both performers and audience present. If a theatre performance is recorded on film or tape with- out the presence of an audience, it becomes a movie or a television show rather than a theatre experience. To put this distinction another way, when an audience watches a film in a movie theatre, there are no performers onstage; there are only images on a screen. In addition to the general qualities we have been discussing, each art form has unique qualities and principles that set it apart from other art forms and help us to understand it better. When we know how shapes and designs relate to overall composition, for instance, and how colors contrast with and complement one another, we are in a better position to judge and understand painting. In the same way, we can appreciate theatre much more if we understand how it is created and what elements it consists of. THE ART OF THEATRE We now turn our attention to the specific elements and qualities of theatre that make it a unique and lively art. 28 Part 1 Theatre in Today’s World The Elements of Theatre When we begin to examine theatre as an art form, we discover that there are certain components common to all theatre. These elements are present whenever a theatre event takes place; without them, an event ceases to be theatre and becomes a different art form and a different experience. Audience As we have suggested, a necessary element for theatre is the audience. In fact, the essence of theatre is the interaction between performer and audience. A theatre, dance, or musical event is not complete—one could almost say it does not occur—unless there are people to see and hear it. When we read a play in book form, or listen to recorded music, or even watch a film or television show, what we experience is similar to looking at a painting or reading a poem: it is a private event, not a public one, and the live performance is re-created and imag- ined rather than experienced firsthand. All the performing arts, including theatre, are like an electrical connection: the connection is not made until positive and negative wires touch and complete the circuit. Performers are half of that con- nection, and we, as audiences, are the other half. Performers Another absolutely essential element for theatre is the performers: peo- ple onstage presenting characters in dramatic action. Acting is at the heart of all theatre. One person stands in front of other people and begins to portray a c­ haracter— to speak and move in ways that convey an image of the character. At this point the magic of theatre has begun: the transformation through which an audience accepts, for a time, that a performer is actually someone else. The character portrayed can be a historical figure, an imaginary figure, or even a self-presentation; still, everyone accepts the notion that it is the character, not the actor or actress, who is speaking. Acting is a demanding profession. In addition to native talent—the poise and authority needed to appear onstage before others, and the innate ability to create a character convincingly—acting requires considerable craft and skill. Performers must learn to use both voice and body with flexibility and control; they must be able, for example, to make themselves heard in a large theatre even when speaking in a whisper. (This takes extensive physical and vocal training, which we will discuss in more detail later.) Performers must also be able to create believability, or the emotional truth of the characters they portray; that is, the audience must be convinced that the actor or actress is thinking and feel- ing what the character would think and feel. (This, too, is a difficult task requir- ing a special kind of training.) Script or Text Another element essential to theatre is the script or text, which Script (text) The could also be called the blueprint for a production. The playwright transforms the blueprint for a production, the material staged by the raw material—the incident, the biographical event, the myth—into a dramatic various theatre artists. script, a sequence of events that features characters speaking and interacting with one another. Making this transformation is not easy. It requires intimate knowl- Text Any type of edge of stage practices, of how to breathe life into characters, of how to build theatrical activity presented onstage: for example, all action so that it will hold the interest of the audience and arouse anticipation for performances created or what is coming next. In other words, the playwright must create characters and improvised by performers develop a dramatic structure. or directors rather than a The term text is used to include any type of theatrical activity presented playwright. Frequently, the onstage: for example, all performances created or improvised by performers or term text is all-inclusive, directors as well as those created by a playwright. Frequently, the term text is and it is sometimes used in all-inclusive, and it is sometimes used in place of script. A specific example of place of script. Chapter 2 The Audience 29  a nonliterary theatrical text would be an improvisatory presentation created by actors on a street, in a warehouse, or in a theatre. Along with structure, a text must have a focus and a point of view. Who and what is the text about? Are we supposed to regard the characters and the events as sad or funny? The person or persons who create the text have the power as well as the responsibility to direct our attention toward certain characters and away from others. We will discover more about how these tasks are accomplished when we look at the nature of a dramatic text. Director An additional key element of a theatre production is the work of the Director The coordinator director: the person who rehearses the performers and coordinates the work of all of the elements of a the designers and others to make certain that the production is cohesive as well production who is as exciting. As we will see, the separate role of the director became prominent responsible for the unifying for the first time in modern theatre, but many of the functions of the director vision of a production. have always been present. Theatre Space Another necessary element of theatre is the space in which per- formers and audiences come together. It is essential to have a stage, or some equivalent area, where actors and actresses can perform. It is also essential to have a place for audience members to sit or stand. We will discover that there have been several basic configurations of stage spaces and audience seating. Whatever the configuration, however, a stage and a space for the audience must be a part of it. Also, there usually must be a place for the actors and actresses to change costumes, as well as a way for them to enter and exit from the stage. As we shall see, sites for performances may be permanent, temporary, or transformed from spaces not originally intended for theatre. DESIGN ELEMENTS IN THEATRE The design elements