The Suspension of Disbelief As members of an audience, we can best enjoy the performance of a play if we become emotionally involved with the events and characters on stage. But to do this, we need to forget that what we see on stage is only imaginary, and pretend instead—temporarily--that it is real. This ability to temporarily put aside, or suspend, our doubt and believe that the action of a play is real is called the suspension of disbelief. Suspending disbelief enables viewers to become more and more absorbed in the play as they watch the story develop, and to respond emotionally to the events and characters as if they were real.