Theatre & Museums

After studying Susan Bennetts work into the use of theatre in museums it made us more positive about working in the museum and gallery. At first the site was daunting as museums and galleries are usually seen as places for people to relax and take in the art and artefacts without being disturbed, which is why we did not think putting on a drama performance in the Usher Gallery would appeal to the public. This was a main reason we did not decide to do a very long durational piece, we did not want the members of public to become frustrated we were in the way of what they wanted to see. However after reading Bennetts ‘Theatre and Museums’ it began to make a lot more sense as to why we were given this particular site. Performances are contemporarily performed in theatres, if you compare theatres and museums they have many similarities, ‘Theatres and Museums have increasingly become symbolic and actual neighbours, sharing the task of providing entertaining and educational experiences that draw people to a district, a city, a region and even a nation’. A lot of research has gone into whether or not performances should be brought into museums on a regular basis, John Faulk also wrote a book called, ‘The Museum Experience’, which goes into very specific details about what happens in the museums and the type of people who visit them. He found out during his research that, ‘Demographic analyses of cultural activity show that people who go to the theatre, concerts and movies are also museum visitors’, this also proves that using the museum as a site for our performance would not disrupt the members of public but actually intrigue them and may make their museum visit more enjoyable. Overall both Bennett and Faulk’s work gave us a more positive outlook on our ideas, instead of holding back so that we did not interrupt the gallery we believed the public would enjoy the performance more if we done something fast, loud and disruptive as it draws their attention and from the studies the people who visit museums also like to visit theatres meaning they must like drama performances.