Readers and Audiences

One of my favourite things about tutoring is when a student challenges you.

When I studied English and Philosophy at university, one of my favourite modules was the 'Plato' module that we studied in our first year.

Socrates was often challenged by his students, and would in turn go on to challenge them.

Discourse and debate is at the heart of education - and the best teachers enjoy the difficulty of wrestling with difficult questions.

In this instance, a student asked me why we refer to an 'audience' when studying a play. On the surface, there is an obvious response: we go to 'watch' a play as an audience. We 'read' a novel.

Underneath this question was a great deal of wisdom, however.

Is it really true that we only 'watch' a play? We 'read' playscripts all the time in the classroom. In fact, you could argue it makes more sense to refer to a 'reader' when we analyse a play, as opposed to an audience, since even the biggest bore doesn't sit at the theatre, notebook in hand, analysing the characters and themes!

Food for thought..