in theatre include scenery, costume, lighting, and sound. This scene from a production of Beauty and the Beast in Paris, France shows vividly the costumes, levels and lighting of a large-scale musical. In such a production all of the visual and aural elements combine to produce the overall effect. (©Kristy Sparow/Getty Images) 30 Part 1 Theatre in Today’s World Design Elements Closely related to the physical space is another important element: the design aspects of a production. Design includes visual aspects— costumes, lighting, and some form of scenic background—and a nonvisual aspect, sound. A play can be produced on a bare stage with minimal lighting, and with the performers wearing everyday street clothes. Even in these conditions, however, some attention must be paid to visual elements; there must, for instance, be suf- ficient illumination for us to see the performers, and clothes worn onstage will take on a special meaning even if they are quite ordinary. Usually, visual elements are prominent in theatre productions. Costumes, especially, have been a hallmark of theatre from the beginning; and scenery has sometimes become more prominent than the performers. In certain arrange- ments, visual aspects come to the forefront; in others—such as the arena stage, where the audience surrounds the action—elaborate scenery is impractical if not impossible. The visual aspects of theatre are particularly interesting to trace through his- tory because their place in theatre production has shifted markedly from time to time. For example, stage lighting changed dramatically when the electric lightbulb came into use at the end of the nineteenth century. In our contemporary theatre, computerization has led to spectacular scenic and lighting effects using projec- tions and videos. As we noted earlier, a design element that is not visual is sound. This, too, is a modern element that has come into its own with modern technology. Of course, there were always sound effects, such as thunder and wind created by offstage machines; and there was frequently music, especially during certain peri- ods when every intermission was accompanied by orchestral performances. In modern times, though, with digital inventions, there are far more elaborate sound effects; and frequently there are also unobtrusive microphones, sometimes in the general stage area and sometimes worn by the performers. To sum up, the following are the major elements of theatre: ∙ Audience ∙ Performers ∙ Script or text, with its structure, characters, and point of view ∙ Director ∙ Theatre space ∙ Design aspects: scenery, costume, lighting, and sound Theatre as a Collaborative Art It should be clear from what we have said that theatre is a collaborative art. For a theatre event to take place, its various elements must be brought together and coordinated. The director must stage the play written by the playwright and must share with the playwright an understanding of structure, theme, and style. At the same time, the director must work closely with performers in rehearsing the play, and with the designers of scenery, lights, costumes, and sound, to bring the production to fruition. During performances many elements must be coordinated: the work of actors and actresses along with technical aspects—scene changes, lighting shifts, and sound cues. The people working on these elements are joined, in turn, Chapter 2 The Audience 31  by a number of collaborators: stage manager, stage carpenters, makeup experts, those who make costumes, and computer lighting experts. In an ensemble piece, where the play is actually composed by a group of actors working with a director, collaboration is more important than ever. Another essential component in this collaborative enterprise is the business and administrative side of a production or theatre organization. This includes producers and managers, and their staffs—the people who organize and administer press and public relations, advertising, scheduling, fund-raising, and all the details of keeping the theatre running smoothly, including ticket sales, ticket taking, and ushering. Ultimately, the many elements integrated in a production—text or script, direc- tion, design, and acting, assisted by the technical side and the business side—must be presented to an audience. At that point occurs the final collaboration in any theatre enterprise: the performance itself before spectators. We will be discussing all of these collaborators in the part “Creating Theatre” of our textbook. THE ROLE OF THE AUDIENCE If you asked us to list the essential components of what creates a theatre experience, the chances are we would mention several of the elements listed above but might not include the presence of the audience. This is understandable—particularly today, when film and television are so pervasive. In these media, which are so much like theatre in many ways, the “product,” as it is sometimes called, stands alone as a finished presentation. When you watch a film at home on a Blu-ray or streamed via the Internet, it has been completed and is in its absolutely final form. The same is true of a film in a movie theatre; when released it might be shown in 1,000 theatres simultaneously across the United States, and it will be exactly the same in each location, time after time. The audience watches but plays no part in what appears on the screen. Theatre is different. Even when the story and the characters presented are identical—in a film and stage presentation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, for instance—there is the crucial and important difference, namely, that each the- atre performance is unique and occurs in the presence of an audience. The rami- fications of the audience are far-reaching. To begin with, in live theatre the performers have no opportunity to play a scene over or to correct mistakes. Most of us are aware that in creating a film most scenes are filmed a number of times. These repetitions are called “takes,” and there may be four, five, or even twenty takes before the director feels that a scene is “right.” Moreover, once scenes are filmed, the director decides in the editing room where each scene begins and ends and how scenes are joined together. In theatre, there is no repeating and no editing. The performers move through a production from beginning to end, and if there is a mishap—if an actor forgets a line, or an unexpected noise occurs offstage—the performers must recover and carry on. The result of all this is that each theatre event is immediate, and unique. The dynamics and the excitement of being in the presence of a living person are as old as time and have not changed despite the many technological advances of recent years. As we have noted previously, people still wait for hours or stand in the rain to see a rock star or a hip-hop performer in person, although the same performer is readily available on many digital devices. The same is true of film personalities and charismatic political figures—people eagerly throng to see someone “in ­person.” Thousands of people in Chicago lined up in January 2017 in the hopes of getting tickets to hear the farewell speech of outgoing President Barack Obama. 