Measuring audience experience across 20 showings of the same theatre performance using customer feedback kiosks and a questionnaire

Audience experiences can vary both between performances and among spectators, but little is known about how different methods capture this variation across repeated showings of the same production. We therefore examined audience experience across twenty live performances of the same music theatre production. We combined two complementary methods: immediate audience ratings collected through customer feedback kiosks and more detailed post-performance questionnaires. The kiosks recorded 1,887 responses, corresponding to 67% of total attendance, and 458 audience members (16%) completed questionnaires. Overall, the reception was positive, but kiosk ratings varied significantly across performances, indicating that audience-level enjoyment ratings differed from one showing to another. Kiosk and questionnaire responses to the same enjoyment question did not differ significantly at the aggregate level, suggesting that brief kiosk feedback may provide a practical, low-burden measure of audience-level enjoyment. Cluster analysis of questionnaire data identified three descriptive response profiles that differed primarily in overall engagement and ratings of specific artistic elements. These profiles illustrate heterogeneity within the audience of a single production. Qualitative responses from participants whose quantitative ratings were closest to each cluster centroid provided illustrative accounts of the experiences associated with these profiles. These narratives added context to the quantitative findings by showing differences in emotional tone, interpretive emphasis, and personal connection to the performance. Supplementary interviews with the director, artistic director, and an external playwright illustrated both interest in and reservations about incorporating audience data into creative work. Their comments emphasised the potential of empirical findings to support artistic reflection, while also underscoring the importance of how and when feedback is communicated within production teams.