187About Performance  No.10   2010
 THE THEATREGOER?S EPIPHANY: 
BECOMING A THEATREGOER
 Jonathan Lewis
 The aim of this paper is to investigate the phenomenon of how an individual 
becomes a theatregoer. The paper suggests that in order to become theatregoers, 
people experience a moment of theatrical epiphany, a ?wow moment?, at a 
production, after which they are set on a trajectory of theatregoing. From this 
moment they assume the self-identity of theatregoers. In order to experience a 
theatrical epiphany, a number of factors, explored later in the paper, appear to be 
present in a person?s formative years. This paper aims to shed new light on the 
formative experiences of theatregoers, and the factors that help create the identity 
of a theatregoer. It further suggests that by using an appropriate interpretive, 
qualitative method such as the reminiscence workshop, researchers are able to 
encourage theatergoers to cast a ?retrospective glance? over their lives. By following 
the phenomenological approach of Schutz (1967, 45-63), theatregoers? past lived 
experience can be captured in the form of rich, meaningful data. The next section 
explains the research method in more detail.
 METHOD: THE REMINISCENCE WORKSHOP
 Reminiscence workshops are defined by Arigho as ?the stimulation of social and 
creative activities, that value people as individuals, and that make positive uses 
of their reminiscences.?1 Reminiscence workshops are a form of biographical 
research, similar to oral history except that oral history research usually contains 
?groups of older people [?] whose main concern is the retrieval of past experience 
and its recording and preservation? (Bornat 2001, 5). In enabling participants to 
reflect on their lives through reminiscing in groups, individuals are encouraged to 
think about their theatregoing, an act that reinforces their self-identity (Giddens 
1991, 5). The workshops are effective in gaining rich data through the dynamic 
interweaving of the narratives with participants encouraged to tell their stories to 
like-minded people. Data is built up weekly, building on previous sessions, with 
participants and researcher sharing the ability to both question group members 
and develop arguments and concepts in the workshops.
 1 Notes taken by J. Lewis, Age Exchange Reminiscence Workshop, 24 January 2005.
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 This reminiscence project incorporated four separate series of reminiscence 
workshops in three English theatres: the Oxford Playhouse (two groups, the first 
a pilot study), the Pegasus Theatre, Oxford, and the Corn Exchange Theatre, 
Newbury. The reminiscence workshops took place in 2006 and 2007. Thirty-
 one participants took part, twenty-six females, five males, with the majority 
of participants in the Oxford Playhouse groups retired from work. All the 
Pegasus group members were employed, as were the majority of Corn Exchange 
participants.
 Each workshop lasted an hour, and was recorded for later transcription, with 
transcripts approved by participants. Workshops explored early theatregoing and 
drama experiences, and then theatregoing throughout their life course (Giele and 
Elder 1998). A final note on reminiscence workshops as a research tool: generally 
in social science, participants would be anonymous. However, it is often the case 
in reminiscence work or oral history that participants wish not to be anonymous. 
Historical diaries and letters, for example, are not treated with the same levels 
of confidentiality (Bornat 2008). The participants? names are therefore their real 
names.
 THE FORMATIVE LIFE OF THE THEATREGOER 
For many participants in this study, it is within their early lives that they were 
able to identify themselves as a theatregoer. In undertaking this exploration, 
participants suggest three key factors are influential in creating the conditions for 
being receptive to a production where an epiphany is experienced. These factors 
are: play, magic and religion.
 The concept of play encompasses notions of beauty, enchantment, secrecy and 
captivity (Huizinga 1949). Of the thirty-one participants, twenty-five recalled 
playing at theatre in their early years. Thirteen participants had their first 
introduction to live theatre at a Christmas pantomime, a form of attendance that 
became ritualised and routine. 
Other group members reminisced about taking part in charades at Christmas. 
