History BreakingTheFourthWall / Theatre

* In Music/StephenSondheim's ''Theatre/HereWeAre'', on character sings "I dreamed we were all actors on stage in a play", whereupon everyone realizes they're part of an performance, the house lights go up, and some characters start to forget their lines.

--->'''Wheatley:''' Oh, I know a way to pass the time! What do you say to a bit of Netflix and ''[[IncrediblyLamePun Chell]]!''\\

* Absolutely ''shattered'' in ''Billy Twinkle: Requiem for A Golden Boy'', when Billy jumps off the cruise ship prop, to find that he is on a stage, and asks Sid-the hand-puppet personification of his crotchety mentor-"Who are all these people?" to which Sid replies "They're your audience, you idiot!" Yes, ItMakesSenseInContext. I swear.

* ''Theatre/{{Diana}}'': In the final song, "If (Light Of The World)", Charles and the ensemble turn directly to the audience to tell them that change can come from unexpected people.

* Creator/WilliamShakespeare's plays often use this in monologues.
** ''Theatre/AMidsummerNightsDream'' deserves special mention for Puck's ending speech, which can be condensed into "We're sorry if you didn't like the play," and, essentially, a Shakespearean version of the MST3KMantra.

*** It also deserves a secondary mention for the continuous breaking of the fourth (fifth?) wall in the Pyramus and Thisbe sequence. Frequently the action stops so Bottom can reply to the characters watching the play. Plus the prologues. Oh, the prologues.
** And of course in ''Theatre/HenryV'' where the opening monologue is an extended apologia for not showing the tremendous battles that are going on in-between the play's scenes. Made doubly strange because it was retained in both the Olivier and Branaugh films of the play, where they ''do'' show the battles.
** Any time [[Theatre/{{Othello}} Iago]] opens his mouth he is likely to address the audience by the end of the speech.
** One of Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'s many soliloquies (this one in Act II, scene ii) includes the lines "I have heard that guilty creatures sitting at a play/Have by the very cunning of the scene/Been struck so to the soul that presently/They have proclaimed their malefactions..." A great many productions have Hamlet break the fourth wall at this line and speak directly to the audience, for a darkly comedic effect.
** Launcelot in ''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice'' tells the audience to pay attention while he plays a prank on his dad:
---> "Mark me now; now will I raise the waters."
** Feste singing at the end of ''Theatre/TwelfthNight'':
---> "But that's all one, our play is done,
---> And we'll strive to please you every day."
** The epilogue in ''Theatre/AsYouLikeIt'', in which Rosalind admits her nature as a guy who plays a girl who dresses as a guy (or [[RecursiveCrossdressing a girl who plays a guy who plays a girl who dresses as a guy]], in most modern performances), complains that the play was no good, and flirts, collectively, with ''everyone in the audience'' so that they'll "like as much of this play" as they possibly can.
** ''Theatre/TheTempest'' ends with a speech by Prospero, in which he asks for the applauses of the audience.

