One of the elements that made “Emma” a great Season Finale (in my opinion :)) was its ability to engage the audience.
The show was already a bit more maximalist, colorful, musical, and over-the-top than many of our productions.
It also invited the audience to join into the action: ringing bells, rescuing handkerchiefs, stepping onto the stage for one final dance.
Audience participation can get awkward really fast. Or simply fall flat.
It requires more preparation than you may imagine!
For Emma, we recruited volunteer bell ringers during rehearsals to make sure patrons enjoyed the experience and actors practiced responding to the unexpected!
(As a matter of fact, the idea of audiences “behaving” silently in the dark is a relatively modern invention. Theatre was once a far more participatory and noisy affair. Think of the huge chatting, cheering, eating crowds of Ancient Greece or Shakespeare’s England.)
But even with all that preparation, you cannot escape the need for a leap of faith—and a mutual outpouring of generosity: listening, reacting, accepting.
The fourth wall crashes, and it’s elating.
From my Ring-shaped heart,
Margherita
