The Routledge Companion to Audiences and the Performing Arts represents a truly multi-dimensional exploration of the inter-relationships between audiences and performance.

Matthew Reason is Professor of Theatre and Performance at York St John University, UK.

Lynne Conner is Chair and Professor at the Department of Theatre at University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA.

Katya Johanson is Professor of Audience Research at Deakin University, Australia.

Ben Walmsley is Professor in Audience Engagement at University of Leeds, UK.

The Paradox of Audiences

Matthew Reason, Lynne Conner, Katya Johanson and Ben Walmsley

Part One: Histories, Theories and Questions of Social Justice

Introduction

Lynne Conner

1. Ellen Dissanayake in Conversation

Ellen Dissanayake and Lynne Conner

2. Histories of Audiencing: On Evidence, Mythology and Nostalgia

Helen Freshwater

3. Disrupting the Audience as Monolith

Lynne Conner

4. Who? Why? and How?: The Contribution of Sociology to the Study of Arts Audiences and Where it Needs Help

Laurie Hanquinet

5. The Future of Audiences and Audiencing

Jennifer Novak Leonard

6. Which Global? Which Local?: Aucitya, Rasa, Development, Ase and other Demands on the Audience

Glenn Odom and Giri Raghunathan

7. Forced Experiences: Shifting Modes of Audience Involvement in Immersive Performances

Doris Kolesch and Theresa Schütz

Part Two: Policies, Politics and Practices

Introduction

Ben Walmsley

8. Alan Brown in Conversation

Alan Brown and Emma McDowell

9. Are We the Baddies?: Audience Development, Cultural Policy and Ideological Precarity

Steven Hadley

10. At what cost? Working Class Audiences and the Price of Culture

Maria Barrett

11. A 'Universal Design' for Audiences with Disabilities?

Bree Hadley

12. Fans and Fandom in the Performing Arts

Kirsty Sedgman

13. The Role of the Audience in Forum and Interactive Theatre: Perspectives from Bangladesh

Meghna Guhathakurta

14. Audience Engagement and the Production of Efficacious Theatre: Case Studies from Ghana

Awo Mana Asiedu

15. Critical Perspectives on Valuing Culture: Tensions and Disconnections between Research, Policy and Practice

Ben Walmsley and Julian Meyrick

Part Three: Methods, Methodologies and Understanding Audiences

Introduction

Matthew Reason

16. Martin Barker in Conversation

Martin Barker and Matthew Reason

17. Mixing Methods in Audience Research Practice: A multi-method(ological) discussion

Emma McDowell

18. Quantifying the Dance Spectacle in the Audience's Mind: A Methodological Quest for Neuroscience Research

Corinne Jola

19. Continuous and Collective Measures of Real-Time Audience Engagement

L.S. Merritt Millman, Guido Orgs and Daniel Richardson

20. Audience Interaction: Approaches to Researching the Social Dynamics of Live Audiences

Patrick G.T. Healey, Matthew T. Harris and Michael F. Schober

21. Quantitative Measures of Audience Experience

Wing Tung Au, Zhumeng Zuo and Paton Pak Chun Yam

22. The Benefits and Challenges of Large-Scale Qualitative Research

Stephanie Pitts and Sarah Price

23. Creative Methods and Audience Research: Affordances and Radical Potential

Matthew Reason

24. Ethics in Audience Research: By the Book or on the Hop?

Katya Johanson and Hilary Glow

Part Four: Shorts: Adventures in Thinking About Audiences

Introduction

Katya Johanson

25. Affect

Lucy Thornett

26. Agency

Astrid Breel

27. Co-Creation

Michael Pinchbeck and Rachel Baynton

28. Covid-19

Tully Barnett

29. Data

Rishi Coupland

30. Dialogue

Maddy Costa

31. Integrated and Inclusive

Vipavinee Artpradid

32. Labour

Martin Young

33. Language

Michelle Loh

34. Laughter

Natalie Diddams

35. Marginalia

Helen Yung

36. Memory

Elaine Faull

37. One-to-One

Rachel Gomme

38. Pantomime

Robert Marsden

39. Post-Humanity

Fayen D'Evie

40. Post-Show

Diane Ragsdale

41. Rehearsal

Anja Ali Haapala

42. Relaxed

Lauren Hall and Paul Wilshaw

43. Risk

Ella de Búrca

44. Sickness

Verónica Rodríguez

45. Thresholds

Stefania Donini

46. Touch

Elena S.V. Flys

Afterword: Covid-19, Audiences, and the Future of the Performing Arts

Matthew Reason, Lynne Conner, Katya Johanson and Ben Walmsley