* One particular scene early on in Theatre/ThePiratesOfPenzance when the Pirate King swings out into the audience during a song, and ends up getting into a sword fight with the conductor of the orchestra.
* ''Theatre/Portal2TheUnauthorizedMusical'' does this multiple times.
** Wheatley gives a very short explanation about how [=GLaDOS=] got destroyed, then turns to the audience to tell them that that's pretty much the whole story of what happened before the events of the play.
** Wheatley's attempts to cheer Chell up with a {{Pun}} results in this as well.
--->'''Wheatley:''' Oh, I know a way to pass the time! What do you say to a bit of Netflix and ''[[IncrediblyLamePun Chell]]!''\\
''[[LamePunReaction Audience boos]]''\\
'''Wheatley:''' Not even a groan... You know, I bet there's like 150 other humans who would have appreciated that!
* The Narrator of ''Theatre/OurTown'' doesn't so much break the fourth wall as completely ignore it. The rest of the cast is entirely unaware that they're in a play or that what's happening isn't real, but the Narrator talks to the audience throughout the entire show. In between narration, he inserts himself into the action by picking up different bit parts, such as the owner of the soda shop, and interacting with the characters as one of them.
** A more subtle but no less important one appears in the second act when during the wedding of two of the characters, the bible that the minister (also played by the Narrator) uses is not actually a bible but is in fact a copy of the screenplay.
* Subverted in plays like ''Literature/MobyDick Rehearsed'' where the action is set on the stage of a theatre and the front few rows are kept empty so that the cast can use them as though they were in an empty theatre.
** Not to mention plays that remove the fourth wall altogether and have the actors go out and bother the audience.
*** Or even just move through them (or out from amongst them).
* In ''Theatre/{{RENT}}'', Maureen asks the audience to [[AudienceParticipationSong moo with her]] near the end of her ProtestSong "Over the Moon". Prior to that, during her first entrance, she asks "which way is the stage?".
-->Mark does this as well, or at least in some productions, during the Happy New Year A scene that opens Act 2. The first 3 bits of Act 1-Tune Up #1, Voice Mail #1, and Tune Up #2, can be seen as-at minimum-LeaningOnTheFourthWall if not breaking the fourth wall.
* In ''Theatre/TitleOfShow'' during a blackout in a scene where Susan isn't supposed to hear Jeff's dialogue, she calls him out for eating her turkey burger.
---> Jeff: "It's Susan's turkey burger from earlier. Shh. Don't tell her."\\
Susan: "I can hear you, Jeff."
** Hunter reads aloud a real online post as a revenge of sorts, "Dear Talkin' Broadway's 'All That Chat,' is it true [title of show] has its eye on Broadway? Why would anyone think a tiny, 'insidery' downtown show would appeal to a wider audience is beyond me. I'm sorry, but four chairs and a keyboard do not a musical make. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if their crappy show actually does get to Broadway and they just put this entire posting in it word for word. Signed, sweeneyluvr12."
* Done all throughout N F Simpson's ''A Resounding Tinkle.'' At numerous points, the 'Author' comes on to explain to the audience about what is happening; characters discuss whether they should carry on entertaining the audience or just leave them to it, at one point a group of critics come on stage and discuss the play so far and the play ends when an audience member protests loudly about the quality of the show.
* Smashed to ribbons in ''Theatre/{{Spamalot}}'' when the Lady of the Lake explains to Arthur that he is in fact in a Broadway/West End Musical, and they go out into the audience to look for the Grail, which is found under a patron's chair.
** And while the Lady of the Lake's ''actor'' interrupting the show with a song complaining about being part of this absurd show where the characters are looking for shubbery and she needs a better agent isn't technically BreakingTheFourthWall, because she's playing [[CharacterAsHimself herself]], after she does get back in character she make a comment about the fact she hasn't been on stage for far too long, although she had a great lounge number in act 1. Which is strangely meta, because the actor has been on stage, in the aforementioned interrupting song, but the character hasn't.
** Galahad also threatens the conductor during [[SillyLoveSong The Song That Goes Like This]].

