• Etiquette, Ableism, and Access in Contemporary Theatre

In contemporary Western theatre, being a “good” audience member is the widely accepted gold-standard in spectatorship. To give “good audience” is to intently comply with 21st century Western theatre etiquette ideals which ask audience members to be still and quiet monolith. Despite the silent audience being a new iteration of the audience role comparatively to theatre’s history, its ideals have an unwavering clutch on modern theatre culture. These expectations neglect to account for each audience member’s individuated experience and position, which ultimately calls into question which audience members are prioritized in contemporary theatre because of its idealized audience. In her book, The Reasonable Audience, audience scholar Kirsty Sedgman writes at length outlining the extensive exclusionary implications held by the concept of being a “good” audience member, including classist, racist, and ableist ideologies (2018). This paper concerns itself with the ableist roots planted deep within current Western theatre etiquette ideals. Acknowledging that significant strides have been made to subvert theatre’s current position to access through interventions such as relaxed performances, this paper advocates that to truly overturn ableism as a result of 21st century etiquette, access must be a consideration from conception, not only as an intervention or afterthought.