Audiences Today and during the Renaissance

The main differences between the audiences from the Renaissance period and today’s is visible in their behavior.

During the Renaissance initially the audience was perhaps first of all not as well behaved as are todays’ audiences. The plays were usually long, and people would leave their seats to go looking for food to eat and ale to drink during the performance, or visit with some friends. They interacted and became more emotionally involved in the play  becoming   boisterous and speaking loud.

Today’s audiences are more polite and usually well behaved; they sit quietly to watch the play. It is frowned upon and rude in our society to talk loudly during the play and to walk around amongst the audience disturbing everyone. Also you are not allowed to eat nor drink in most theatres, very different from the cinemas. At the theatre the intervals last longer to enable the playgoers to eat and drink in the dedicated areas.

I think that in the Renaissance, going to a play was all about seeing and being seen, but I also think that in my opinion, it wasn’t as enjoyable and as relaxing, as it is today. Most of the Renaissance audiences became so boisterous and behaved badly that if you were watching the play at this point you were not able to hear the actors or see them. In fact under the Puritans the theatre houses were banned to avoid such public behavior. After having read about this topic quite frankly I tend to think that I would prefer being in today’s audience. Not only for the fact that one pays to go and see a play and therefore I want to enjoy and see and hear what I paid for, but also because I want to be able to sit back, relax and watch the play and not be fighting with whomever might be next to me because they are yelling and walking around and therefore I am not even paying attention to the play I just paid to see!