*** Aristophanes believed that the fourth wall existed to be broken. ''Theatre/{{Clouds}}'' has the AnthropomorphicPersonification of the right and wrong arguments arguing about stoicism. The right argument voices the opinion that if you're hedonistic your landlord will think you're gay. The wrong argument then defeats this by pointing out that most politicians are gay, most religious leaders and from the look of it most of the audience too.
*** In ''The Wasps'', Aristophanes had one guard start to indulge in some AsYouKnow about what they are guarding; the other guard is annoyed because they both know it; and the first guard points out that I know and you know but do they -- indicating the audience -- know it?
* In the musical ''Theatre/SpringAwakening'', whenever a singing number takes place, the actors on stage take out microphones they've been hiding in their pockets. Like in ''Film/{{Chicago}}'', the idea is that whenever they're singing they're imagining it's happening on a stage in front of an audience. As such, that actually ''is'' happening, but ''the characters'' don't actually know that.
* ''Theatre/TheCompleteWorksOfWilliamShakespeareAbridged'' has the actors frequently talk to the audience, and discuss the plays they are supposed to be performing with each other. At one point, audience members are even invited on stage to participate in a scene. The ones sitting in their seats aren't left out, either.
** ''Complete Works'' doesn't so much break the fourth wall as shatter it with a sledgehammer, then gleefully dance on the pieces for an hour and a half.
* "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd", which opens ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'', features a somewhat bizarre bit of fourth wall breaking, with the main character talking about himself in the third person:
-->What happened then? Well that's the play\\
And he wouldn't want us to give it away\\
Not Sweeney, not Sweeney Todd...
** This particular line works very well if the play is done with the conceit of inmates in a mental asylum acting out memories or scenes for their own amusement.
* The second act of ''Theatre/IntoTheWoods'' features the main characters [[spoiler:trying to convince a giant that the narrator is Jack (who the giant is looking for) because the characters are tired of the way the narrator is telling the story. The narrator ends up being dropped to his death by the giant once she realizes he isn't Jack, and the characters now wonder who's going to tell the story since the narrator is gone.]]
* Pretty much the whole point of Stephen Gregg's one-act ''S.P.A.R. (Stephen's Play About Renata)'' The author is summoned when the eponymous Renata holds a seance to find out about her crush Todd, and he proceeds to reveal the existence of the fourth wall. Renata literally puts her head through it and discovers the audience, and then the trope is further played out when three audience members are called to scrutinize a wall of the theater and reveal that there is another audience watching the audience. Finally, Stephen Gregg himself is called upon to scrutinize the wall, and discovers that [[spoiler: though he thought he was omnipotent, he is in fact a character in the play-within-a-play-within-a-play. And his creator's pissed.]] The whole play's a bit of a MindScrew, unsurprisingly.
* As the plot of ''Nunsense'' revolves around the nuns putting on a variety show to raise money, there is literally NO fourth wall, as it's assumed that the audience came to see them perform, as opposed to a play. As such, there's a lot of interaction with the audience beyond merely speaking to them, including interaction with the orchestra pit, dancing, and a quiz for the audience to see who was paying attention to the opening.
* Absolutely ''shattered'' in Billy Twinkle: Requiem for A Golden Boy, when Billy jumps off the cruise ship prop, to find that he is on a stage, and asks Sid-the hand-puppet personification of his crotchety mentor-"Who are all these people?" to which Sid replies "They're your audience, you idiot!" Yes, ItMakesSenseInContext. I swear.
* In ''Theatre/AvenueQ'', the characters are struggling to raise enough money. Hence their decision to go pester people who clearly have enough money to waste on things like theatre shows. They then go into the audience looking for spare change.

* ''Theatre/FiddlerOnTheRoof'''s Tevye speaks to the audience quite often, either to explain why he and his family are like a fiddler on a roof or to battle with his principles when his daughters break various traditions.
* ''Theatre/AVeryPotterMusical'':
** Ron enters and tells Harry that he'd been hanging out with Hagrid (who doesn't appear on-stage) backstage.
** "Now that we've got that four-part harmony out of the way, why don't we look for that horcrux?"

* Some theatre adaptations of Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' preserve the humour in the [[FootnoteFever footnotes]] with a character called "Footnote" who sounds a horn to freeze the action, comes on stage to say the note and sets things going again.
* Done ''beautifully'' by Lonnie in ''Theatre/RockOfAges'', in which he cheers up the main character by telling him that everything he has done thus far has happened within a broadway play.
** And proves it by ''producing the playbill'' for him.
* Done in the final scene of Dog-Ear, when Ian and Ell discover the Scriptreader on the balcony.
** and steal her script.. and promptly run off into the night.
--> '''Scriptreader''': I told you there was a prop director, I told you there was a writer, I'm narrating, of course there's an Audience! Come on, do you two even watch theater?
* In the most recent London revival of ''Theatre/{{Oliver}}'', Fagin breaks the fourth wall during a few of his monologues, especially when he is play acting with his 'treasures'. For example, he was looking through an opera glass and pretending he was at a theatre, gesturing towards the Stalls in the actual theatre (where the most expensive seats are) and mentioning that was where all the rich people were, then gesturing at the top tier and saying that was full of poor people. In the second monologue he started recounting the story of the musical and ended up saying: "What the [[Creator/CharlesDickens Dickens]] am I going on about?"