32 Part 1 Theatre in Today’s World This same chemistry is possible at every stage performance when the actors and actresses and the members of the audience are in the same place at the same time. There is another aspect in which we, as the audience, play a significant part: the effect that we have on performers. The drama critic Walter Kerr (1913–1996) explained the special relationship between audience and performers at a theatre event: It doesn’t just mean that we are in the personal presence of performers. It means that they are in our presence, conscious of us, speaking to us, working for and with us until a circuit that is not mechanical becomes established between us, a circuit that is fluid, unpredictable, ever-changing in its impulses, crackling, intimate. Our presence, the way we respond, flows back to the performer and alters what he does, to some degree and sometimes astonishingly so, every single night. We are contenders, making the play and the evening and the emotion together. We are playmates, building a structure.1 Or as television, film, and stage actress Kim Cattrall has remarked: “Theatre is immediate, it’s alive, you’re there with the audience, it can’t be done again and again and again and again, it’s organic.”2 In other words, we should always remember that as audience members we have an enormous effect on actors and actresses. They are buoyed up by a responsive audience and discouraged by an unresponsive one. Sometimes, if an audience is not reacting, they might try harder than ever to make contact. This is the case not only with comedy, where laughter is a clear gauge of the audience’s response, but also with serious drama. Performers know whether or not spectators are caught up in the action. When audience members are involved in a serious play, they become very quiet; you can sense their fierce concentration. When an audience is not engaged, there may be noticeable coughing or rustling of programs. Reacting to this, actors and actresses will change their performances in subtle but very real ways. THE AUDIENCE ­REACTS The response of the audience affects the performance of the actors, who sense how a play or musical is being received by the spectators. In the scene here the audience at the Globe Theatre in London pays close attention to a performance of Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare. (©Gideon Mendel/Getty Images) 1 Kerr, Walter, “We Call It ‘Live Theater,’ but Is It?” New York Times, January 2, 1972. 2 Kim Catrall,” Official London Theatre, January 14, 2005 Chapter 2 The Audience 33  GAY THEATRE Among the many diverse theatres that emerged in the last part of the twentieth century was theatre centering on the gay and lesbian experience. Shown here is a scene from Bent, a play depicting gay characters during the Holocaust by Martin Sherman in a production at the Trafalgar Studios starring Chris New and Alan Cumming. (©Geraint Lewis/Alamy Stock Photo) How the Audience Participates At the heart of the theatre experience, then, is the performer–audience rela- tionship: the immediate, personal exchange; the chemistry and magic that give theatre its special quality. We might ask how the audience becomes involved in a theatre event, aside from sending the performers such obvious signals as laughter, silence, and palpable tension. The answer lies in the power of the imagination. As audience members, we do not participate physically in a theatre perfor- mance, the way we would if we were riding a bicycle, working at a computer, or singing in a chorus. Rather, we participate vicariously, through the mind and the heart. The astonishing thing is how powerful these aspects of the human psyche are. Through our imagination, we come to believe in the reality of what we see onstage and to identify with the characters. We feel deep sym- pathy for those we sense are being treated unjustly, and we suffer with them; we feel hatred for those we consider mean or despicable; we laugh at those we consider foolish. The events onstage become so real that we often forget who and where we are and enter the imaginary world we see before us. We can be transported to a foreign country, to another century, to an imaginary place—or to the kitchen of people who Willing suspension of might be our own neighbors. Some situations in theatre are so vivid and so engross- disbelief The audience’s ing that we cry real tears, even though a part of us knows that the events onstage desire to believe in the are not actually happening and that the people are only actors and actresses. This reality of what is happening experience comes about because of a phenomenon that the English poet and critic onstage. Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) called the willing suspension of disbelief. 34 Part 1 Theatre in Today’s World  PLAYING YOUR PART: EXPERIENCING THEATRE 1. Recall a personal experience with each of three different art forms: visual (a painting or a piece of sculpture); literary (a poem, a novel, or a biography); the performing arts (theatre, a ballet, a musical concert or opera). Describe your experience of encountering each of the three: what you felt, what you thought, what you focused on. Explain how the experience of responding to each one differed from that of seeing or hearing the other two. 2. During a performance you may observe a puppet or group of puppets who appear as real as people we deal with every day. (If you have not seen puppets on stage, you have surely seen them on film or TV.) At the same time, you may see on a bare stage two or three props (a tree, for example, or a throne) and assume you are in a forest or a royal palace. Why do you think during a performance we are able to let our imaginations take over—with a bare stage becoming a forest, or a puppet becoming a person? Is this something we also do in everyday life? 3. While watching a performance you may dissolve into laughter or cry real tears. The whole time, on some level, you know what you are observing is not “real.” Does this difference matter? In some sense is the experience real? Is it imaginary? Is it a bit of both? What is the relationship between a theatre experience such as this and an experience in daily life? 4. Imagine two friends viewing the same theatre production. One friend is captivated, feeling that what she saw was genuine and moving, an experience that affected her deeply. The other friend was not moved and felt that the performance was artificial and inauthentic. Why do you think the same performance can elicit two such dif- ferent reactions? In other words, we want so much to believe in the reality of what is happening onstage that we willingly put aside all literal and practical considerations in order to enter into the world of the drama. Another factor that