Technology as a Bridge to Audience Participation?

Abstract

Online technology has made it possible for audience relationships to be reinvented and reputations to be redrawn across the theatrical spectrum. But is this what has actually taken place in the online world or are traditional priorities and prejudices slowly being re-established? Digital technology and the Internet allow for a democratisation of the producer/audience member relationship, and increasingly, it is possible to think of a two-way form of communication which extends beyond polite applause within the theatre building. Theatre companies can, in theory, bring the audience into the creative process of theatre-making and extend exponentially the reach of their activities. The smallest of theatre companies can now have an international presence but is the theatre world taking proper advantage of the opportunities that are available?