* ''Theatre/{{Peter Pan|1904}}'': After Tinkerbell takes poison that was meant for Peter, he looks out into the audience and asks them if they believe in fairies. Then he tells them to clap their hands if they do believe in fairies in order to save Tinkerbell.
* In the musical adaptation of ''Vanities'', the cast don makeup, wigs, and costumes for each of the four scenes at on-stage vanity tables. The first scene uses AudienceParticipation for a cheer. In the Theatre Works Palo Alto world premiere, Mary addressed the audience during the SetSwitchSong [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPM5z5dU0rQ&NR=1 "Open Up Your Mind"]].
* In the ScreenToStageAdaptation of ''Film/HighSchoolMusical2'', Sharpay asks the actual orchestra drummer to "play her a beat".
* In ''The Prisoner of Second Avenue'', Mel literally breaks one of the set walls [[CeilingBanger by banging on it too hard]], and the crew repair it (and the rest of the apartment) during the intermission. During scene transitions, a circle of television sets drops down and displays a Channel 6 news report to the audience.

* In ''Assassins,'' during the song "How I Saved Roosevelt," Giuseppe Zangara yells at the audience for laughing at one of his lines.
* In ''Romeo and Juliet's Unofficial, Unnecessary Sequel'' Prince Escalus acts as the narrator, routinely talking directly to the audience. At one point he is caught doing this by Lord Montague, resulting in the following exchange:
-->'''Montague:''' Excuse me, but what are you doing?
-->'''Prince:''' Just talking to them.
-->'''Montague:''' My fourth wall? Why do you call it “them?”
-->'''Prince:''' What do you mean your “fourth wall?”
-->'''Montague:''' These are my first three walls, and that one is the fourth.
-->'''Benvolio:''' Which is wall number one?
-->'''Montague:''' I don’t know. I just know this one is the fourth wall.
* In the ScreenToStageAdaptation of ''Theatre/{{Aladdin}}'', Babkak, Omar, and Kassim frequently do this, such as commenting on prop camels and split scenes, as does the Genie during the "Friend Like Me" number.
* Done wonderfully in ''Film/{{Hair}}''. The actors run through the audience, hand out flyers and flowers, and ask for spare change. At one point, Claude even says "Mother, the audience!"
* The opera ''Theatre/GianniSchicchi'' ends with the title character turning to the audience and imploring them to clap their hands if they believe he deserves a better fate than what he got according to Dante (whose ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'' found him in the eighth circle of hell). He starts the applause himself.
* In ACT Theatre's annual play of ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'', the Ghost of Christmas Present sprinkles his torch incense on the front row of the audience. In the opening scene, the castmembers greet various audience members with "Merry Christmas".
* ''Theatre/AFunnyThingHappenedOnTheWayToTheForum'' opens and closes with the song "Comedy Tonight", in which the actors directly address the audience, telling about the show they're about to see (or have just finished seeing).
* A lot of the plays of Creator/{{Plautus}}, in fact, would begin with one of the characters giving the audience a general outline of the plot, and end with another character saying something like "Well, I would invite you to dine with me as well, but I'm sure you all have prior engagements of your own," or "So with this our story ends; give us your hands and be our friends."
** The eponymous character in ''Pseudolus'' in particular seems to love this trope. All through the play we get gems such as these:
--> '''Pseudolus''': ...His servant arrived here with it, bringing five hundred drachmas also, and was to take your girl away with him–but I pulled the wool over his eyes.
--> '''Calidorus''': How did you do that?
--> '''Pseudolus''': Well, look, this play is being acted for the benefit of the audience; they know what happened because they saw it happen. I'll tell you about it some other time.
* In the recently premiered musical ''First Date'', each of the characters addresses the audience during the opening song.
* In the final Seattle run of ''Modern Luv'', several references were made to the then-forthcoming New York run of the show. Also, the closing number dims the lights and has [[AudienceParticipation the audience]] hold up their cellphones/smartphones, as the songs lyrics say.
* [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Fellowship]]! TheMusical enjoyed doing this a handful of times - notably, once when Frodo tells Gandalf, "you scared me down-stage left!", and the Balrog scene, in which one character yells that they need to find an exit quickly, and another character points out the Exit sign for the theater's side exit, which they then leave out of.
* In ''Theatre/RosencrantzAndGuildensternAreDead'', some characters (namely Rosencrantz) will look at, gesture towards, or refer to the audience. Although they do not speak to the audience directly, they do talk about them. Guildenstern at one point point shouts to the audience that there is a fire in the theater, and then wonders why the audience remains sitting calmly in their seats.