One participant, Rachel, reminisced about playing theatre at Christmastime:
 We lived in an old house, and I remember my parents had a sort of a large 
alcove in their bedroom with a curtain that went round it and we? I have 
two sisters and a brother? and every Christmas when my cousins came over, 
we used to put together a little play. We used to perform it in my parents? 
bedroom and the adults would come in and watch us. I remember that was 
really, really good fun? it was probably around some religious story as it was 
Christmas and we just made it up, rehearsed it and then performed it to the 
adults. We did that for quite a number of Christmases? I remember she and 
my father used to write plays that the four of us used to act in at the town 
hall in Devizes for charity. My grandmother used to make all our costumes 
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 with crepe paper which I can always remember being worried about, because 
you always expect it?s going to break, and you?re going to be left on stage 
with no clothes on [laughter] but we never did. My mother had some lovely 
evening gowns which we used to dress up in? (Rachel, middle-aged, mature 
graduate, secretarial employment).
 Rachel?s narrative suggests that formative drama experiences are important in the 
gaining of cultural capital. These Christmastime plays were enjoyable to stage, 
enacted in a simulacrum of a theatre, in the alcove with curtains recreating the 
theatre. The family takes the playing seriously enough to become audiences for 
their children?s performance, albeit in a make-believe theatre. The drama had a 
religious theme in which pretend, dressing-up activity took place. The religious 
context for the drama is also relevant, and is discussed later in this paper. Because 
the family takes Rachel?s Christmas plays seriously, the playing may not be 
primarily ?art for art?s sake? but an indication of the value of religious capital that 
the parents intend Rachel to have when older. The plays took place repeatedly 
over the years, bringing the concept of regularity of theatrical attendance to 
Rachel. Rachel also recognised that she was following in her family?s amateur 
theatre heritage, inheriting their cultural capital. The plays included make-believe 
costumes from crepe paper as well as high quality gowns, reinforcing Huizinga?s 
(1949, 9) theory of play being beautiful. Another participant also recalled her 
youthful interactions with drama:
 ? But I think um it goes back also to things like hiding behind the sofa 
and jumping out and sort of being theatrical in the family and then later 
on charades. But I suddenly remembered that actually we had a little tiny 
theatre which, wooden, folded and you could unfold it, stood up, had a 
proper blue velvet curtain that you could pull up. It had footlights and we 
used to make the scenery. I had a friend, of course, the daughter of The 
Times music critic boarded with my family in Oxford for the week and so 
she and I were the same age and we did all these theatre productions and we 
got more and more ingenious with scenery. The thing that I remember was, 
I don?t remember the actual story of the drama, but we created this dark 
tower with a light burning in it and then? the tower fell down at the end of 
the drama because the forces of good somehow triumphed over it [laughter] 
so um I feel actually I had an incredibly lucky childhood and stimulation of 
the imagination, just going, starting right at the beginning earlier than one 
can really remember. So that?s a bit of my childhood. (Margaret, seventies, 
graduate, psychologist)
 There are similarities with Rachel?s reminiscence regarding performing to others 
as a child, but Margaret?s story elicits other factors. She alludes to the excitement 
of theatre, ?hiding? and ?jumping out? from behind the sofa; excitement is a 
recurring theme of the findings. In terms of Margaret?s intentionality, excitement, 
and ?stimulation of the imagination? would be key ingredients of her motivation 
to go to the theatre. The theatre, although a simulation, attempts to be as 
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 authentic as possible with its ?proper? velvet curtain. The make-believe aspect 
of the drama occurs on the make-believe stage, but the stage itself is meant to 
be believable in the Platonic sense. Her productions are created with a friend 
(daughter of someone with high status) and the play is intended to conclude 
with a feeling of redemption, an allusion as in the above example, to a religious 
concept, but also a motivating factor mentioned at a later stage of participants? 
theatregoing life histories. Rachel and Margaret, by playing at drama could be 
regarded as ?bricoleurs? (Levi-Strauss 1962) because they understand by ?doing? 
how the whole play is put together.