allows us to enter into an imaginative world—even though we are aware that it is separate from everyday reality—is referred to as aesthetic distance. Aesthetic distance is a requirement of virtually all involve- Aesthetic distance The ment with the arts. It means that the viewer, spectator, or audience member must separation of audience be in some sense separated from the performance or object—and must be aware member from the that it is a work of art—in order to experience its aesthetic qualities. Paradoxically, performance or art work to experience its aesthetic once the proper distance is established, the observer can enter into the experience qualities. fully and completely. Throughout theatre history, the power of the audience’s mental and emotional participation has manifested itself in both positive and negative ways. Negatively, it has taken the form of censorship—which indicates that those in authority fear the effect theatre can have on audiences. The Greeks of ancient Athens considered certain subjects unfit for drama and banned them. In Rome in the fourth century c.e., in the early days of Christianity, the church had a great deal to do with stop- ping theatrical activity. In 1642, the Puritans closed the theatres in England. In modern times, there have been many examples of censorship, especially in places like China and various totalitarian countries, where the only drama that can be presented is that which has been approved by the political authorities. Positively, the power of audience participation can be seen in many ways. To take just one example, many political groups and other groups use theatre as a means of educating people or furthering a cause. In recent times, we have seen theatre representing various groups: feminist theatre, gay theatre, and radical political theatre, for instance. The artists who present such productions feel that the imaginative and symbolic power of theatre will affect their audiences. In sum, Chapter 2 The Audience 35  our ability as an audience to enter into the world presented onstage is one reason we are always a key factor in any theatre event. Participatory and Immersive Theatre There are times when observers and audi- ence members actively participate together in a theatre event. In the 1960s, for example, many politically active and socially engaged theatre groups created pro- ductions in which spectators were urged to challenge the traditional boundaries between themselves and the performers, instead of viewing the stage action from a separate space. (We will discuss some of these companies, such as the Living Theatre, in the chapters “The Modern Theatre Emerges” and “Today’s Diverse Global Theatre.”) Immersive theatre In In recent years a new phenomenon, immersive theatre, has become popular immersive theatre, the internationally. In immersive theatre, the audience plays an active role in some audience plays an active role way, often moving through a performance space, sometimes even choosing where in some way, often moving they go within that space and what they see and do. Many immersive productions through a performance use transformed, redesigned spaces as well as require the audience member to space, sometimes even engage in a complete sensory experience (touch, smell, even taste of foods and choosing where they go within that space and what drink). The goal is an attempt to personalize the experience for each audience they see and do. Many member while still emphasizing the social interaction between small groups in immersive productions use the audience as well as with the performers. transformed, redesigned An example of such a work is Sleep No More (2003), an adaptation of spaces as well as require the Shakespeare’s Macbeth, which the British company Punchdrunk has staged suc- audience member to engage cessfully in New York and London. Another group, the Australian theatre com- in a complete sensory pany One Step at a Time Like This, also focuses on immersive theatrical experience. experiences. Their production En Route, for example, takes individual audience members through city spaces connecting those spaces to theatrical interactions with individual performers along the way. While there has been a long history of participatory kinds of theatre wherein audience members are asked to take an active role (many of which will be discussed in the part “Global Theatres: Past and Present” of our textbook), the most traditional role of the audience member in the contemporary theatre is as the observer. Makeup of Audiences: Past and Present As we trace the history of theatre, one thing we will note is that the makeup of audiences has varied from time to time and from place to place. In ancient Greece, for example, a large percentage of an entire city, such as Athens or Epidaurus, would attend the theatre. The same was true of medieval theatre in Western Europe and England; however, when we come to Restoration theatre in England during the late seventeenth century, we find that the audience was often homogeneous, consisting primarily of the upper classes. This affected the kind of writing and acting seen onstage; as a result, Restoration plays still remain less accessible to the general population. In Europe in the nineteenth century, theatre once again came to be a form of art popular with a wide range of people. In various Asian countries, as well, theatre in some eras was only for an elite audience or for the upper classes, but at other times it included audiences from the general population. As we observed in the chapter “Theatre Is Everywhere,” today there is great diversity in both the size and the makeup of those who are present at a theatre event. In a small, intimate theatre, there may be no more than 100 or 200 people attending. On the other hand, at a large city auditorium, there may be 2,000 or 3,000 people, or even more, watching a large-scale musical. This factor will make a difference, both 36 Part 1 Theatre in Today’s World to audience members and to per- formers. In an intimate space there is more awareness, on the part of everyone, of the interaction between actors and spectators. In a large amphitheatre, a different, less per- sonal relationship exists. In a the- atre somewhere in between—a house that seats 800 or 900 ­people—the relationship will be a mixture of the two. Aside from the question of size, today there is often a wide variety in the makeup of theatre audiences. Some audiences are homogeneous: the audience mem- bers come mostly from similar backgrounds and experiences. A COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY THEATRE good example would be a perfor- A vital segment of theatre in the United States is the many productions mounted by mance presented to a group of theatre departments in colleges and universities, which often achieve a high degree senior citizens in a retirement vil- of professionalism. They also provide excellent training for theatre practitioners, as lage. Other audiences are