Shakespeare and Audience in Practice

by Stephen Purcell

What do audiences do as they watch a Shakespearean play? What makes them respond in the ways that they do? This book examines a wide range of theatrical productions to explore the practice of being a modern Shakespearean audience. It surveys some of the most influential ideas about spectatorship in contemporary performance studies, and analyses the strategies employed both in the texts themselves and by modern theatre practitioners to position audiences in particular ways.

216 pages, Paperback

First published December 27, 2013

Reviews

[Candy Wood]

This book is a good introduction to many performance-based ways of thinking about the audiences of Shakespeare’s plays. The first in a series called Shakespeare in Practice, it outlines the contribution of theories such as semiotics, cultural studies, and phenomenology before considering various aspects of practice and concluding with a debate that serves as a model analysis. Purcell’s first chapter points out the slipperiness of the term, analyzing responses to four performances of the same piece in different venues. Most of the “practice” chapters end with workshop exercises that could be used to test the ideas in the chapters. Focusing on modern audiences at the reconstructed Globe and other theatres, Purcell explores the extent to which productions encourage spectators to become involved, and the related question of whether actors and directors can control audience response. The extensive bibliography is headed “Reading List,” and annotations provide guidance.