 A participant who is a generation older than Rachel shares with her the desire to 
perform in front of her parents at Christmastime: 
From the time I was tiny, I mean, charades at Christmas, and when I was 
about six, my mother suddenly produced a large suitcase and it was full of 
dressing-up costumes that she had made for herself, sort of amateur stuff 
at her church. And it was all beautifully hand-sewn costumes. And from 
then on I was always making up plays, and um pretending to be a Russian 
Cossack or lavender girl, or a jester [laughs]. All these costumes she got and 
I was directing my friends in made-up plays in which I played the wicked 
witch and the beautiful princess. [laughs] And my friend came on at the 
end as the prince who awoke me. And the parents would sit there having 
to watch and my father would be saying ?it?s bed-time, bed-time.? And I 
said ?no, no, we haven?t finished! We haven?t finished.? And he would say: 
?right, five minutes.? As they sat through probably half an hour of gruelling 
histrionics. [laughs] Quite embarrassing for them. But um, um then was 
when I really enjoyed drama a lot. It was, sort of, part of me really. (Audrey, 
seventies, graduate, teacher)
 Like Margaret, she directs friends in the performance. Audrey?s rich descriptions 
of the clothes from the dressing up box are mirrored in her later descriptions of 
the costumes and set during her theatre epiphany, indicating her receptiveness 
to the visual aesthetic. Audrey?s story is suffused with the themes of magic and 
fairy tales. Since she has already let her group know that her mother was artistic, 
and had acted before Audrey was born, it is most likely that her parents enjoyed 
the experience, rather than being embarrassed by it. That drama was ?part of me? 
suggests that Audrey was aware at a young age that her future motivation towards 
drama and theatregoing is self-propelled, and that she is an agent in the sense 
conceptualised by Giddens (1987). 
MAGIC
 As Audrey?s reminiscence has indicated, the concept of magic, or the magic of 
theatre, often linked to fairy tales, emerges very strongly, reflecting the observation 
by Kierkegaard ([1843] 2009, 23) that young people with imagination are captured 
by the magic of theatre. One participant, Margaret, reflected ?it?s so hard to know 
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 what the quality of things one saw in the past actually was because one was so 
prepared to enter the magic.? So for her, magic is related to the naivety of youth, 
with a certain lack of knowledge and understanding. Mauss (1972, 35) suggests 
that women are more prone to magic than men. It could be that this concept 
emerges strongly because the workshops had twenty-six female participants out of 
thirty-one. However, magic is not always enchanting, as one participant recalled:
 ?having been brought up from the very, very earliest age, on fairy stories, 
and realising their hardness, as well as their beauty. I always remember 
being taught this by my father that they are extremely hard, they are not 
sentimental in the least. (Priscilla, late seventies, graduate, prison worker 
and lecturer)
 Priscilla suggests that evil is part of the content of the pantomimes she attended 
when young, but darkness was a constant factor of life during the Second World 
War. The evil of the pantomimes was a relevant emotion for her generation. 
RELIGION
 Seventeen of the participants came from families where members, usually 
parents or grandparents, were churchgoers. It has emerged strongly from the 
reminiscences that an association with formal religion has helped to develop a 
theatrical awareness during the formative years of these participants. For many 
of the participants, experiences of theatre and religion are synonymous, or 
complementary. 
The data suggests that religion is associated with theatre in five ways. The first 
example has already been introduced, which is acting in Christmas plays. The 
second is attending performances within religious venues, usually churches or 
church halls. The third example is acting in a play with religious themes, or 
playmaking with religious, ritualistic themes. Priscilla, who was brought up in a 
religious household, reminisced about her childhood games: 
One of the ways we entertained ourselves for hours was playing church. And 
we extremely um, we went to a lot of trouble and we had our own liturgy. We 
had some actual proper church toys that had been got from a church shop 
but we also made up some things out of plasticine and we made up some 
Latin because it was the old Catholic Latin mass and one of the big moments 
in the old Latin mass is Dominus vobiscum. And the congregation replied Et 
cum spiritum tuo. And so we had our own version and we?d go around the 
house singing Tintum Biscum waving a little [big laughter]? I thought it was 
tremendous. But fortunately our parents didn?t think it was naughty at 
all. They thought it was wonderful. They didn?t make us feel we were being 
naughty. 
As in other instances of children?s play, the parents are encouraging as Priscilla 
and her friends ritualistically create their own rules adapted from the Catholic 
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 liturgy. Whereas Priscilla brings the religious play back into her home, Kate 
(sixties, librarian and teacher), and other participants, recalled that it was at 
school where they were involved regularly in religious drama, often Nativity plays: 
?We did a Christmas play every year?.
