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2
The Audience
Overview and Outline
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 can
be divided into three categories: literary, visual, and performing. The
literary arts include novels, short stories, and poetry. The visual arts include
painting, sculpture, architecture, and photography. The performing arts are
theatre, dance, opera, and music. We also differentiate art in temporal and
spatial terms.
The
performing arts have many characteristics in common including movement through
time, the need for creators and interpreters, and the requirement of audiences.
Common elements to all theatre are audience, performers, and script or text, a
director, theatre space, and design aspects.
Theatre
is a collaborative art.
The presence of an audience is an
essential element in a live theatre performance. We participate vicariously
through heart and mind. The audience engages in “a willing suspension of
disbelief” even though we also experience various aspects of theatre through
aesthetic distance.
Just as no two performances of the same
production are ever exactly alike, no two audiences are identical. Each
audience is composed of a different mix of people, with varied ages,
educational backgrounds, and occupations. Among the diverse groups toward which
productions are aimed and whose members constitute specific audience groups are
African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos and Latinas, Native Americans,
feminists, gays and lesbians, and other political and experimental groups.
Also, the particular response of each audience affects the acting of the
performers.
A special member of the audience is the
critic or reviewer, who is assumed to be a knowledgeable observer of the
theatre event. A reviewer is usually a reporter for a newspaper, magazine, or
television station. After viewing a theatre event, the reviewer describes it
and gives his or her own opinion as to whether it was well done and is worth
seeing.
A critic, usually writing for a magazine
or scholarly journal, describes and analyzes a theatre event in greater detail
than the reviewer does. The critic should have a solid education in theatre
history, dramatic literature, and theatrical production so that he or she can
offer readers an informed judgment along with useful background information.
Personal blogs and other forms of social
media have given rise to other opinions about theatre productions.
The term dramaturg comes
from a German word for “dramatic adviser.” In Europe, the practice of having a
dramaturg, or literary manager, attached to a theatre goes back well
over a century.
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 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.
I. What is Art?
A.
Characteristics of Art
B.
Characteristics of the Performing Arts
II. The Art of Theatre
A.
The Elements of Theatre
a.
Audience
b.
Performers
c.
Script of Text
d.
Director
e.
Theatre Space
f.
Design Elements
B.
Theatre as a Collaborative Art
III. The Role of the Audience
A.
How the Audience Participates
B.
Make-up of Audiences Past and Present
C.
Where we See Audiences
D.
Audience Responsibility
IV. The Audience and the Critic, Reviewer,
and Blogger
A.
The Critic, Reviewer, and Blogger
B.
Social Media and the Audience as Critic,
Reviewer, and Blogger
C.
Preparation for Criticism
D.
Fact and Opinion in Criticism
E.
Critical Criteria
a.
What is Being Attempted
b.
Have the Intentions Been Achieved
c.
Was the Attempt Worthwhile?
F.
The Dramaturg or Literary Manager
G.
The Audience’s Relationship to Criticism
Feature:
Playing
Your Part: Thinking About Theatre
Terms
visual
arts
performing
arts
spatial
arts
temporal
arts
script
or text
director
willing
suspension of disbelief
aesthetic
distance
reviewer
focus
groups
dramaturg
or literary manager
Topics for Discussion
1.
Explain the essential differences
between the literary and visual arts on the one hand and the performing arts on
the other. What do the various differences allow one art to do better than
other arts? What differences prevent an art form from doing certain things?
Answer: answers will vary.
2.
In the text, a script is compared to a blueprint of
a building. What other comparisons might be made?
(Possibilities include a diagram of a football play, a computer flow sheet, and
a road map). What information is missing from a script? Could it be included?
Why might it be better not to do so?
3.
Describe the transitory nature of
theatre and the other performing arts and how they are different from
literature and the visual arts.
4. The elements that must be present in order
for theatre to take form are audiences, performers, and a text or script. What
happens when one of these elements is no longer present?
5. Go to http://www.nbc.com/
and watch a show (or a short segment of a show) with a live studio audience
like the Tonight Show, and then watch
a show without an audience or a laugh track like The Office. How do the two experiences compare? Did the absence of
a laugh track inhibit your laughing? Why or why not? Now, compare both those
experiences to being in the audience at a live event. At the live event, did the
audience around you affect your involvement? Why? Which experience did you find
most enjoyable? Why?
Exercises and Demonstrations
1. Read
professional critics’ reviews of three current Broadway plays. Find (if
possible) three different reviews for each play—one that is positive, one that
is negative, and one that is mixed. Identify quotes from each review that
prompted you to feel this way. (Broadwayworld.com provides links to
professional reviews as does Playbill.com.
2. Discuss what is more important in making a
decision as to whether to attend an event:
reviews, or the advice of a friend? Why?
3. Read some of the theatre reviews at the
following sites:
If possible, read two or more reviews for the same show. Do the writers
sound more like
reviewers or critics? Now visit the site http://movies.go.com/
(click on the “Reviews” tab)
and read some of the film reviews. Compare the reviews. Are they similar
or different?
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