2

Background and
Expectations of the
Audience

© T Charles Erickson

Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education.  All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
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The Audience
• Audience members not only bring their presence
to the theatre; they also bring with them personal
knowledge and expectations.
© Michal Daniel
• All of these factors
shape the experience
of each Individual
audience member as
well as the group as a
whole.

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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The Background of Individual

Spectators
• Individual memories and experience
– Childhood memories
– Emotional scars
– Private fantasies
• Plays set in the present
– Audience brings a deep awareness of that world
– Audience has a background of common information
and beliefs
• Plays set in other times and places
– Audience can relate to characters and emotions

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Background of the Period

• When seeing a play
from or about a
different period, we
must be familiar with
the history, culture,
psychology, and
philosophy
of that period.

© Carol Rosegg

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Background of the Period

• Theatre and society are closely
connected; art is a mirror of its age.
– You can’t understand one without the other.
– Each time period has its own conventions:
• Greek theatre and culture
• Elizabethan theatre and culture
• Modern theatre and culture

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Greek Theatre and Culture

• There was a limited number of scenes in
a play.
– Usually five scenes interspersed with choral sections
• The drama took place in one locale and within a
short span of time.
– Usually in front of a
palace © Adam Crowley/Getty Images

• Murders, suicides, and

other acts of violence
occurred offstage.

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 2-7

Elizabethan Theatre and Culture

• A play could move to a number of

locations and cover a period of many
years.
• Plays were expansive in terms of the
number characters and action.
• There was no hesitancy whatsoever about
showing murder and bloodshed.

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 2-8

Modern Theatre and Culture

• Today’s theatre reflects:
– Developments in communications
– Changes in society
– Human-made and natural disasters
Sara Krulwich/The New York Times/Redux

• A theatre of
fragmentation
• A theatre of eclecticism
• A global theatre

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 2-9

Background Information on the

Play or Playwright
• Knowing the period in which the play was
written is not enough to have a complete
theatre experience.
– One must understand the play itself; some plays
(like Shakespeare’s) contain obscure
references.
– One must understand
the playwright and his or
her techniques.

© Manuel Harlan/Royal Shakespeare Company

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 2-10

Audience Expectations
• Not all theatre experiences are alike.
• Different types of theatres and theatrical
events carry with them different sets of
expectations.

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Audience Expectations
• Diversity in the U.S. is
reflected in theatre:
– Broadway and touring
theatre
– Resident professional
theatre
– Alternative theatre: off-
Broadway and elsewhere
– Young people’s and
children’s theatre
– College and
university theatre
© Sara Krulwich/NYTimes/Redux
– Community and
amateur theatre

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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What Is a Critic?
• Someone who observes theatre and then
analyzes and comments on it
• A knowledgeable and highly sensitive
audience member
• Presumably better informed about theatre
than the average spectator
• However, most audience members act as
amateur critics

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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What is Criticism?
• Criticism is the understanding and
appraising of a theatrical event.
– Although, sometimes theatre critics cannot
help but enjoy “finding fault”

“With the single exception

of Homer, there is no
eminent writer . . .whom I
can despise so entirely as I
despise Shakespeare . . .”

George Bernard Shaw

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 2-14

Preparation for Criticism

• Ideally, a critic should have a thorough
knowledge of and background in theatre.
• An ideal theatre critic should possess:
– Knowledge of theatre history
– Knowledge of acting, directing, and design
– Familiarity with different plays and different
styles as well as playwrights
– The ability to relate theatrical events to
society

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Critical Criteria
• Every critic should develop criteria (often
in the form of a set of questions) by which
to judge a play and production.
• Examples of critical criteria:
– What is being attempted?
– Have the intentions been achieved?
– Was the attempt worthwhile?

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Descriptive and Prescriptive

Criticism
• Descriptive criticism
– Attempts to clearly and accurately describe
what is happening in a play or performance
• Prescriptive criticism
– Attempts to not only describe the play or
performance, but also offer advice and
comments about how it should be done.

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Fact or Opinion in Criticism

• It is important to always distinguish the facts in a
criticism from the opinions of the critic!
• Critics can make us aware of information we
might not otherwise
have known.
• Critics offer background
material about the
playwright, subject matter
of the play, or the style of
the production.

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. © Gerry Goodstein/Yale Repertory Theatre
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The Reviewer and the Critic

• What’s the difference???
– Reviewer
• Usually works for television, radio, or newspaper
• Reports on the theatrical event
• Summarizes plot and identifies actors
• Offers an opinion on whether or not the event is
worth seeing
– Critic
• Goes into greater detail in describing and analyzing
the theatre event
• Usually works for a magazine or scholarly journal
• Contextualizes the theatrical event
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
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The Dramaturg or Literary

Manager
• The dramaturg or literary manager is a
person who often serves a theatre
company as a resident or in-house critic.
• Dramaturg comes from the German word
for “dramatic adviser.”

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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The Dramaturg or Literary

Manager
• Duties:
– Discovering and reading promising new plays
– Working with playwrights on the development of new
scripts
– Identifying significant plays from the past that may
have been overlooked
– Conducting research on previous productions of
classic plays
– Preparing reports on the history of plays
– Researching criticism and interpretations of plays
from the past
– Writing articles for the programs that are distributed
when plays are produced

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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The Audience’s Relationship to Criticism

• The audience’s independent judgment:

– Theatergoers should not be intimidated by
critical authority.
– There is no absolute authority; critics often
disagree with one another about a play.
– Audience members can and should make up
their own minds.

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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The Audience’s Relationship to

Criticism
• Analysis and overanalysis:
– Some critics can become so concerned with
criticizing the play that they miss the joy of the
experience.
– The critic must be aware of the job without
letting it overshadow the immediacy of the
theatrical event.

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.