The effects of a theatre environment and an amateur dramatic production on theatre patron’s enjoyment.

The purpose of the current study was to investigate what elements of a theatre production would allow for patron’s who visited the theatre to enjoy the performance. The study investigated several aims and hypotheses to investigate the above statement. The study utilised a sample of 84 male and female participants who were watching an amateur dramatic society production in a small town in county Kildare, Ireland. Appropriate statistical analyses were conducted in order to test the participant’s responses. The results of the study found no significant differences between the male and female participants when it came to the artistic quality of the play, however there was a significant difference between the genders with regards to levels of empathy with the male participants being significantly more empathetic than their female counterparts. With regards to determining what elements of the production would allow for the patrons to return to the theatre it was found that the patron’s general evaluation of the theatre and the play’s topic were significantly correlated to frequency of theatre visit. Finally, the study concludes with a discussion of the results and also limitations of the study and recommendations for any future studies