Performances as Social Processes
– The exercices suggested for this chapter require that students have an opportunity to attend twice the same performance as they consist of paying attention to the behaviour of the audience: For instance, note the facial expressions of members of the audience in reaction to some aspects of the performance, or note their body movements in reaction to each other.
– Monitor your own responses to the behaviour of the other spectators and try to understand your experience as a double relation to both the performers and the audience. Write a first-person account of this observation.
– Compare the behaviour of the audience in several types of performances, for instance how much interactions you observe among members of the audience (and whether it happens between people who already know each other or between obvious strangers).