Malka Eve Roth

"I Already Got Your Money Dude": a Look at the Audience / Actor Relationship from Ritual Performance to Contemporary Times Malka Eve Roth

The audience/actor relationship can be a fickle one. How many people do you know like to go to the theatre and be asked to participate, to stand on stage or be the butt of a performer's joke? Nowadays most people don't even like to go to a theatre if they know the chairs will be uncomfortable. People prefer movie theater chairs in a theatre atmosphere, the plush, large kind you can sink right into. Most people nowadays go to the theatre for the same reason they go to see a movie, in order to escape and to consume. But theatre was not always like that. In times of ritual performance there was little to no distinction between the actors and members of the audience, they actually needed each other in order to create. This book charts a specific path of the audience/actor relationship, one that moves from ritual performance to contemporary times in which the audience goes from witness to patron, then client to consumer. It explores reasons behind this shift taking a particular interest in how architectural and cultural changes can dictate and affect the relationship. "I've Already Got Your Money Dude" is a look at how commodification has changed the very idea of performance.