hetero- well as affording audiences first-rate productions. Seen here are (left to right) Danny geneous, such as the spectators at Pancratz, Nathan Grant, and T. J. Nichols in a production of Molière’s The Miser at Western Illinois University, directed by Professor Jeannie M. Woods. (Courtesy of free performances of Shakespeare Western Illinois University Visual Production Center/Larry Dean, photographer) in an outdoor amphitheatre in a city park. More and more today we find audiences that include a mixture of people reflecting the racial, religious, and ethnic diversity of our society: African American, Asian American, Latino and Latina, Native American, feminist, gay, lesbian and transgendered. There is also a wide age range in theatre attendees. A final word about audience background. No matter the makeup of the specta- tors at a theatre event, whether homogeneous or heterogeneous, the chemistry of the audience will change from night to night for no apparent reason. At a comedy, for instance, on some nights the audience will laugh at everything; on other nights, audience members may enjoy the show just as much, but they will barely chuckle. It is this kind of variation in response that performers become accustomed to, and that reinforces the spontaneous quality of live theatre. Where and How We See Theatre In addition to diversity in the makeup of audiences and in their reactions, as we noted in the chapter “Theatre Is Everywhere,” there are many places today where theatre can be seen: Broadway-size theatres, resident professional theatres, small theatres found in cities throughout the world, semiprofessional and amateur com- munity theatres, as well as college and university theatres. In addition there are theatres created from other spaces such as lofts, warehouses, and former churches. Along with those listed above are stages reserved for children’s theatre or theatre for youth, focusing on productions for and about young people. With the abundance of theatre events available, audience members must find ways to select the productions they wish to see and find ways of attending. Today, there are many websites that provide lists of productions currently running in cities Chapter 2 The Audience 37  around the world, such as Playbill (which lists Broadway, off-Broadway, regional and national tours, and London), Theatremania, Theatre in Chicago, Theatre Central (which has international theatre events), and Talkin’ Broadway (which also lists regional theatres). In addition, most theatre companies across the globe have web- sites (and apps) announcing the productions they are staging. Some audience members continue to use traditional ways of selecting a show they wish to attend. Of course, many of us choose shows based on types of works we most enjoy and have experienced in the past: some of us may enjoy musicals, some comedies, and others serious dramas. However, the hope is that we are always open-minded and willing to experience a wide variety of types of theatre works in various types of spaces. Some of us read a favorite and trusted theatre critic or blogger (discussed next). Others may make choices based on “word of mouth” (opinions of friends, relatives, or acquaintances they trust), or others might check online responses. Once you have chosen a show, there are a variety of ways to purchase tickets for theatres almost anywhere in the world. We should note that there are a few Public access theatre theatre companies built around the concept of public access theatre: free admis- Theatres that have free sion with requests for donations. But the vast majority of community, commercial, admission with requests for and nonprofit theatres charge for admission. donations. The most traditional option is to go to the box office. However, you can also purchase tickets online without leaving your residence and then print those tickets. There are centralized online theatre sites and apps, such as Ticketmaster, as well as the websites and apps for specific theatre companies that may offer online ticket purchase options. Such sites do add fees to the face value of the ticket. There are also discount ticket websites and apps that will help you purchase tickets for some shows at reduced prices, such as Theatremania, Playbill, and Today Tix (which offers shows across the country and London). In addition, many major cities have centralized discount ticket booths, such as the Theatre Development Fund (TDF) sites in New York, Hottix in Chicago, and London’s TKTS booth. In many cases, you can check availability for same-day performance discounts online, and some sites, such as Hottix, Playbill, and Theatremania, allow you to purchase your reduced price tickets online or through their app and print them at home. However, no matter what production you attend, how you choose that production, and how you purchase your admission, you must always remember your responsibilities as an audience member. Audience Responsibility Western theatre, particularly since the nineteenth century, has developed certain rules of behavior for audience members—expectations about what audiences do and don’t do; however, it should be kept in mind that any given theatre event might have some unique expectations about the audience’s behavior. At a traditional theatre performance, the audience is expected to remain silent for the most part, and not interrupt the performers. Audience members should not talk to each other as if they were at home watching television; they should not send or receive text messages (the light from the handheld screen disturbs audi- ence members and performers), use cell phones, hum or sing along with music, unwrap candy or other food, eat loudly, search through a purse or backpack. Remember that the actors can hear the audience: noises and distracting behavior will have an impact on their concentration and performance. Noise and distrac- tions also affect the experience of other spectators. 