Putting Themselves in Imelda Marcos's Shoes: "Here Lies Love" and the Era of Audience Participation
By Lina Kapp
In this article, people describe their experiences as attendees of a musical based heavily in audience participation. The show was “‘Here Lies Love,’ a participatory disco-musical that belongs to a rising wave of theater in which the audience hams, too” (Giridharadas, 2013). Audience and performers are supposed to feed off of each other’s energy, much like the cyclists in Triplett’s study were compelled to do better when they were part of a group. The social facilitation took some time to start working. At first the dancing was uncomfortable. One audience member said that “‘What made me uneasy was when people around me stood there awkwardly and did not move'” (Giridharadas, 2013). This individual, and likely many others, could have benefited from the positive effects of social facilitation. If others had been dancing, they might have performed better. The evening got more exciting, however, when the cast members really began to interact with the audience. Once the cast enabled the audience to get involved in the dancing, everyone was moving around and having fun. Critics of the concept say that the cast could have chosen to interact with the audience even more. A bombastic, in-your-face cast would have really helped with social facilitation.