Audience, by Michael Frayn

This one-act play by Michael Frayn lends itself to the introduction of a wide range of drama techniques. I have used it with Year 9 as a prelude to GCSE drama but have also taken short sections and ideas as the basis for workshops with students aged from 15 to 18 years and adult groups. The more I revisit the text the more I discover. I hope you too have a journey of discovery.

Michael Frayn said of his play Audience: ‘To be a member of a good audience is exhilarating … Audiences have communal responses, and communal responses are unpredictable and violent because they are self-reinforcing.’ The play is an exploration of the idea that watching an audience watching a play might be as interesting, if not more so, than watching a play itself.

Learning objectives

• To introduce the basic Stanislavskian system to the analysis and practical development of character through a workshop approach to Michael Frayn’s play, Audience
• To reinforce several aspects of the national curriculum for English: understanding and appreciation of language, character and performance; using a range of dramatic stimuli to develop students’ reading, writing, speaking and listening; encouraging students to reflect upon and evaluate performance as a means of conveying meaning.

Number of lessons: 6