Decentering the Theater Audience through Reaction Videos

Abstract

In this essay, I question the pedagogical validity of the class field trip to the theater and suggest ways reaction videos might intervene to decenter the theater audience and the theater classroom. Building on Basil Bernstein’s work on educational codes as well as the strategies of a postmodern education as outlined by Stanley Aronowitz and Henry Giroux, I argue that the traditional theater experience galvanizes an elitist hierarchy antithetical to the purported goals of education. Tracing the popularity of reaction videos online, I then propose an assignment that fits with Jill Bourne’s idea of a “radical visible pedagogy” purposed to repopulate the theater audience and expand accessibility to Shakespeare’s work.