* In UMO Ensemble's ''Maldoror'', whenever the characters climb on the musician's cage, he drives them off with a [[LoudOfWar blast of noise]].

* ''Theatre/JosephAndTheAmazingTechnicolorDreamcoat'' has a narrator who addresses the audience while (in some productions) interacting with the characters. Also, "Go Go Go Joseph", the CrowdSong at the end of Act 1, features the following lyrics:
-->''Don't give up Joseph, fight 'til you drop.''\\
''We've read the book, and you wind up on top.''
--->(And in the second chorus)
-->''Don't give up, Joseph, just wait and see.''\\
''We've been outside and you're on the marquee.'''
* In Creator/CirqueDuSoleil's ''Amaluna'', one of their few shows to [[NoFourthWall even have]] a definite fourth wall, just before the show starts, Cali, the half-man half-lizard, steals a bucket of popcorn from one of the spectators, drops it while climbing the rigging, only to catch it with his tail, as well as tail-slapping others when going onstage. In a later clown act, Deeta gives birth to seven football babies with either red noses(like her) or mustaches(like their dad, Jeeves), which are handed to front-row spectators, and they have to sing Brahms' Lullaby to quiet them down. The Black Peacocks occasionally play peek-a-boo with audience members from the wings.
* From ''[[http://www.giftedones.net/jonas-gardell-mormor-grater/ Grandma's Crying]]'' by Jonas Gardell, about a family fight on Christmas, and the parents start comparing each other to characters in depressing plays.
-->'''Adolescent son:''' Stop it, the pair of you! You can't think like that! I mean, if this were a play by [[CampGay Gardell]], I'd be a fag.
-->'''Mother and father:''' This ''is'' a play by Gardell.
-->'''Adolescent son:''' Shit.

