Tobias Biancone, Director General of  the International Theatre Institute (ITI) of the UNESCO, who was invited to the recent Asia-Pacific Region Art School Festival in Ho Chi Minh City,  stressed that theater directors should target mass audiences, particularly young ones, instead of the elite members solely.

Biancone thought highly of the festival and said Vietnam should hold more such international festivals, which will see the participation of internationally celebrated directors, critics and reporters. They will study the works and then if they have good opinions of them, they would recommend them to other prestigious festivals or theater authorities around the world.

In his speech opening the festival, he stressed that theater should focus on the masses instead of an elite, selected group of audiences.

“We need to make our plays accessible to average audiences so that they can easily relate to them and appreciate their beauty. We can do so by creating more space for street arts, which will be held at public places, especially schools, instead of confining our works to theaters only,” Biancone noted.

He added that the development of theater also relies on the keen observation of audiences.

“Audiences are instrumental to the success of our plays. If a director or artist creates a work for themselves only, it would be pointless. However, audience observation doesn’t mean performing to the tastes of the majority. Instead the observation inspires writers and directors to create and stage excellent plays,” he noted. 

The UNESCO expert added that stage audiences change around every five years, as new generations keep growing, hungry for novel things.

“This poses a major setback to the conventional stage, as they’re supposed to safeguard the established values. But if  stages don’t pay more attention to young audiences, they will wither soon,” he concluded.