Stage Door Dramas

Apparently she used other exit when I stagedoored as no one there saw her, and by what I've been reading she usually does this.

Odd, she was always very chatty at Memphis.

I guess stage door at the Victoria Palace is too crazy at the moment and she just wants to go home. Totally understandable.

Interesting to hear that about Sheena. When I passed her after the show she completely ignored me and almost ran away!

My friendliest encounters have been with Billy Porter, Jim Parsons, James McAvoy and Alan Cumming!

Ewan McGregor wouldn't give my mum and I the time of day after his recent Broadway play. Even though we told him we were Scottish!

I completely understand that it's up to the performers though and wouldn't moan about it.

The problem with a wave and a smile is the people who, when given the inch, will take as much of the mile as they possibly can. It's like if your boss asks you to work at the weekend, you should just (politely and professionally) refuse and nothing else. If you explain *why* you can't work, you open things up for negotiation in their eyes and they'll use that knowledge to come up with "solutions" for you and wear you down. I know that the wave-and-smile probably seems like the stage door equivalent of politely refusing with no explanation, but people at the stage door are not necessarily going to be as restrained as your boss and could take even the merest eye contact as an invitation to engage. Let them blank you, and don't take it personally. They don't know you, they don't owe you anything, and they're doing what they need to do for themselves.

Just had a read back through this thread, what an insight. I go to stage door if I have a particular favourite in the show (and ignore the rest of the cast!) but I do always worry if I'm bothering them or what they really think of me.  I can't be as bad a some though based on this thread, I rarely ask for anything, occasionally a photo, and I always let them go when they want to leave or are in a hurry.  And I never buy gifts!
I have a certain fave in a certain show at the moment but when I see his beautiful face the ability to speak becomes a real struggle.  I try to believe he thinks it's endearing rather than "Omg her again."

I often wonder how a non performer would react to a random person turning up outside work (let’s say Tesco for a little context) expecting scintillating conversation as they try to get home after a long day or to being approached with flowers or homemade cake or microwaves. Or finding a stranger standing in the same spot night after night in the car park just silently watching you or people getting cross personally or on social media if they are ignored.
I have stage doored with my young son for autographs on occasion and even I find the whole thing odd.

You could say it ‘goes with the territory’ but I don’t think any actor actively asks for post show attention just by turning up to work?

I knew a woman who was ‘obsessed’ with a certain young ensemble RSC actor and over the course of a season had spent 1000s going to see the plays he was in and stage doored him every time. Our coffee mornings would be filled with tales of their conversations at these stage door encounters. A group of us went to see the play for her birthday (her suggestion) and she insisted we all went to stage door after to ‘meet him’ The look of abject fear in the guy’s eyes as 4 women of a certain age walked towards him through the crowd was mortifying. She didn’t notice of course. She stood there completely tongue tied in his presence as we filled the awkward silence. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. He was very professional and polite but we could see he was uncomfortable about her presence (again?) it was uncomfortable for us to watch too.


When the admiration for a performer turns to obvious crush probably best to leave it in the theatre rather than stage door however ‘cute’ the performer. This actor was in a relationship (we knew this as she had stalked his twitter!) and while he may well have been flattered the first few times by this woman’s attention and gifts the actor had clearly reached saturation point by the time we her mortified colleagues rocked up to the RSC.
The next few times after our visit she remarked he hadn’t been at stage door when she waited... I wonder why?
Don’t be ‘that person’ theatreboard friends

Dont worry, I'm not that bad...

I work in a job where we quite often get presents from the grateful public. Anything home-made gets binned. That might just be us being paranoid though because of the nature of our particular public.

I feel sorry for actors who have to spend ages at the stage door. If anyone hung around my workplace at closing time every night waiting for a particular member of staff, we would eventually report them to the police (yes we have done this). Why are actors the only workers who aren't allowed to have downtime ? Yes, I realise this is an Unpopular Opinion

I venture to say there are plenty of actors who enjoy the attention at the stage door (for better or for worse), but I also feel like those who want to avoid the stage door can — more often than not it's easier if you're in the ensemble, of course.

Yes - me too, and so are a few actors!! I have often done a double take on a platform to see an actor I have just seen in a show and thought "my goodness, they must have legged it after the performance like me"

A couple of these posts are reading like some of those brilliant Alan Bennett talking heads: you’re telling us a story, seemingly unaware of the other story that’s hiding just below the surface... but we hear both.

If I were an actor, and I spotted the same person waiting for me time and time (and time) again, I’d be worried... I’m not sure how I’d deal with it. We often hear of well intentioned, complimentary, enthusiastic fans who don’t know where and when to draw the line. So the line eventually gets drawn for them.