The emergence of theatre and the chorus as ideal audience: A study of indirect and direct interaction with the public in Ancient Greece

Direct interaction between the stage and the audience in European theater, from Antiquity to the present day, is a subject as vast as the cultural, geographical, and temporal scope of the phenomenon. Beyond the aesthetic realm, we sense that theater has had the power, over the centuries, to influence history by disseminating ideas, attitudes, and principles among its audience members to the same extent that it was itself influenced, throughout its evolution, on the one hand by the tastes of the audience, and on the other by the political and religious stakes associated with a particular context. This paper proposes an analysis of the two fundamental types of interaction with the audience—direct and indirect—in the early days of theater. By direct interaction, we mean those moments in the performance when the public becomes an overt participant in the artistic act, as well as the actors’ interventions that clearly address those watching them. Indirect interaction, however, involves influences brought from outside the performance that do not alter its structure as it unfolds. The first part of this article will therefore examine proto-theater, which foreshadows the dramaturgy of Hellenic culture in terms of the forms of interaction characteristic of religious processions. Dionysian festivals, through their communal and celebratory nature, offer a perfect example of interactivity, engaging—and even making it mandatory—the immersion of spectators in the unfolding of events. In Ancient Greece, we can already speak of the establishment of theater and, consequently, of the emergence of the amphitheater, the first space built specifically to optimize the conditions under which a performance could be viewed. The second part of the article will analyze the role of the ancient chorus in the stage-audience interaction, through the lens of its threefold function: “ideal” spectator, sounding board, and gateway.