38 Part 1 Theatre in Today’s World  IN FOCUS: THE RISE OF AUDIENCE ETIQUETTE IN THE THEATRE Today, audience members at most traditional theatre pro- with the development of realistic theatre (which we will ductions are expected to observe specific rules of behav- discuss in the chapter “The Modern Theatre Emerges”), ior, known as theatre or audience etiquette. We are the audience was expected to view people like them- expected to be silent observers, watching the action on selves through an imaginary fourth wall and not the stage in the dark and engaging through our imagina- ­interrupt the illusion of actual life on stage. All of these tions and emotions. When attending musicals, we can have led us to our traditional expectation of audience applaud after a wonderful song is sung or after a choreo- etiquette: an expectation that is questioned today be- graphed dance number. In a comedy audience members cause of changes in our social behavior and in the might laugh uproariously at a joke or at a piece of physi- changing nature of some theatrical performances. cal action, but after the applause or laughter we are ex- In our 24/7 connected world, should audiences be pected to resume our status as silent observers. forced to turn off their cell phones? Because of our This was not always the case. In the Western theatres rushed and ever more hectic lifestyles, should food and prior to the nineteenth century, the theatre was truly a drink be allowed in the theatre because many of us popular entertainment and all classes of people attended come directly from work? Clearly, there is a different together. In Shakespeare’s time, for example, audience “contract” with the audience for some immersive or members ate in the theatre, talked back to performers on participatory theatrical events in contrast to more tradi- the stage, and sometimes other entertainments were pre- tional presentations. sented side by side with traditional theatre. At times For the most part, however, theatres expect audience Shakespeare’s great plays appeared in spaces that were members not to text and use their smartphones to tweet near bear-gardens or actually in those arenas that were or surf the web. In addition, we are seeing some changes used for such popular (and brutal) entertainments as that may impact audience etiquette in the future. As we bear baiting, in which dogs attacked chained bears. discussed, there are now tweet seats in some sections of Historians suggest that rules of social etiquette de- the theatre. Many theatres do allow food and drink into veloped for a variety of reasons. As popular art and the the playhouse, asking audience members to be respect- theatre began to separate, and audiences became more ful of others as they eat and drink. And some immer- stratified by class and economic status, some social sive theatre events are using smart devices as a way to critics argue that audience etiquette was a way in which guide the audience through the event. the upper class attempted to exert control over lower Still, for the most part, texting, not silencing smart- classes and create a distinction in the types of theatrical phones, or eating and drinking loudly, in the theatre is arts each class attended. disconcerting and inappropriate. The London website Others argue that theatre artists, such as the stars (and Twitter handle) Theatre Charter asks audience who now traveled the world and playwrights whose members to sign an agreement to behave appropriately works were being staged internationally, wanted their in the theatre and explains the concern with distracting work to be taken more seriously and that audiences re- behaviors. While we should all observe the expecta- spect their artistry through their undivided attention. tions of specific theatre productions (and, for the most Others point to the greater control over stage light- part, that is to be a polite audience member observing ing and the ability to darken the auditorium as another the stage action), it is clear that audience etiquette has reason that theatre etiquette became normative. And changed during the course of theatre history. Theatre (audience) Students may be concerned about note-taking because they often will need to etiquette The specific make notes in order to remember key elements of the production. An unobtrusive rules of behavior audience way of taking notes is to jot down only brief phrases or terms that will jog your members are expected to memory later. Then, you can embellish your notes during the intermission or observe when attending the intermissions, or after the end of the performance. theatre. Chapter 2 The Audience 39  Of course, traditional audiences are not always absolutely quiet: audiences at comedies laugh, for instance. Audiences at musicals applaud after a song (in fact, they’re expected to). On the other hand, audiences at serious plays generally do not applaud until the end of the performance—and even then, an audience may be so stunned or so deeply moved that there will be a moment of silence before the applause begins. As noted earlier, not all of these traditional expectations may apply at every theatre event. Dinner theatres are one example since the audience may be eating during the presentation. (We might also note that audiences eat during the perfor- mance in many traditional Asian theatres, and they may speak back to the stage.) Audiences at some productions are expected to interact with the performers: in some comic presentations, for instance, actors may enter the audience space or actually speak to individual audience members; and in some nontraditional productions, audience members may even be expected to participate in the performance. In the contemporary theatre, there is even, as we noted earlier, a participatory form some critics refer to as immersive theatre where individual audience members are actively involved in a fluid, ever changing, and almost voyeuristic experience. We will dis- cuss some of the companies that stage such events in later chapters. THE AUDIENCE AND THE CRITIC, REVIEWER, AND BLOGGER Most of us who go to the theatre or the movies, or who watch a television show, are amateur critics. When we say about a performance, “It started off great, but it fizzled,” or “The star was terrific, just like someone in real life,” or “The woman was OK, but the man overacted,” or “The acting was good, but the story was too downbeat for me,” we are making a critical judgment. The difference between a critic/reviewer and those of us in the audience is that the former presumably is better informed about the event and has developed a set of critical standards by which to judge it. The Critic, Reviewer, and Blogger Critic Someone who A critic, loosely defined, is someone who observes theatre and then analyzes and observes a production and comments on it, and ideally serves as a knowledgeable and highly sensitive audi- then analyzes and ence member. Audiences can learn from critics not only because critics impart comments on it. information and judgments but also because a critic shares with an audience the point of view of the spectator. Unlike those who create theatre, critics sit out front and watch a performance just as other members of the audience do. Critics gener- ally write serious articles that appear in newspapers, magazines, and books. Reviewer A type of critic A familiar type of critic is the reviewer. A reviewer, who usually works for a who reports on a production newspaper, a magazine, a television station or a professional blog, reports on what and gives a brief opinion has occurred at the theatre. He or she will tell briefly what a theatre event is about, about whether or not it is explaining that it is a musical, a comedy, or a serious play and perhaps describing worth seeing. its plot. The reviewer might also offer an opinion about whether or not the event is worth seeing. The reviewer is usually restricted by time, space, or both. Social Media and the Audience as Critic, Reviewer, and Blogger Today, in addition to critics and reviewers, whose opinions appear in print or on television, we have a new source of theatre criticism: popular websites and blogs. 