Actors in the theatre are trained to partially or completely face forwards when they're speaking, even if they are interacting with someone who is by their side. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, it enables the audience to see the actors more clearly (especially their faces) and this, of course, means that they are better able to understand the emotions and the story being portrayed. Secondly, this can have the effect of making the audience feel that they are being directly addressed - almost as if they have a role in the play themselves and are part of the world being created on stage. This strong connection between the audience and the actors is one of the factors which distinguishes theatre from film, and it's something which makes people still keep going to the theatre when the cinema, on the surface at least, appears to have all the advantages.

 We can't deny that it's much harder to connect to the audience when the audience is in a remote location and when everything is filtered through the screen of a computer. But remote theatre is theatre - not film, and certainly not a film of a play - for precisely the reasons mentioned above. In some ways, this challenge to connect to the audience has made the features of remote theatre more tightly defined.  

 In face-to-face theatre, directors talk about a separation between the world of the stage and the world of audience - what is termed the 'fourth wall'. This means that actors are generally told not to make eye contact with those who are watching because this will break the spell for everyone. In remote theatre the actors can't really make eye contact with the audience of course, but if they are close enough to the screen and if they look straight into the green light of the webcam this can actually make the audience feel that it is happening to some degree, and no spell is broken whatsoever. What is more, the feeling of connection through eye contact may be felt by multiple audience members simultaneously not just by a single person, as in the real world.   

 So this means that in remote theatre we can actually provide a role to the audience too, probably more clearly and easily than in face-to face theatre. For instance in the 'Welcome to Earth' play that we posted earlier the audience could take on the role of mission control and the aliens could be staring into the screen at the beginning saying, 'Hello. Can you hear us? We've landed safely' etc. This gives the actors a real reason for looking into the camera, and helps the audience feel more involved.

 Another way in which we can connect in remote theatre is by actually breaking the spell and having the actors interact with the audience as themselves, either before or after the performance. In fact, we strongly recommend that this happens with every remote play performance. There are two reasons for this; firstly it reinforces the idea in the minds of the audience that they have been watching something live - not a film, and secondly it provides an opportunity for the audience to provide immediate feedback for the actors, and for everyone to discuss the themes of the plays - in turn a wonderful opportunity for fluency development for all.