Participating with foreign culture: the audience and their motivations of Chinese theatre in the UK

Purpose This research investigates the audience and their motivations for participating in Chinese theatre productions in the UK, aiming to guide future audience targeting and engagement strategies for unfamiliar cultural productions and ultimately improve the current imbalanced global cultural exchange. Design/methodology/approach Action research is applied as the methodology to study three Chinese theatre productions in the UK. The researcher collaborates with practitioners to work on marketing the productions. Qualitative methods, including in-depth interviews, observation and deep hanging out, are employed for the fieldwork, engaging 60 participants. Findings The research examines participants in Chinese theatre in the UK beyond demographic features. Engaging audience reception theory and cultural memories, participants are portrayed through their lifestyles and previous cultural experiences and knowledge. Typically, they are regular theatre-goers with a strong interest in novel and authentic cultural experiences. While immigrants are naturally inclined towards their home culture, motivating attendance remains challenging. Key motivations include new experiences, aesthetic enjoyment and cultural inheritance and education. Practical implications The research provides a detailed portrait of the participants and motivations for foreign productions, illuminating the future of cross-cultural participation, especially promoting cultural productions from non-Western contexts. Originality/value The originality of the research lies in its focus on foreign cultural participation in the context of cross-cultural exchange, as it aims to increase audience outreach for touring productions from non-Western cultures. The findings regarding audience motivation provide novel insights into the intersection of cultural exchange, audience segmentation and marketing strategies for foreign cultural productions.