"The audience is the body of theatre-goers the playwright had in mind when he/she wrote the play. ... The role of the audience could also be to encourage the actors through their appreciation and applause. The audience also acts as a barometer for public opinion about the play."
From my past experience and having presented over 80 parent presentations and over 80 productions, I have realized that our society needs to be reminded of the role they play as an audience. It is not the intention of an audience to sit there dull-faced, inside I am sure they are jumping with joy, I truly believe that they have forgotten that the actors can see them and feed off of their energy more than they feed off of the actors. So in every presentation and production you will hear me remind our audiences to "Be kind, smile at your children and make sure they feel supported as they put themselves out in the world! - Make this experience a positive one for them so that next time they arent hindered by 'what if's' ".
At our parent presentations on Friday I was blown away by the number of parents and friends who came along to support their little/big humans. As the room was filling up I was getting extremely nervous for the room, I had put out 74 chairs and thought my calculations were correct. However, over 90 people pitched and we were indeed squashed like sardines.
As parents entered I was hoping my smile would soothe the stress of their Friday and week, Johannesburg is not for the faint hearted and we do suffer from very VERY busy lives! My smile was not enough for a few people, and I guess the squishedness was not helping matters. The show went on though and in my heart I knew that no matter what stress parents are under they will get present when they see their children perform. I was not wrong. Our students performed their hearts out, they conquered their nerves of seeing the audience up close and personal and the show went on. The audience was kind, smiled back, laughed and clapped...this had a ripple effect as the students gave more to their performance.
As promised the show lasted 60 minutes and I was relieved that we managed to pull off what we did in 8 weeks of drama classes. Our shy and confident students worked together to entertain!! I thought, surely we cannot get a more well supported group than this....fast forward to the next morning at the Berario Recreation and the audience did not disappoint; we added in an extra 20 chairs, gave everyone coffee and had the loveliest morning of drama!!! Fast forward to the afternoon. We had an open-air performance at Norscot Recreation Centre and the audience here were so lovely, they laughed and clapped and smiled back at their children.
So for me the role of our audience is to encourage the actor/their children so that they can feel vulnerable on stage but never ashamed or embarrassed. If we truly want to see great work we must truly work to be a wonderful audience!
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| One of our older students performing a monologue to a wonderfully supportive audience! |
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| Pretty jam-packed |
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| My heart beating super fast as more people enter and less space is available. |
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| Our younger students shining on stage! |
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