SOURCE: Goff, Janet. “The Role of the Audience in Noh.” Acta Asiatica 73 (1997): 16-38.

In the following essay, Goff examines the role of spectators in Noh drama, tracing the contributions of early Noh audiences (from the late fourteenth century to the sixteenth century) to the dramatic repertoire, discussing the development of the Noh stage, and exploring the relationship between actors and the audience. Ideographic characters in the following essay have been silently removed.

Theater is a collaborative activity that comes into being through the combined efforts of playwrights, actors, and audiences. These spheres are not mutually exclusive, for playwrights may double as actors, and audiences may include playwrights and actors.

While going about their tasks, playwrights and actors consciously or unconsciously imagine a hypothetical audience, or “Model Spectator.” “One might, of course, apply this concept to any historical period,” writes the drama scholar Marvin Carlson, “but the modern theatre...