Audience Etiquette & Participation
Introduction
What does it mean to be a good audience? This guide will review audience etiquette and expected behavior, as well as how an audience can be involved and incorporated into a production.
Terminology
- Etiquette: The expected decorum and manners.
- Fourth Wall: The imaginary wall between an audience and actors. To “break the fourth wall” means that actors acknowledge that the audience is there.
- Immersive Theatre: A type of theatre practice that creates a sensory experience for the audience members, through staging, sets, seating arrangements, and script content.
- Improvisation: A type of performance in which the actors “make up” the content, often with input and suggestions from audience members.
- Proscenium: An arched opening through which the audience sees the stage. Also a style of theater with the audience seated predominantly in front of the stage.
Context & Analysis
For centuries, theatres could be noisy and boisterous places. In the Renaissance, the English playhouses were open-air, and audience members (who stood on the floor surrounding the stage) were rowdy as they snacked on food during the performances. In the Restoration and 18th centuries, theatre was a place to be seen, and some audience members paid a higher ticket price to
to read our learning module for Audience Etiquette & Participation and to unlock other amazing theatre resources!StageAgent Resources
StageAgent Sections
Guides
Show Guides:
Performing Guides:
Blog Posts
Links & Media
Quizzes
Cindi Calhoun
Theatre teacher, director, writer, and seamstress