40 Part 1 Theatre in Today’s World Many of these sites, such as Theatremania.com, have their own theatre reviewers; other sites may have amateur critics who send in their unsolicited opinions. Some individuals have set up their own websites and blogs for expressing their views about theatre productions. Opinions about theatre productions also are found on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube and even Yelp. Social media allows all of us to function as reviewers and to respond to productions we see. Some theatres request that audience members “like” their Facebook pages in response to productions. Some theatres have set aside specific seats in their the- atres, known as “tweet seats.” Audience members sitting in these sections can tweet to their Twitter followers their instantaneous reactions to a production, while not distracting other spectators. Some theatres also have personnel backstage who tweet about the show while it is going on. Another recent development that allows audience members to become part of the critical process is known as dial testing, wherein audiences electronically respond to shows that are still being developed. Their responses might then be used to impact the final product. Some theatres use focus groups (that is, selected audience members) to provide feedback about a show that is still in development. Often, these methods are used to test reactions to theatre productions that are meant to reach a wide audience and have commercial, box office success. Some theatres e-mail questionnaires to audience members who have attended their pro- ductions. Smaller theatres that produce new, cutting edge works would probably not ask potential audience members to respond in these ways. At times these assessments of a production can be helpful and informative, but a word of caution is in order. A number of self-appointed reviewers may have little or no background in theatre criticism, or, in fact, in theatre itself. They enjoy being part of the wider world of theatre criticism, but may not have the credentials to do so. In other words, these amateur critics may not have the necessary prepa- ration for criticism. In the same way we do not take any or every online review of a product as an expert evaluation, we should do the same when we read responses to theatrical presentations in the various social media. Preparation for Criticism The critic/reviewer/blogger should have a thorough background in theatre to make criticism more meaningful to audiences. These commentators should have a full knowledge of theatre history, acting, directing and design. The critic/reviewer/ blogger must be familiar with plays written in various styles and modes and should know the body of work of individual writers. Also, the critic ought to be able to relate what is happening in theatre to what is happening in the other arts and, beyond that, to events in society generally. In addition, the person comment- ing on theatre should understand the production elements discussed in this book— directing, acting, dramaturgy, and design. Fact and Opinion in Criticism In reading the commentary of the reviewer, in print or online, it is important to distinguish between fact and opinion. Facts may provide helpful information in understanding a play; for example, to know that in Shakespeare’s time, men played all the female parts would help explain why a director might make that choice today in assigning actors to their roles. Opinions can also be helpful, but audience members should carefully weigh them against their own knowledge and Chapter 2 The Audience 41  BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON PLAYS AND PLAYWRIGHTS Many times it is helpful for students and audiences to acquire advance information on a play they are planning to see. A good example would be a drama by the German playwright Bertolt Brecht, who did not write his plays in the customary way, but often interrupted the action with a song or a direct address to the audience. Shown here is a scene from Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children, translated by Tony Kushner, featuring Fiona Shaw in the title role in a production at Britain’s National Theatre, directed by Deborah Warner. (©Geraint Lewis/Alamy Stock Photo) experience. In addition to our professors and instructors, a critic, reviewer or blogger can often make us aware of information we might not otherwise have known; for example, by explaining a point that was confusing to the audience or noting how a particular scene in a play relates to an earlier scene. They might also offer background material about the playwright, the subject matter of the play, or the style of the production. Such information can broaden our 42 Part 1 Theatre in Today’s World understanding and appreciation of a production we are about to see. The more we know about what a playwright is attempting to do and why a playwright arranges scenes in a certain way, the better we will be able to judge the value of a theatre event we attend. A good example is the German playwright Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956), who lived and wrote in the United States during the 1940s. Brecht wanted to provoke his audiences into thinking about what they were seeing. To do this, he would interrupt a story with a song or a speech by a narrator that commented on the action. His theory was that when a story is stopped in this manner, audience members have an opportunity to consider more carefully what they are seeing and to relate the drama onstage to other aspects of life. If we are not aware that this is Brecht’s purpose in interrupting the action, we might conclude that he was simply a careless or inferior playwright. Here, as in similar cases, knowledge of the play or playwright is indispensable to a complete theatre experience. Critical Criteria In commenting on a theatre production, a critic, reviewer, or those of us who present our opinions through social media should ask three questions as a guide to arriving at judgments, criteria that will also aid the rest of us to be better informed about a production we have seen and to better explain our reactions to it. What Is Being Attempted? One of the first questions is: What is the play, and the production, attempting to do? This question must be raised both about the script and about the production. Is the play a tragedy meant to raise significant questions and stir deep emotions? Is it a light comedy intended to entertain and provide escape? Is it a political drama arguing for a point of view? Have the Intentions Been Achieved? A second question is: How well have the intentions of the playwright been carried out? If a theatre piece originates with an acting ensemble, or with a director, the question is: How well have the inten- tions of the original creators been