The Education Landscape: Building Engaged Theatre-Goers

Abstract

This chapter examines the significant relationship between school education and young people’s attendance and engagement with live theatre. Through studying theatre as an exciting, participatory art form and through viewing diverse theatre productions with classmates and teachers, many school students become confident, motivated and critically engaged audience-members. Teachers play a vital role in inducting students without a family background of theatre attendance into live theatre as a meaningful and enjoyable cultural experience. However, inequitable educational funding, particularly in disadvantaged schools, restricts the capacity of some teachers to offer comprehensive drama programs or to provide their students with access to appropriate theatre experiences. Enthusiastic teachers within schools with a strong performing arts culture assist many students to build a social and educational platform for independent theatre attendance. Students from ‘theatre-active’ schools participate confidently in articulating, sharing and refining meaning of performances and are engaged by diverse styles of theatre including productions they perceive as difficult and challenging. In evaluating and analysing professional theatre they draw on their own practical drama experiences at school, identifying themselves as theatre-makers within an inclusive theatre community. Most drama students in the research believed that their drama teachers and their curriculum had significantly deepened their knowledge and appreciation of theatre and enhanced their critical enjoyment and confidence as audience members. However the linking of theatre excursions to compulsory performance analysis assessment tasks reduced some students’ enjoyment and constrained their responses as audience members.

INTERLUDE

5.1.1 Case Studies 9 and 10

God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza

COMPANY: Melbourne Theatre Company.

VENUE: The Playhouse, the Arts Centre Melbourne.

CASE STUDY PERFORMANCE: 1 pm, Wednesday 9 September 2009.

SEASON: 29 August – 3 October 2009.

KEY INFORMANTS:

Suzie Thomas, Education Manager, MTC.

Teachers from two attending schools (each interviewed twice).

AUDIENCES DETAILS: The auditorium was at capacity for the case study production. The student groups were seated in the dress circle, above the stalls, giving them a clear view of the coffee table, which was a central feature of the set design. Four school groups attended this performance, and pre-show surveys were collected across the four schools.

Pre-show audience surveys	63
Post-show interviewees	14
6 month interviewees	5

RESEARCH TEAM:

Chief Investigators: Madonna Stinson, Christine Sinclair.

Lead Research Assistant: Meg Upton.

State Project officer: Tim Stitz.

Research Assistants: Sheree Cartwright, Sharon Davis, Sarah Lockwood.

• This case study demonstrates the strong commitment by teachers to provide theatre experiences for the young people in their care, despite the effort, time and complex negotiations required in organizing a school theatre visit. This was especially true for those teaching in rural or outer suburban schools.

• Students were attracted to the special nature of theatre-going and the social experience of participation as audience members at a live performance event. Their sense of community while being part of an audience and their shared experience provided a common basis for discussion and analysis following the performance.

• The students described the Arts Centre as an opulent and exciting venue, but not a place in which they necessarily felt confident. The teachers provided the students with a sense of belonging in the space, and acted as translators of the new environment, and advisors on matters of theatre etiquette.

The True Story of Butterfish by Nick Earls

COMPANY: Brisbane Powerhouse.

VENUE: Powerhouse Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse.

CASE STUDY PERFORMANCE: 7.30 pm, Friday 9 October 2009.

SEASON: 1–25 October 2009.

KEY INFORMANTS:

Nick Earls, Playwright.

AUDIENCES DETAILS: The audience numbered approximately 300, with a slight majority in the 40+ age range. The younger audience members were mainly in their 20s and early 30s, and the interviews were conducted with people ranging in age from 14 to 30.

Pre-show audience surveys	40
Post-show interviewees	14
6 month interviewees	6

RESEARCH TEAM:

Partner Chief Investigator: Bruce Burton.

Chief Investigator: Penny Bundy.

Lead Research Assistant: Patrick Mitchell.

State Project Officer: Andrea Burton.

Research Assistants: Amy Bradney-George, Morgan Bundy-Wright, Nadia Vanek, Allira Power.

• The specific Brisbane context of the play was part of its appeal to the young audience in attendance, who were particularly engaged by the local references and locations. A significant number of the audience in their teens and early twenties attended the production in large groups that included older patrons, some of them parents, who were fans of Nick Earls. The commissioning of this play was successful in attracting a new and diverse audience to the Powerhouse.

• Many of the young people attended Butterfish because of the opportunity it generated for social interactions with friends. A number of participants spoke of theatre as a special event around which they could build an entire evening, including meeting up before the show and continuing on after the performance.