Audience sensitivity and ethical blind spots in contemporary Ghanaian theatre practice

This article examines the growing concern of audience negligence in contemporary Ghanaian theatre practice, drawing on multiple critical incident case studies witnessed by the authors. Through the theoretical lenses of Aristotle’s concept of catharsis and Augusto Boal’s Poetics of the Oppressed, the paper analyses a dance production featuring a graphically simulated miscarriage; a second set of incidents involving dangerous live fire and sprayed powder that endangered asthmatic individuals; and a third case where a simulated child death scene caused severe psychological distress to young audience members, compounded by a former patron’s testimony about the systemic exclusion of families. The study argues that Ghanaian theatre practitioners, in their pursuit of aesthetic extravaganza and dramatic effect, increasingly disregard the psychological, emotional, and physical safety of their audiences and performers, including the most vulnerable among them. Employing an autoethnographic approach and critical incident analysis, the study reveals a troubling disconnect between artistic ambition and ethical responsibility. The findings suggest an urgent need to develop audience sensitivity protocols, including age-appropriate content guidelines, performer welfare standards, and a reorientation of Ghanaian theatre training toward what this paper terms “ethical dramaturgy”, a practice that centres on the audience’s well-being as a fundamental aesthetic principle rather than an afterthought.