 The fourth way is where there are specific church-managed theatre groups. One 
participant in Letchworth, Hertfordshire, and another near Bolton in Lancashire, 
attended St Paul?s churches for their drama groups where the fare was Whitehall 
farce and thriller rather than Shakespeare. The fifth example is attendance at 
explicitly religious ceremonies which are inherently dramatic, such as the Whit 
Walks in the north of England, related by participants who grew up in the north 
of England. 
One final point emerges about the formative theatre experiences of the 
participants. Many of the group members appear to be doers, actively involved in 
performances. Eighteen of the participants took part in amateur dramatics when 
they were young, whilst another two joined dancing classes.
 THE THEATRICAL EPIPHANY 
The concept of the epiphany is adapted from Denzin (1989, 17) who defines the 
epiphany as ?existentially problematic moments in the lives of individuals.? He 
suggests that after people have experienced an epiphany, they regard life differently. 
For Denzin, these epiphanies occur after a person experiences a loss, or a major 
illness. However, leisure is an important element in many people?s lives and the 
experiences related by participants in this study suggest that many theatregoers 
experience a theatrical epiphany of sorts. Following the epiphany, they create a 
new trajectory for their leisure lives. There are four types of epiphany in Denzin?s 
model. They can be major, which pervade every aspect of an individual?s life; 
cumulative, which are ongoing ?eruptions? of events; illuminative, or minor, which 
are symbolic of major epiphanies; and relived, which are viewed as epiphanies with 
recollection (129). A theatrical ?wow moment? may fall into any of these categories 
at different moments of a person?s life.
 Bourdieu (1983, 65) constructs individual trajectories having identified ?critical 
turning points? in people?s lives, and so it is the case for this study. The revealing 
of epiphanies is a factor within reminiscing, when older people talk about their 
own lives (Bornat 2001, 6). Hewison (2007, 37) argues that arts organisations must 
make it their duty to create moments of epiphany for their audiences. It is after 
the epiphany that the now-theatregoer is able to adopt what Bourdieu (1983, 61-
 67) calls a ?position?, which in this case is the person?s self-identification within 
the genres of theatre. Bourdieu assumes that such a ?special study? of ?critical 
turning points? would be difficult or impossible to undertake (65). Despite 
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 Bourdieu?s reservations, this study was successful in identifying participants? 
theatrical epiphanies, the results of which are discussed next.
 Although some participants experienced a theatrical epiphany at a very young 
age, often at a pantomime, most were older. Eleven mentioned age descriptors 
such as ?primary school age?, or ?teens?. Of the teenagers, the most common 
age was fifteen, whilst the under tens were more varied in their ages. The data 
suggests that many participants experienced cumulative epiphanies. Participants 
reminisced how their second, or later epiphany, even if not as powerful as their 
first, could prove to be a turning point.
 THE FAMILIAR
 The narratives of the participants suggest that, except for those who experienced 
their epiphany as an adult, the participants were inspired, encouraged, or 
converted to attend a theatrical event by, or with someone, who is close to them. 
For eleven participants, the familiars are parents, or a parent, of the participant. 
Other family members also provide this role: an uncle or aunt (three), and in one 
case, a great uncle. Other familiars are a teacher (or school) (four), drama group 
leader (one), friend (one), and godparent (one). This is a person who is already 
receptive to the magic of the play. S/he knows and understands the rules, and the 
secrets, of the play, and is a regular to the prescribed places of the play. There is a 
strong relationship between this person and the potential theatregoer. They know 
each other well. I have coined the term ?familiar? to describe this person. It has 
links to magic, because a familiar is a magician?s magical creature, or supernatural 
spirit over which the magician has some sort of inspirational power (Bozman 
1961, 207). The familiar is ?the personal and effective agent? of the magician 
(Mauss 1972, 99), therefore the analogy could be made that the theatrical familiar 
provides a role far greater than that of an opinion former or advocate: s/he is 
indirectly associated with the ?magical? artists involved in the creation of the 
production. Also, like the epiphany, there is also a religious connotation to the 
familiar. The familiar is the term for an official of the Holy See who captures and 
imprisons an accused person (Bozman 1961, 207). It could be argued that the 
theatrical familiar ?captures? a person for theatregoing. 
