ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic along with social distancing measures has been with human society for over two years now. The leisure activities that used to be considered normal become something unreachable; theatre is one of them. Since March 2020, theatre and performance festivals were cancelled globally, and theatre-going by the pre-COVID-19 definition was no longer a leisure option for the audience. Meanwhile, the digital engagement of “theatre-going” became the “new norm” during the pandemic. Various ways of “digital theatre-going” are provided for the audience all over the world. Who is the “theatre” audience during the pandemic? How do they participate and experience the performing arts at home during lockdowns? Have these experiences changed theatre-going behaviour? This chapter presents the results of the first two phrases a research project on the theatre-going experience during the pandemic: the quantitative findings from an audience survey and first-round in-depth interviews. This chapter is one of the first empirical research projects focusing on the theatre audience during the pandemic and reveals the ambiguous image of the audience profile behind the screens across the world.
