2,051 posts
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Post by infofreako on Jan 3, 2017 16:18:09 GMT
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385 posts
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Post by Ade on Jan 3, 2017 19:51:13 GMT
I really do think theatres need to start doing firmer announcements at the start of the show. The days of the 'Please refrain from using your phone during the performance' are gone. Instead what's needed is an assertive 'Turn off your blooming phones, sit still, be quiet and don't you dare sing along.' - preferably with bouncers on standby to forcibly remove/taser any offenders.
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Post by Mr Snow on Jan 4, 2017 15:37:49 GMT
I really do think theatres need to start doing firmer announcements at the start of the show. The days of the 'Please refrain from using your phone during the performance' are gone. Instead what's needed is an assertive 'Turn off your blooming phones, sit still, be quiet and don't you dare sing along.' - preferably with bouncers on standby to forcibly remove/taser any offenders. Stop pussying around!! We need a law similar to that on Airlines, "Philistine behaviour wil be dealt with by strapping your hands and feet to the sides of your chairs and your mouth will be securely gagged. The keys to your shackles will be provided to the morning cleaners. Now we hope you ALL enjoy the show." |
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Post by d'James on Jan 4, 2017 15:39:51 GMT
Theatre Marshals instead of Air ones.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2017 16:49:54 GMT
I think perhaps instead of asking or telling people not to use their phones they should have signs and announcements to the effect of "Only a complete moron would be too stupid to realise that they shouldn't use a phone during a performance. Don't be a moron." People tend to be less likely to do something if they think others are going to laugh at them.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2017 17:18:01 GMT
At Love at the NT, the usher was telling every single person more than once to turn their phones off and there were signs all over the theatre that you couldn't miss. Despite that, the f**kwit sitting in front of me still managed to leave hers on, and a particularly affecting bit of the play was ripped apart by her loud ringtone. I don't know what more theatres can do other than block signals (which I know is illegal) or search bags and just not allow any phones in at all. Some people will ignore every single request on the basis that they are special.
I am very much a grumbler not a confronter but I was really geared up to say something to her as we left; but by that stage I was feeling uncharacteristically empathetic towards my fellow humans...
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2017 17:52:11 GMT
I think perhaps instead of asking or telling people not to use their phones they should have signs and announcements to the effect of "Only a complete moron would be too stupid to realise that they shouldn't use a phone during a performance. Don't be a moron." People tend to be less likely to do something if they think others are going to laugh at them. Or just give ushers taser guns. Or better still, give ME a taser gun. I'll happily sort them out. |
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2,041 posts
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Post by 49thand8th on Jan 4, 2017 19:01:51 GMT
I really do think theatres need to start doing firmer announcements at the start of the show. The days of the 'Please refrain from using your phone during the performance' are gone. Instead what's needed is an assertive 'Turn off your blooming phones, sit still, be quiet and don't you dare sing along.' - preferably with bouncers on standby to forcibly remove/taser any offenders. I think it really helps when you have an actual person step on stage for a moment and do it -- whether it's staff, ensemble, the star, whatever. PA announcements are easy to ignore. You just kind of tune them out, like at the airport (unless it's your flight, you hope). |
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5,707 posts
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Post by lynette on Jan 4, 2017 19:49:21 GMT
In the early days of mobile phones the theatres found imaginative ways of reminding people to switch off. Once at the start of a history play at RSC the cast were all on the stage in soldier togs and a phone went off. It was one of the soldiers and they had Mistress Quickly come one chatting into a phone once. I think I'm remembering ok. Spose not appropriate for a serious play but an announcement by an actor in the piece might be more effective as you would tune in to the voice of someone you were expecting to see at any moment.
