Theatre Audiences

by Bennett,Susan

• ISBN13: 9780415157230
• ISBN10: 0415157234
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 1997-10-29
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Susan Bennett's highly successfulTheatre Audiencesis a unique full-length study of the audience as cultural phenomenon. It considers both theories of spectatorship and the practices of different theatres and their audiences. Published here in an updated edition,Theatre Audiencesnow includes a new preface by the author, a new chapter on intercultural theatre, a revised conclusion encompassing the influences of cultural materialism and psychoanalysis on audience theory, as well as an updated bibliography. A must for anyone interested in spectatorship and theatre audiences.

Table of Contents

Preface to the new edition	vii
Acknowledgements	xi
Introduction	1	(19)
Historical approaches	2	(7)
Contemporary concerns	9	(11)
Theories of Reading and Viewing	20	(66)
Starting with Brecht	21	(13)
Reader-response theory	34	(21)
Other approaches to the reader	55	(12)
Semiotics and post-structuralism in theatre and film studies	67	(19)
The Audience and Theatre	86	(80)
Culture and the idea of the theatrical event	86	(20)
Selection: the relationship between production and reception	106	(19)
On the threshold of theatre	125	(14)
Performance	139	(24)
Post-performance	163	(3)
Spectatorship Across Culture	166	(38)
Fascination and obsession	166	(25)
Translation and meaning	191	(5)
Intercultural exchange	196	(5)
Reviewing spectatorship	201	(3)
Conclusion	204	(10)
Appendix	214	(2)
Notes	216	(7)
Bibliography	223	(18)
Index	241