phrase what does it mean

[amorproximi]

what does the phrase 'playing to the gallery' mean please

[pinus]

From The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. 2002. play to the gallery To direct a performance toward less sophisticated tastes; by extension, to attempt to gain approval by crude or obvious means: �The cast of the play was a decidedly mixed bag of youthful method actors and old hams who played to the gallery.� 1

[amorproximi]

Thanks Pinus, but how would you put this answer in 2 or 3 words? Would you say perhaps 'Showing off'?

[firefly]

But surely the posh people wouldn't sit in the gallery-they'd either sit in the stalls, or in boxes.