Performance of the Book of Ruth with Audience Participation,Viewed Through the Lens of Reception Theory and Complexity Theory

The book of Ruth is largely dialogue and thus lends itself to dramatic performance. However, the biblical text has many “gaps”, particularly being silent on the motivations of the characters. The audience is thus obliged to bring its own context and experience into its understanding of the story. This study seeks to understand how different members of a given audience interpret such gaps. Reception Theory (e.g. Darr 1998) and Complexity Theory (e.g. Cilliers 1998) both offer a lens to help explain the process.

For the empirical study, two groups from poor townships in Cape Town, South Africa, presented a dramatic reading of the book of Ruth, one group consisting of adults and the other of Grade 7 students. Both were performed before respective peer groups. Each presentation included five actors, one of whom interrupted the story at periodic intervals to ask members of the audience questions concerning motivations of the characters. The results show that the opportunity to participate in the performance was greatly appreciated by the audience, and their responses provided useful clues as to how their own context impacted their interpretation of the text. Both Reception and Complexity theories shed light on the unexpected direction that an oral performance can take as a result of audience participation. The methodology can be usefully applied to text translation, enabling translators to become more aware of how readers’ contexts impact their interpretations.