Theatre and Audience

by Helen Freshwater

What does theatre do for - and to - those who witness, watch, and participate in it? Theatre & Audience provides a provocative overview of the questions raised by theatrical encounters between performers and audiences. Focusing on European and North American theatre and its audiences in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, it explores belief in theatre's potential to influence, impact and transform. Illustrated by examples of performance which have sought to generate active audience involvement - from Brecht's epic theatre to the Blue Man Group - it seeks to unsettle any simple equation between audience participation and empowerment. Foreword by Lois Weaver.