The integrated spectator: theatre audiences and pedagogy

Theatre artists were interviewed to understand how they conceptualise audiences in relation to their own creative and collaborative processes. The authors identified three modes through which theatre artists engage with audiences: (1) watching with the audience, (2) confronting the audience, and (3) creating a community of practice/knowledge. This article considers each of these ideas pedagogically as spaces for the co-construction of knowledge. In doing so, the authors confront Jacques Ranciere's ideas about spectatorship and pedagogy. The article offers possibilities for theatre educators, as well as theatre artists, to integrate these pedagogical modes of engagement with audiences within their own practices.