How do we encourage non-theatre goers to connect with Theatre, cater for their desires ...
- Convenor:
- Therese Collins
- Attendees:
- Victoria Gaunt, Jennie Sear, Pam Cole-Hudson, Oluwatoyin Odunsi, James Pogson, a woman from the RSC, and a young man
- Description:
How do we encourage non-theatre goers to connect with Theatre, cater for their desires and create from that.
At the end of the discussion everyone wrote down one thing that somebody else said that stuck in their heads.
“We should not assume particular communities always ways want to see things about issues”.
“Sell the emotional value - the experience that Theatre provides”
“Turn things on their head - quiet night for traditional audiences like quiet carriages on trains”
“Respond to an audience and accept different responses”
“Challenge Theatre etiquette, challenge social models for people who don’t usually go to the theatre”
“I like the example of taking the inner-city youth to see Henry IV as a reward! Next- sort the venue out so they are welcome”
“Audience response - people are too quick to ignore what the audience had to say when their voice is the most valuable”
“Involving parents in educational trips to the theatre is more likely to create a culture of visiting theatre”.
One of the main conclusions that came out of the discussion is that if you can develop opportunities for parents to experience Theatre with their young children you are more likely to create a culture of theatre going and an understanding of the possibilities of theatre. In the same way parents are often re introduced to enjoying and experiencing books through the education of their children there is the potential to excite and engage non-theatregoers to continue a tradition of family theatre trips. This is more likely to happen if the pieces of work engage on all levels and age, range perhaps looking at the traditions of stories from the community rather than issues about the community.
It is not a bad idea to respond to the community and that is about creating a dialogue rather than offering a questionnaire.
Creating a social event around a production, an opportunity for people to mix and hang about would encourage a sense of belonging.
There is a tremendous emphasis on creating theatre for young people when taking theatre out to the community; often to the extent that the rest of the community feel it is either irrelevant or inaccessible.
If we want communities to visit building based Theatre we need to develop theatre that is informed by the stories from those communities.
If we want to encourage a different type of audience maybe we need to re-evaluate our expectations of the rules of Theatre etiquette. It was particularly noted that young people who were engaged in what was happening on the stage were often very vocal about this is and as an audience enjoy each other’s responses. Rather than offering nights that seem to be saying “okay we will tolerate this behaviour on special occasions” we need to look at providing nights when those people who cannot tolerate this would feel comfortable, a bit like the quiet carriages on the train.How do we encourage non-theatregoers into the theatre. Simple ideas
Food
Find and tap into the trendsetters, whoever they are
Listen to what they don’t want
Facebook
Link into other events connect with community events
Happenings prior to the event
Strong images
Word of mouth by similar companies
Expand the rules of theatre
Create a more welcoming environment
Humour and escapism
Understanding direct feedback from the audience
Make it shorter
Invitations directly through letterboxes in the area
Make it family friendly, expand on a family event
Bring more theatre to them
Work with them
Different advertising - needs to be targeted to attract different audiences. Look beyond the traditional flyer