Social and Cultural Elites: Audiences for Three Sisters Directed by Richard Wherrett

Abstract

The   material presented here with regard to Three Sisters is part of my research   on theatre audiences, where empirical data and methodological and theoretical   considerations are closely connected. In other words, my research is not   being carried out in a positivistic manner. It does not, therefore, assume   that facts can be organized without the intervention of interpretative   principles. Those who are familiar with the work of Pierre Bourdieu will have   understood from the title of this essay that I am referring to some of   Bourdieu's major conceptual categories. However, it will become clear that,   although these categories help shape my interpretation -at least for my   present purposes -I by no means follow Bourdieu step by step. This has   nothing to do with the fact that Bourdieu does not study the theatre. It has   everything to do with my premise that theories neither can nor should be   "applied" mechanistically.