realized? A theatre company may be producing an acknowledged masterpiece such as Hamlet or Macbeth, in which case the question becomes how well the play has been acted, directed, and designed. Have the performers brought Shakespeare’s characters to life convincingly and excit- ingly? Or has the director—perhaps by striving to be too original in approach and staging, without helping us as audience members understand why she or he has done so—distorted Shakespeare’s intentions beyond recognition? In the case of a new script, one must also ask how well the playwright has realized his or her own intentions. If the play is intended to probe deeply into family relationships—parents and children, or husbands and wives—how convinc- ingly and how insightfully has the dramatist accomplished this? If the intention is to entertain, to make the audience laugh, the question to be asked is: Just how funny is the play? Did it succeed in providing entertainment? Was it clever, witty, and full of amusing situations, or did it fall flat? Was the Attempt Worthwhile? A third question to ask when judging a production falls more into the realm of personal taste and evaluation: Is the play or produc- tion worth doing? Many critics think that anything that succeeds at giving plea- sure and providing entertainment is as worthwhile in its own way as a more serious undertaking. Others, however, do not. In cases like this, readers of criti- cism and viewers of a performance must make up their own minds. Chapter 2 The Audience 43  PLAYING YOUR PART: THINKING ABOUT THEATRE 1. When you are attending a theatrical performance, the following are questions for you, as an individual audience member, to consider. a. Is the audience a homogeneous group—similar in background and attitude—or a diverse one? b. Is the event being presented primarily by and for a particular group—cultural, social, gender, or political? How do you relate to that group? c. If it is a serious event, is the audience concentrating and empathizing with what is happening on stage? If the event is comic, is the audience caught up in the amusement and laughter? 2. Read a review online by a New York Times or Chicago Tribune theatre critic. Which of the critical criteria discussed in this chapter does he or she address? How did the critic help you decide whether you might want to see the production? 3. A theatre critic in New York was so disturbed by an audience member texting throughout a performance that he grabbed the spectator’s cell phone and threw it into the aisle of the theatre. A performer stopped a production when a cell phone went off during a key scene and verbally confronted the audience member. Were these responses appropriate? Explain why or why not. If audience members are aware of these criteria, they not only can note whether critics—in print, on television, or online—address these questions but also can ask the questions for themselves. The Dramaturg or Literary Manager Dramaturg The individual The term dramaturg (also spelled dramaturge) comes from a German word for who works on literary and “dramatic adviser.” In Europe, the practice of having a dramaturg, or literary historical issues with manager, attached to a theatre goes back well over a century. In the United States, members of the artistic team the role of the dramaturg is relatively new; only in recent years have regional mounting a theatre professional groups and other not-for-profit theatres engaged full-time dramaturgs. production. Among the duties undertaken by a dramaturg are discovering and reading promis- ing new plays, working with playwrights on the development of new scripts, identifying significant plays from the past that may have been overlooked, con- ducting research on previous productions of classic plays, preparing reports on the history of plays, researching criticism and interpretations of plays from the past, and writing articles for the programs that are distributed when plays are produced. Just as a good reviewer, critic, or blogger can be helpful to audience members, so too can a perceptive dramaturg. She or he is usually the person who prepares educational material (both in print and online) for students and teachers who attend performances. The Audience’s Relationship to Criticism As suggested earlier, when we, as audience members, combine awareness of criti- cism with the theatre event itself, the experience can be greatly enhanced: back- ground information and critical appraisals are added to our own firsthand reactions. There are cautionary notes, however, of which we should be aware. Quite often critic/reviewers state unequivocally that a certain play is extremely well or badly 44 Part 1 Theatre in Today’s World written, beautifully or atrociously performed, and so on. Because these so-called authorities often speak so confidently and because their opinions appear in print or on the Internet, their words have the ring of authority. But as theatergoers, we should not be confused or unduly influenced by them. In certain large cities—New York City, Chicago, or Los Angeles—where a number of critics and reviewers in various media comment on each production, there is a wide range of opinion. It is not unusual for some critic/reviewers to find a certain play admirable, while others find the same play quite inferior, and still others find a mixture of good and bad. This range of opinion implies that there is no absolute authority among such people, and that we should make up our own minds. If a critic/reviewer, for example, dislikes a certain play because he or she finds it too sentimental and you happen to like that kind of sentiment, you should not be dissuaded from your own preferences. Attending the theatre is a unique, individual experience—it is your experience—and you must trust and be guided by your own judgment. SUMMARY 1. Art forms can be categorized as literary, visual, and performing; theatre is one of the performing arts. All art is selective, and selectivity is one way of distinguishing one art form from another. Art forms may also be distinguished in terms of time and space: the visual arts exist primarily in space; music exists in time rather than space; and theatre (along with dance and opera) exists in both time and space. 2. Important characteristics of the performing arts include the need for interpreters and the need for an audience. 3. The major elements of theatre are audience, performers, text, director, theatre space, and design. Because these elements must be coordinated, theatre is a collaborative art. 4. The audience is a key, indispensable part of theatre. 5. Though the audience participation at a theatre event is vicarious, its involvement is mentally and emotionally active. 6. The critic/reviewer/blogger commenting on theatre can assist the audience in under- standing a play and a performance. Design elements: Playing Your Part box (theatre seats): ©McGraw-Hill Education; In Focus box (spotlight): ©d_gas/Getty Images Chapter 2 The Audience 45