Theatre audiences by contrast come with a different set of expectations In the main they do not understand the nature of an actors skill and are not particularly awed by an activity which a lot of the time appears to be very close to what they could do themselves They are not usually impressed when an actor completes a long and difficult speech although how do you learn all those lines is the question every actor gets asked None of this means that theatre audiences are more generous or less demanding than their counterparts in the concert hall indeed quite a lot of them are the same people What perhaps it does mean is that audiences and performer meet on more equal terms in the theatre than elsewhere no matter how challenging the material or spectacular the event The question is does music need to learn anything from the theatre about this relationship I would say yes partly because I have seen how a different approach can transform the concertgoers experience