Influence of theatre hall layout on actors’ and spectators’ emotions

Alban Lemasson 1 Vanessa André 1 Mathilde Boudard 1 Daria Lippi 2 Hugo Cousillas 1 Martine Hausberger 1
1 EthoS - Ethologie animale et humaine
2 FAA - Fabrique Autonome des Acteurs
Abstract : “Audience effect” is the influence of an audience size or composition on the emotional state of a public speaker. One characteristic of the audience which has received little attention is the spatial position of observers. We tested the influence of three positions (frontal, bi-frontal, and quadri-frontal) on actors and spectators’ emotions in real theatrical representations. Measurements consisted in self-report questionnaires and galvanic skin responses. The layout of the theatre hall influenced both cognitive and physiological components of emotions. Actors were more influenced than spectators and showed an overall accuracy in self-perception. The quadri-frontal audience received the highest scores in actors’ feeling assessments and galvanic skin responses. In addition, we found a discrepancy between self-assessment of emotional states by spectators and how actors perceive them. Attention should thus be paid in the layout of performance places with obviously more attention from the public and better feelings for actors in more dispersed settings.
Keywords : Theatrical representations Audience effect Public speech Questionnaires Galvanic skin response
Document type :
Journal articles
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https://hal-univ-rennes1.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02045413
Contributor : Antoine l'Azou <>
Submitted on : Friday, February 22, 2019 - 9:34:37 AM
Last modification on : Thursday, June 20, 2019 - 4:07:47 PM

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UNIV-RENNES1 | UNICAEN | COMUE-NORMANDIE | ETHOS | ETHOS-PEGASE | ETHOS-COCORESO | CNRS | UR1-UFR-SVE | UNIV-RENNES

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Alban Lemasson, Vanessa André, Mathilde Boudard, Daria Lippi, Hugo Cousillas, et al.. Influence of theatre hall layout on actors’ and spectators’ emotions. Animal Cognition, Springer Verlag (Germany), 2018, 22 (3), pp.365-372. ⟨10.1007/s10071-019-01249-2⟩. ⟨hal-02045413⟩

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