Stage Door Dramas

I once had a FB convo with someone where I made a joke about having hot gossip about Cufflesnatch* without realising the FB comments thread was public, and got some verrrry interesting emails.


*He's crap at paraphrasing Shakespeare and falls over a lot. Which is okay gossip but not quite up there with fake babies.

That’s nearly as good as him asking for a staff discount at the NT bookshop when he was there to see Angels in America. Still makes me laugh, that one.

Obviously not as dramatic as fake babies....

Off-topic but related to twitter dramas - had some bizzareness on my timeline with two people who followed me within minutes of each other a few weeks ago, then proceeded to have massive rows with each other over twitter, accuse each other of blocking them, etc etc. Due to the similarity in their styles and the fact they followed me at the same time I suspect they are actually the same person.

Ended up muting them "both" as I couldn't cope with the drama.

I've known people use "good guy" and "bad guy" twitter accounts to speak to people not necessarily famous. They insult someone then defend them hoping defending tweets/posts gets them favour.

That is IN.SANE.

If I recall correctly, the time someone got rumbled doing it on the WOS board it was because he'd used the account being attacked to 'like' the post by the person doing the attacking, not realising that people using browsers could see exactly who 'liked' what.

Most people's posting styles are pretty distinctive - I'm not a good enough writer to fake being someone else!

Who on earth has time to manage two twitter accounts and ‘argue’ with each other!? Also it’s a bit wierd and I think symptomatic of some kinda personality disorder.

What bugs me is the sense of ENTITLEMENT some people have! And not just fans with stars, as a woman I’ve been on the receiving end of anger from many a man if I’ve politely dismissed him. A friend was telling me about someone she blocked on Instagram after he became angry when she told him he was sending her too many messages and making her uncomfortable. The dude then set up a new insta account so he could continue to message her. This sh*t is NOT OK!!

Just because you’ve watched someone in a show, or paid them a compliment, or sent them a nice message, doesn’t mean they owe you any of their time and attention!! Honestly, it makes me cross!! If someone you have no relationship with, opts to speak to you and give you some of their time - great! Bonus! How kind of them! If they opt not to, build a bridge and get over it. Stop being so bloody entitled everyone. Rant over.

What's particularly disturbing is that we're not talking about hormone-struck teenagers here. We're talking about adult people - in their 30s, 40s, 50s... - who get so obsessed with their favourite actors that they kind of think they own them. Of course, they are closer to them than ever because of social media but still, if you've been living on this planet for some time, then FFS, you should understand that Twitter, Instagram et cetera are NOT reality. And also, while it's not impossible to actually become friends with the artist you admire - I don't think there are many artists under the sun who'd happily befriend someone who tweets them 80 times a day, and who insults their friends and relatives.

Anyway, the worst thing I've ever seen so far this year was a person literally getting in the actor's way and trying to hug him. He managed it quite well and walked away but that whole situation was genuinely creepy. I mean, when I walk down the street and see a handsome guy walking in my direction, I don't stop him to squeeze him (maybe that's why I never got married...) - why would you do that to an actor? Actors, even if their face is the first thing you see in the morning because you used their headshots as your bedroom wallpaper, are still strangers to you and you are a stranger to them. Of course, if you ask politely, you'll probably get your hug. Earlier this year, at the Wyndham's stage door, I saw a guy who managed to get a photo with Jeremy Irons (despite abundant "no photos" signs and warnings) simply because he was nice and very kindly asked for it, fully aware that his request would probably be refused. And he heard "OK". Of course, if an actor clearly just wants to go home, you should respect it, full stop. But if you really, really want this autograph/selfie/handshake/hug AND if your beloved thespian is not in rush - just be kind and ask. No need to force them to do something against their will.

I want to triple like this and then highlight it for the Moderators of this board in particular to know why we women 'moan' so much about male behaviour on this board. It's because as women we are TIRED of it, and some of us are fighting back in the little ways we can. Because out in the 'real world' we often don't dare. 

Yesterday a man took a photo of me at the gym. I saw him do it. Did I challenge him? no because it was early and hardly anyone was around and it wasn't worth it. That's the tip of an annoying, often threatening, always frustrating iceberg. EVERY. DAY. 

It's not harassment per se it's the way that some Board Members feel it's ok to talk about/to women, making misogyinistic comments, throwing around comments about appearance and weight, comments like 'whore' cropping up over and over...I could go on but that's the general gist. I couldn't say where on the board it's worse, but there's an increasing air of subtle but noticeable dislike for women that makes this an unpleasant place to be. Especially as a blind eye is turned by moderators. 

Oh, right, I was evidently thinking of a different sort of harrassment, which would be why I hadn't noticed that. I have noticed a few instances of things like your examples but not that much, probably because I try to avoid the more contentious discussions on here.

I was (evidently incorrectly) thinking of the sexual harassment involving men paying women unwanted attentions, which was why I thought that gay men wouldn't be doing it, rather than comments based on sexism.