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2,302 posts
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Post by Tibidabo on Jan 4, 2017 21:59:31 GMT
When Mr Tibidabo's idiot-watch kept lighting up at The Royal Opera House recently he was completely taken aback at the tirade of anger and abuse received from me and the mini Tibidabos. He simply couldn't see how it would bother people because it just didn't bother him if other things lit up in the theatre. Of course, he would have preferred to have been freezing his nuts off for 90 minutes next to some muddy field .........you can take the bloke out of the football pitch.......  However, this may go some way to explaining why people do the thing with their phones in the theatre. They don't particularly want to be there and seriously don't understand why we are so offended. I'm not defending them in the slightest by the way, annoying little twerps  |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2017 0:16:30 GMT
Ken Stott took someone in the front stalls to task tonight when their phone went off about 30 mins into The Dresser. Unsurprisingly, there were no more interruptions all evening. Perhaps that's what every badly behaved audience needs: a quietly intense, solidly built Scot to remind them where they are. ;-)
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Post by perfectspy on Jan 5, 2017 1:34:04 GMT
There's a trend here. Phone pests are usually male. Noise/drunk pests are usually women. Food pests have no gender barriers. It's funny that you mention this as I find women tend to not turn their phones off and gaze at them every now and again and men are the drunk noise pests. Agree that food pests have no gender barriers. A great story for you, at the Tabard theatre in the front row was these two elderly men who was eating homemade sandwiches during the play. The great thing was, they only munched during set changes so didn't annoy anyone. I would give them a pass as its the evening and its probably their evening meal. I've seen them a few times there. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2017 8:43:12 GMT
Ken Stott took someone in the front stalls to task tonight when their phone went off about 30 mins into The Dresser. Unsurprisingly, there were no more interruptions all evening. Perhaps that's what every badly behaved audience needs: a quietly intense, solidly built Scot to remind them where they are. ;-) When he's not working perhaps we can employ him to lurk in the stalls and glare?  |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2017 10:00:54 GMT
He's getting brilliantly grumpy in his old age. Or perhaps he always was. Either way - after last night's experience, I can see why they cast him as Rebus!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2017 23:49:44 GMT
The drunk noise pests at the Bodyguard tonight were all women, including the group behind me who would not shut up and kept singing along, the woman about six seats down who had her phone out the whole time and the icing on the cake, the drunken attention-seeking idiot who yelled out in the dramatic pause before the big money ending to I Will Always Love You. Brava to Beverley Knight, who death stared in the direction the noise came from, paused until the audience was quiet again and then nailed the note!
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8,170 posts
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Post by alece10 on Jan 9, 2017 16:53:30 GMT
Just watched a live video of Cynthia Erivo singing I'm Beautiful from The Color Purple and the audience win the prize for bad behaviour. They literally screamed and shouted and clapped every 20 seconds during the song.
I know the Americans are more enthusiastic than us Brits but pleaaseeee.
Just sit and listen to the song and enjoy the beautiful music. Then you can go as mad as you want at the end.
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7,201 posts
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Post by Jon on Jan 9, 2017 17:10:42 GMT
Just watched a live video of Cynthia Erivo singing I'm Beautiful from The Color Purple and the audience win the prize for bad behaviour. They literally screamed and shouted and clapped every 20 seconds during the song. I know the Americans are more enthusiastic than us Brits but pleaaseeee. Just sit and listen to the song and enjoy the beautiful music. Then you can go as mad as you want at the end. Think there should be a Theatre Code of Conduct similar to Kermode and Mayo's one for cinemagoing. It should be the same for Dreamgirls, shut up and listen to the song then applaud, not during a belt or riff. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 9, 2017 17:50:31 GMT
Just watched a live video of Cynthia Erivo singing I'm Beautiful from The Color Purple and the audience win the prize for bad behaviour. They literally screamed and shouted and clapped every 20 seconds during the song. I know the Americans are more enthusiastic than us Brits but pleaaseeee. Just sit and listen to the song and enjoy the beautiful music. Then you can go as mad as you want at the end. If it's the one from last night it was closing night so no wonder the reaction was loud! Cynthia's spoken a lot about wanting the audience to react though, the cast wanted it to cause a reaction. And I'm guilty of reacting like that when I saw the show as well - her performance was so moving it was just a gut reaction, and that was that. It wasn't in the very specific silences in the song though - you could have heard a pin drop in those, even on that video from last night for much of it there is total silence while she sings, the cheering only starts when she gets overcome with emotion and can't continue immediately. |
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8,170 posts
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Post by alece10 on Jan 9, 2017 18:00:21 GMT
Just watched a live video of Cynthia Erivo singing I'm Beautiful from The Color Purple and the audience win the prize for bad behaviour. They literally screamed and shouted and clapped every 20 seconds during the song. I know the Americans are more enthusiastic than us Brits but pleaaseeee. Just sit and listen to the song and enjoy the beautiful music. Then you can go as mad as you want at the end. If it's the one from last night it was closing night so no wonder the reaction was loud! Cynthia's spoken a lot about wanting the audience to react though, the cast wanted it to cause a reaction. And I'm guilty of reacting like that when I saw the show as well - her performance was so moving it was just a gut reaction, and that was that. It wasn't in the very specific silences in the song though - you could have heard a pin drop in those, even on that video from last night for much of it there is total silence while she sings, the cheering only starts when she gets overcome with emotion and can't continue immediately. Well I have probably seen The Color Purple in London more than anyone including the last night and the audience did not feel the need to react like they did on the video. I guess it's just differences between UK and US audiences. God we are so reserved aren't we. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 9, 2017 18:34:12 GMT
I really hate seeing theatre on Broadway; it's like paying $200 per ticket makes people want to scream the whole time to convince themselves it's worth it.
