A Stroll Down Memory Lane: A Review of Marketing Principles in Ghanaian Theatre

Classical theatre marketing has been a phenomenon since the emergence of Greek theatre. This
involved various means of selling theatre performances. Although marketing principles in theatre
patronage are key in selling performances to a prospective audience, there is a dearth of research
on it locally. Also, as observed, some theatre companies do not utilise these marketing principles
in marketing their performances. Thus, they end up running at a loss and not satisfying the targeted
audience members. To investigate this problem, this paper seeks to trace the evolution of theatre
marketing from Ancient Greek to the present day. It also explores how marketing principles can
be adopted and applied in theatre marketing in selling Ghanaian theatre. The paper adopts a
qualitative framework and approach. The participants are selected using purposive and
convenience sampling techniques. Data is gathered using semi-structured interviews and
document study for analysis. From the analysis, findings indicate that some theatre companies in
Ghana employed similar marketing strategies to sell their plays. This enable them to promote their
performances through radio, print, television and social media proficiently. It also revealed that
marketing principles adopted in theatre, play a major role in selling every performance to satisfy
an audience and generate expected revenue.