Theatre, Social Media, and Meaning Making

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-ix

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2. Introduction

   • Bree Hadley

   Pages 1-20

3. Social Media: Platforms, Networks and Influences

   • Bree Hadley

   Pages 21-52

4. Social Media as Theatre Stage: Aesthetics, Affordances and Interactivities

   • Bree Hadley

   Pages 53-112

5. Social Media as Critical Stage: Controversy, Debate and Democracy

   • Bree Hadley

   Pages 113-167

6. Social Media as Cultural Stage: Co-creation, Audience Collaboration and the Construction of Theatre Cultures

   • Bree Hadley

   Pages 169-229

7. Conclusion

   • Bree Hadley

   Pages 231-236

8. Back Matter

   Pages 237-256

   PDF

This book offers the first broad-based survey of the way artists, audiences and society at large are making use of social media, and how the emergence of social media platforms that allow two-way interaction between these groups has been held up as a ‘game changer’ by many in the theatre industry. The first book to analyse aesthetic, critical, audience development, marketing and assessment uptake of social media in the theatre industry in an integrated fashion, Theatre, Social Media and Meaning Making examines examples from the USA, UK, Europe and Australasia to provide a snapshot of this emerging niche within networked, telematic, immersive and participatory theatre production and reception practices. A vital new resource for the field, this book will appeal to scholars, students, and industry practitioners alike.

• Spectator
• Audience
• Immersive theatre
• Participatory theatre
• Producer
• Performer
• Online platforms
• Theatre culture

“This is a wide-ranging survey of an important emerging field, written in a style that is as accessible as it is authoritative. Providing case studies from around the world, Bree Hadley gives us a fascinating account of how theatre and social media interact - and of how they will continue to influence each other during the years ahead.” (Patrick Lonergan, Professor of Drama and Theatre Studies, NUI Galway, Ireland)

• Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia

  Bree Hadley

Bree Hadley is Associate Professor in Performance Studies at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. Her research investigating the performance of identity in contemporary, pop cultural and public space performance has appeared in Disability, Public Space Performance and Spectatorship: Unconscious Performers (Palgrave Macmillan 2014), and in journals such as Performance Research, About Performance, and Liminalities: A Journal of Performance Studies.

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