How to assess a theatre performance?

The play’s a hit – but how can you tell? Lots of opinion claim audience reaction is the best indication of effectiveness. A group of the UK theatre world’s leading industry bodies – The Society of London Theatre, Theatrical Management Association and Independent Theatre Council – have recently come up with what they believe is a completely new way of measuring the effectiveness (or otherwise) of a theatre production.

Instead of relying on box office figures, social monitoring or critics’ reviews, the group have designed a system which aims to assess the quality of a show based on an audience’s emotional response.

It takes the form of a questionnaire handed out to audiences after a production, which asks questions along the lines of whether they felt challenged, moved or engaged by the show and whether they noticed time passing during it. The answers are then brought together to give an overall measurement of the audience’s response, in the form of a graph. Broadly speaking, the larger the area covered on the graph, the more successful the show has been.

The creators of the system – which also included respected think-tank the New Economics Foundation – say they hope that it will become industry standard and will replace more “tick-box” methods of monitoring, allowing arts organizations to be measured on their own terms, for instance when having to justify funding.

But, to me, it does all beg the question of how we measure success in theatre? Is it even possible?

Every performance can be judged by the same standard – criterion. But one has to put into cognizance that not all plays have the same intent. The performing art especially, has over centuries advanced it cause consequent on the various schools of writing with its multitudinous conventions of forms and styles. These cousins (Forms and styles) are consequential to assessing performance trend for a good judgement and people must be willing to first understand and accept the conventions of the particular form and find some value in them for appropriate assessment. Notwithstanding, there are plenty of ways to assess how well a theatrical performance has met its intent. However, note that this is not in any way a generic assertion but one subjected to personal opinion induced by practical experiences culled from the grind of sheer participation in the theatre arena.

When next you go to see a theatre performance, you might want to use the following criterion for a later assessment…

1. Assess how much it affects you.
2. Assess how much it affects others or culture in general.
3. Assess whether or not it follows an arbitrary set of criteria that you’ve come up with or accepted.

Most times, people go for the first approach. The great thing about art is that it can affect you—but only if you let it. If you worry about what you’re supposed to feel or what smart thing you can say about it, you’re erecting a wall between you and your direct experience with the play. Worrying about assessing a play is also a kind of wall. Doing that is like having a judge who is uninterested in the alibi evident before her yet itches to pass a ‘contemptible’ judgement.

Everyone is different, but here is what tends to affect me:

• A play in which all the actors are believable and surprising.
• A play with beautiful, evocative language.
• A play that creates a consistent world.
• A play that makes me wonder what is going to happen next.
• A play that is in no way didactic, which, to me, means that it never makes me think about its author or director, and what point they are trying to make.
• A play that evokes strong feelings in me: anger, sadness, tenderness, fear, joy, laugther…
• A play which haunts me—one that makes it impossible for me to forget it, long after it has ended.

Most of these—if not present— might be deal-breakers for me. In other words, it’s not enough if the play serves one or two of my aesthetic needs. If any of the above are missing or thwarted, one might probably not enjoy the performance or be moved by it.

I would advise you to watch all performances with a harmless eye and while watching, watch it with your senses and feelings, like it’s the first play you’ve ever seen and I bet you’d be long gone.

Now tell me, what next play do you plan to attend?