The Space

The physical size and position of the audience.

Is the audience seated or standing?

Is the audience moving?

In what direction does the audience focus?

What is the distance between audience and performance area?

Does the audience enter the performance area?

In What Direction Does the Audience Focus?

If stadium seating in the cinema house is any real indication, American audiences want the experience of a close encounter. It is not enough to offer a comfortable chair and a complete view of the performance area, although audiences do seem to accept a poor house having a flat floor and mediocre sightlines when necessary. Looking at a head that covers a full third of a patron's viewing frame is not fun, even when the patron CAN see a complete view of the performance area. When the audience fights for viewing space, the experience diminishes. Stadium seating, surround digital sound, and a large screen places the patron with the illusion of being alone in the center of the performance. People want the experience.

The challenge is to make the experience as intense in the theatre or the theme park or church or museum as it is developing in the cinema house. However, the main difference in this venue is the presentation. The cinema can make the presentation larger than life while no other venue can achieve that aspect of experience.

The key to creating an intense experience for the audience is to rely on focus. By using movement, lighting, and sound whenever possible, the theatre artist/engineer can manipulate the direction of the patron's focus. But part of making choices about focus using movement, lighting, and sound as part of the presentation is determined by the physical relationship between audience and performance. If the patron sees other audience members during the performance, then doing so might distract the focus away from the performance, especially if another audience member moves. In this case, the theatre artist/engineer needs to use techniques of movement, lighting, and sound to draw the focus in such a way that patrons don't notice other audience members. On the other hand, if the audience is part of the performance, then theatre artists/engineers need to deliberately bring the performance space into the audience space and keep that theatrical convention consistent. Otherwise, the experience will diminish for the patron.

Focus! Focus! Focus! Notice Frodo the dog on the right.