* In ''Theatre/ShrekTheMusical'', the still-living prisoners of Dragon tell Donkey the reason they weren't incinerated is that she keeps them around to sing backup.
* In ''Theatre/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'', Willy Wonka likes to do this on occasion. At the end of Act One, after the Golden Ticket tour group has filed into the factory, he invites the audience in as well before slamming the door shut behind him. At the top of Act Two he not only conducts his own entr'acte but briefly sits on a front row audience member's lap as he waits for the group to arrive in the Waiting Room. Finally, [[spoiler: the last song reveals that he is leaving the onstage world for the audience's so he can continue his adventures in creativity]]. Note that while the Golden Ticket tour group does charge through the aisles of the theatre at one point, they nor any other character seems aware of the audience. Then again, none of them has Mr. Wonka's [[TheWonka unique brand of sanity]]...
* In ''Theatre/{{Urinetown}}'', Officer Lockstock and Sally directly reference the fact that they're in a play, such as at the beginning when Sally asks [[spoiler: Is this where you tell the audience about the water shortage?" Officer Lockstock tells Sally that the audience will hear more about the water shortage in the next scene.]] There are other lines late in the play such as when Officer Lockstock turns to the audience [[spoiler: and tells them that "there is no Urinetown, we just kill people."]]
* At the end of ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'', after Eliza has recounted her accomplishment after [[spoiler: Alexander died]] and wondered if it would ever be enough, Alexander appears and leads her out to the front of the stage, where she lets out a gasp as she looks out at ''all the audience members'' who had come to see her husband's story.
* In Sergei Prokofiev's opera ''Love for Three Oranges'' the action is frequently interrupted by a GreekChorus (or rather, four or five separate Greek Choruses) of opera fans and stagehands. This on its own doesn't ''quite'' break the fourth wall. But when the stagehands decide to intervene in the plot by kidnapping the main villain, you've got to feel like some kind of line has been crossed. Relatively rare in that the fourth wall is broken from the OUTSIDE: rather than one of the characters in the play turning to address the audience, characters from the "audience" reach in and start mucking about in the play.
* ''Theatre/TheLittleMermaid'': It breaks the fourth wall with the first line of Ariel's InnerMonologue song "Beyond My Wildest Dreams":
--> Oh, just look! It's like I'm in a storybook!
* Matt, in Creator/LanfordWilson's ''Theatre/TalleysFolly'', enters the stage from the audience and tells them about the story he's about to tell, including the actual running time of the show -- ninety-seven minutes, on the nose.
** He specifically describes the set and [[GrandRomanticGesture what he hopes to accomplish]], even apologizing to the audience for being in the river. He attempts to repeat his explanation 'for the late-comers', but gets distracted by, [[AttentionDeficitOohShiny among other things]], the lack of dogs barking in the distance and demands a barking dog from the stage manager.
* At the end of ''Theatre/TheDrowsyChaperone'', the characters of the play-within-a-play [[spoiler:comfort Man in Chair, the narrator, and bring him into their world.]]
* Pretty much non-existant in ''The Play That Goes Wrong'', where the actors within the play-within-a-play will frequently acknowledge the audience, "crew members" (cast playing crew members) will ask audience members for help, even inviting them on stage to assist with maintenance, etc.
* Used to great effect in the 2017 Broadway adaptation of ''1984'', which uses live, projected video to make the audience complicit in the torture sequence in Room 101, even bringing up the house lights so Winston can address the "people".
* ''Theatre/{{Elisabeth}}'': Lucheni spends the entire musical talking to ([[TakeThatAudience and insulting]]) the audience.
* ''Theatre/TanzDerVampire'' has lots.
** Krolock speaks directly to the audience at the end of "Die unstillbare Gier".
** Alfred flees from Herbert's advances into the house in "Wenn Liebe in dir ist", running up the aisles then back onstage again.
** Ensemble members walk down the aisles for "Ewigkeit", sometimes pretending to bite people as well.
* The ''Theatre/FarndaleAvenue'' plays are supposedly amateur productions who cast frequently breaks character and the fourth wall to initiate AudienceParticipation, to apologize for how badly things are going, or just to wave to people they know in the auditorium. The real fourth wall remains intact, though, with no acknowledgment that the ladies themselves are as fictional as the characters they're portraying.
* Done periodically in ''Theatre/KingCharlesIII'' by the characters of [[RealPersonFic Prince Charles, Prince William, Duchess Kate, and Prince Harry]]. They frequently turn away from the goings-on of the play to address the audience with their thoughts on the nature of government, the institution of monarchy, their role in the royal family, and the kind of legacy the'll be leaving for their children and future rulers of the United Kingdom. In many of these asides the characters speak as if they are presenting an argument to the audience, offering up support for their claims and trying to convince the audience to take the speaker's side.
* Creator/RichardGriffiths was known to do this when he heard a cellphone go off during a play; he would angrily berate the owner of the phone for letting it disrupt the performance, sometimes even threatening to walk out.
* ''Theatre/LOrfeo'' begins with La Musica, the spirit of music, requesting the audience be silent.

* Matt, in Creator/LanfordWilson's ''Talley's Folly,'' enters the stage from the audience and tells them about the story he's about to tell, including the actual running time of the show -- ninety-seven minutes, on the nose.

* Creator/RichardGriffiths was known to do this when he heard a cellphone go off during a play; he would angrily berate the owner of the phone for letting it disrupt the performance.

* Normal in {{pantomime}}, and many other forms of audience participation theatre.

---> Jeff: "It's Susan's turkey burger from earlier. Shh. Don't tell her."
---> Susan: "I can hear you, Jeff."

* The stage version of ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid'' breaks the fourth wall with the first line of Ariel's InnerMonologue song "Beyond My Wildest Dreams":

* In the ScreenToStageAdaptation of ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'', Babkak, Omar, and Kassim frequently do this, such as commenting on prop camels and split scenes, as does the Genie during the "Friend Like Me" number.

* [[TheLordOfTheRings Fellowship]]! TheMusical enjoyed doing this a handful of times - notably, once when Frodo tells Gandalf, "you scared me down-stage left!", and the Balrog scene, in which one character yells that they need to find an exit quickly, and another character points out the Exit sign for the theater's side exit, which they then leave out of.

* At the end of ''Theater/TheDrowsyChaperone'', the characters of the play-within-a-play [[spoiler:comfort Man in Chair, the narrator, and bring him into their world.]]

* ''The Complete Works Of Shakespeare Abridged'' has the actors frequently talk to the audience, and discuss the plays they are supposed to be performing with each other. At one point, audience members are even invited on stage to participate in a scene. The ones sitting in their seats aren't left out, either.