‘Step forward now’: Choric Aesthetics and Audience Engagement in Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat

Appropriating the tradition of choric aesthetics, Ravenhill’s Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat repurposes the chorus to redefine the concept of community, theatrical space, and spectatorship. In the play, the chorus acts as a multivalent medium, connecting scenes, mediating diverse communities, and linking the stage with the audience, thereby exploring its dramaturgical and semiotic possibilities on multiple levels. Ravenhill&quots consensus-driven choruses coalesce around “core values,” employing the politics of co-optation and exclusion to reinforce dominant discourse. The play scrutinizes these choral communities, highlighting the necessity for a new understanding of community in the 21st-century multicultural era. By engaging with the audience, the chorus prompts spectators to reconsider their roles as both viewers and citizens and reflect on their positions vis-à-vis the chorus. This interaction enables the constitution of theater as an “agonistic” space for dialogue and civic involvement. Ravenhill&quots chorus scenes thus underscore the importance of interactive performance in fostering spectatorial engagement.