With some participants, epiphanies occurred at a pantomime. Kate was taken by 
her father to Peter Pan at the Grand Theatre, Leeds when her mother was in hospital 
having another child. Another participant reminisced about a pantomime at the 
Corn Exchange, Newbury:
 I remember I sat on my father?s lap, but the moment for me was when 
Cinderella?s rags fell off and she turned into the wonderful princess. And 
that really was? it started me off on my theatregoing (June, seventies, 
graduate, teacher).
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 For June, it is the interaction of sitting on her familiar?s lap whilst being receptive 
to the transformative magic on stage as Cinderella appears in her new apparel, 
that sets her off on her theatrical trajectory. Some participants were a little older 
for their epiphany, and were taken to more adult productions. Three participants 
reminisced about Shakespeare productions. Of them, Genevieve (sixties, graduate, 
lecturer) recalled her mother taking her and her sister to As You Like It at the 
Old Vic for her ?watershed moment?, whilst Robin recalled that his epiphany 
happened when he was ten, when his parents took his brother and him to The 
Comedy of Errors at Stratford. 
In 1938 I lived in Birmingham and my parents took my brother and I to 
Stratford to see Comedy of Errors believe it or not. That?s my wow. And it 
was [?] Komisarjevsky?s famous production which is often quoted as sort 
of the turning point in Shakespearean production? So I fell in love with 
Stratford before the War and I?ve been going ever since every year and I go to 
everything, absolutely everything.
 Robin?s experience demonstrates how the effect of a powerful production can last 
a lifetime. From this landmark production onwards, Robin is on his trajectory 
as a committed theatregoer. Maureen, daughter of an unemployed Communist 
in London, was taken to Unity Theatre by her father for Tom Thomas? Ragged 
Trousered Philanthropist, a play in accordance with her father?s ideals, and one 
which fulfils Brecht?s aim for theatre to be educative and for the theatergoer to 
leave desiring a fairer society (Brecht 1948). 
For one participant, his epiphany occurred when he was taken with his sister 
by a ?kindly uncle? to Bernstein?s West Side Story. His reaction was strong and 
immediate:
 I was absolutely transfixed by this. I would never have thought that I would 
do anything like it and indeed I haven?t, but it really turned me on to 
musicals in a big way. (Richard, sixties, business manager)
 Richard also indicates the gap between that and his own theatre-making where he 
could never himself replicate the magic on stage for West Side Story. He does not 
have the magic touch to create such a show himself. 
Several participants suggested that teachers played the role of the familiar. One 
participant had her epiphany whilst taking part in her school play, The Snow 
Queen, creating a desire to be a professional actress, whilst for another, her teacher 
encouraged her to go on a school outing to A Taste of Honey at a little theatre in 
Salford. Other participants were taken to professional, high profile Shakespeare 
productions in London. Only two participants suggested in their reminiscences 
that it was a close friend who was their familiar.
 For those who had an epiphany during childhood, they described the production 
in terms of magic (mesmerised, amazing, wonderful, extraordinary, fantastic, 
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 The Theatregoer?s Epiphany
 transfixed) and escape (out of this world). The stage magic was often visual, 
created by the sets, costumes and transformations. For those who had their 
epiphany later on in life, the magic was created by the shared experience with the 
audience, or an ?enclosing? atmosphere. Another theme suggested is that of the 
unexpected. For one participant, her epiphany was created by the excitement of 
not knowing what was going to happen next:
 I suppose it was the total emotional involvement and never knowing what 
to expect next. The element of surprise almost. And I will never forget when 
I was about six or seven, and the birthday treat was to watch a Spanish 
group of dancers and there was a dish of water in the middle of the stage 
and somebody bumped into it and it smashed. (Catherine, fifties, graduate, 
hotel management)
 Another participant experienced her epiphany on a work outing to the musical 
Chicago:
 I just remember um because I have worked in an office, all my life, Monday 
to Friday, nine to five, it?s my job, and it just struck me that these people are 
up on stage and this is their job. This is their day job in the evenings, you 
know, and weekends, and how hard they worked and they are just dancing 
around, and just giving it their all, and it was just so um strange to me, you 
know, just so different to what I had seen every day, so it was a great one to 
start with, definitely, because it was so in your face. And nice and loud and 
full of music. And I didn?t know what to expect, I really didn?t. And what 
the theatre was all about and musicals? (Sandra, thirties, secretarial and 
marketing)
 Alone among the participants in this study, Sandra typifies the ?big night out? 
attender who ?really loves? the liveness and the visual spectacle, preferring to 
attend big hits and familiar shows for motivations of relaxation and fun (Osborne, 
Wheeler & Elliott 1999, 16). The profile of this cluster tends to be female, under 
forty, not necessarily university educated, working, listening to rock and pop, and 
belonging to a work social group (16). 
