Theatre and Audience

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 HELEN FRESHWATER is RCUK Research Fellow in Theatre Studies, Birkbeck College, University of London, UK. She specializes in twentieth century British theatre and contemporary performance, and is the author of Theatre Censorship in Britain: Silencing, Censure and Suppression .