I personally think the best way to show you appreciate a performance is to enjoy it in spine tingling silence, wait a couple of beats at the end and then go ballistic. But clearly there are cultural differences.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 10, 2017 8:36:32 GMT
I do agree with the American inclination to be more...vocal shall we say can be distracting. It's not the way I choose to enjoy a show but also you just have to sort of accept it's a cultural difference. That said I would find it more irritating in something like The Color Purple which is quiet and moving, and in London you could hear a pin drop throughout, than say 'Something Rotten' which has less the atmosphere of reverent silence.
I actually however find it more odd in films when Americans cheer and shout and clap...I remember seeing Lord of the Rings in America and it was like cheering the Hobbits to Mount Doom...
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Post by Deleted on Jan 10, 2017 9:06:26 GMT
I remember seeing Lord of the Rings in America and it was like cheering the Hobbits to Mount Doom... As a non-Tolk fan, that sentence is totally confusing. I am thus assuming the scene was rather like the re-election of Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party... Not far off really. Two scruffy little blokes scramble up a lava filled mountain (from what I recall, my LOTR knowledge is admittedly sketchy) |
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Post by talkstageytome on Jan 10, 2017 10:34:13 GMT
Just watched a live video of Cynthia Erivo singing I'm Beautiful from The Color Purple and the audience win the prize for bad behaviour. They literally screamed and shouted and clapped every 20 seconds during the song. I know the Americans are more enthusiastic than us Brits but pleaaseeee. Just sit and listen to the song and enjoy the beautiful music. Then you can go as mad as you want at the end. Yep, I've mentioned it before (many times because it annoyed me so much, and still does) but all of the whooping when I saw The Color Purple in Feb REALLY ruined the night for me! When I pay $80(!!the most I've ever payed to see anything!!) to see a show, I want to hear the actors speak and sing, not the audience cheering, clapping and interrupting every few seconds! |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 10, 2017 10:45:19 GMT
I can imagine it would  for me it was such an intense experience in the theatre, I can't imagine being brought out of the moment by all that ) |
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Post by bellboard27 on Jan 12, 2017 10:54:56 GMT
Bit of a fracas at Much Ado at TRH yesterday evening. During the second half I heard a rather loud “Oh shut up!”, but thought nothing more of it. However, after curtain call an altercation took place in the stalls. It seems someone objected to the rather over the top laughter from another audience member. The latter was part of a group mostly in their 20s, the objector a guy part of a group of older audience members. It seems his objection left the other in tears. The argument moved from the stalls to the area behind the stalls when friends separated the protagonists. Both fortunately avoided contact in the street outside.
I was not sure what to make of it. I did hear the laughter and did think it a bit much, but it did not bother me. However, it was not taking place right behind me. Was the laughter natural or affected (or even effected!)? I am not sure. On the other hand if that was behind me, I can imagine watching the play hoping there is not another funny line coming (which is not ideal!). Of course I don’t know the whole story (e.g. whether the objector said something quieter and more polite earlier), but it is one of the few occasions when I am not sure which side the bad behaviour was on!
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for me it was such an intense experience in the theatre, I can't imagine being brought out of the moment by all that 