Many of the participants suggest they came away from their epiphany feeling 
excited from the unexpected nature of the performance. Kate could, still at 
the time of the reminiscence workshop, re-experience her initial feelings when 
attending Peter Pan:
 I had absolutely no idea what I was going to. You know, it was the first 
time. And er we sat in this utter darkness, and this story unfolded in front 
of me, and it was absolutely brilliant. Even now, I eeeeeh get the shivers 
thinking about it? Um it was just so overwhelming. I mean that was really 
my time. ?That?s it. I must go to the theatre.? So, since then, I?ve just been 
devoted really. It?s the magic of it? the hook, yeah, I remember that scared 
me, absolutely terrified me, and um flying yeah the flying as well. It was the 
whole experience. It was just something out of this world.
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 Participants reminisced about excitement caused by factors extraneous to the 
show, such as travelling in a coach with the class to the theatre for the first time 
or going to the theatre independently from parents. It was not the show alone 
that was exciting for Sandra; her achievement in being there was what caused her 
excitement when she recalls: ?To me it was just ?I?m going to the theatre. At last, 
I?m going to the theatre.?? 
Finally, a number of participants suggest that it was because the production 
was relevant to them that they experienced an epiphany. Examples from the 
reminiscences include: a teenager at a play about a pregnant teenager (A Taste of 
Honey), a young person relating to the dilemmas of another youth (Hamlet), the 
politics of home creating a bond with The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist, a teenage 
girl with experience of a suicidal teenager responding to Terence Rattigan?s The 
Deep Blue Sea, and a child at a pantomime, relating her father?s own fairy tales 
to the pantomime. A few participants suggested other factors are important: 
group social activity, the fame or the iconic nature of the production, a feeling 
of superiority having attended the production, freedom and independence in 
attending theatre without parents or school, the shared experience with other 
audience members, the fact that the production stayed in the memory, being part 
of the experience, dressing up to attend the show, and the liveness of the show. 
CONCLUSION
 The reminiscences suggest that individuals who experience a theatrical epiphany 
play at drama when young, are receptive to theatrical magic, connect with religion, 
and take part in theatre-making. They are introduced to the theatre by a familiar. 
The experience of the epiphany helps to create the self-identity of a theatergoer, 
leading to a theatregoing trajectory which carries on throughout the life course. 
Many of the participants in the reminiscence workshops in later life adopted the 
role of familiar to their own children, grandchildren or schoolchildren, as June 
relates in a workshop about current motivations for attendance: ?I?ve got ten 
grandchildren and my whole ethos in life is to introduce these grandchildren to 
as many theatrical experiences as possible.? June, and many other participants? 
current theatregoing suggest that they are passing on their cultural or educational 
capital, as Bourdieu (1984) theorises, but not for motivations of maintaining 
an elite position within society. The reminiscences suggest instead that it is the 
magic found in pantomimes and Christmas plays that theatregoers later seek. 
They find it in outdoor productions in parks or quads, especially when the drama 
of the production is set against the beauty of a sunset, or the backdrop of a ruined 
abbey. Similarly, participants suggest that religious themes introduced in Nativity 
plays are later sought in Mystery Plays performed at the National Theatre, Royal 
Shakespeare Company, York and Aldermaston. Finally, the enthusiasm displayed 
by participants in the reminiscence workshops, their desire to share stories, to 
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 undertake individual research, to learn from each other, and to explore shared 
experiences indicates that the reminiscence workshop as a qualitative, interpretive 
method, is enjoyed by participants. For audience researchers this method enables 
theatregoers to cast a retrospective glance over their lives, and provides researchers 
with a wealth of rich, meaningful data with which they can begin to interpret 
theatregoing activity over previous decades. 
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