Open Rehearsal: The Court Theatre Blog
July 13, 2010
Audiences v. Spectators
Today, we have a very clear word to describe the group of people who come to see a play. We call them “audience.” However, this word doesn’t truly do justice to what seeing a play entails. “Audience” comes from the Latin word audire, meaning “to listen.” When we see theater, we not only listen to it, but also watch it. There is no English word which encompasses both.
Thus, in the mid-sixteenth century, when theaters as we know them first appeared, and the idea of a group of people paying to go to a theater and see a show first emerged in the collective consciousness, a massive semantic debate began. What should this group of people be called? There were two distinct schools, which each espoused a different theory as to why theater happens. The first was the audire school. They argued that that the true merit in theater is hearing beautiful poetry read out loud. Championed by poet-playwrights, such as Ben Jonson, artists of this school appealed to a wealthy, educated audience who would sit in the galleries and let the beautiful words wash over them. They called playgoers “auditors,” or “the audience.” The second school championed the Latin word spectare, meaning “to watch.” They believed theater should be a massive visual spectacle, involving dancing, elaborate costumes, and over-the-top stage business, like in the court masques of Inigo Jones. They mainly appealed to the “groundlings,” manual laborers, artisans, and merchants who would pay the lowest ticket prices to stand en masse and watch a show. These playgoers were less educated, and would rather watch a stunning visual display which they could interact with. Artists of this school called playgoers “spectators.”
Clearly, the first school won, and today, we speakers of English call our playgoers “audience,” and not “spectators.” However, the terms of the debate still live on. Which is more important in a play: beautiful language, or awesome onstage action? Do you go to theater to watch something you could never see in your day-to-day, or do you go to hear words which move you?
Most good theater combines both. A good play should have moments of poetry, where we are bowled over by the power of words, and moments of spectacle, where we can simply watch and be amazed. Shakespeare is a master at creating this balance. His plays have beautiful sonnets, and lines which are so perfect that they are part of our common vocabulary. They also have massive stage fights, ridiculous clowning, unusual costumes, and magic influences. Shakespeare dexterously pulled the best of both schools, and it is perhaps why, among other things, his work has lived on in a way that the plays of his contemporaries haven’t.
—Will Bishop, Production Dramaturgy Intern
The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare opens September 16, 2010. It is adapted and directed by Sean Graney.
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