ABSTRACT
Considerations of the spectator are conspicuously thorny and usually impractical. Audiences are notoriously miscellaneous; their experiences of the event diverse and irregular, and their reactions, while occasionally expressed outwardly, are for the most part internal. Ezekiel gives a frightening account of how he was chosen as god's spokesman. For the most popular Shakespeare plays they include an added psychological stress, the awareness that the text is already well known, intensifying the actor's concern about accuracy. The semiotic approach, in short, imagines an ideal spectator as reader: which may be why some Shakespeare performance criticism has been caught in the trap of assuming there are correct interpretations, and correct receptions, for plays in performance. Spectators, engaged in the moment-to-moment flow of performance, may be interested in many things, but not necessarily interested in what the performance might mean, whether emotionally or intellectually.
