CMU School of Drama


Monday, April 27, 2009

Theaters' worst acts take place in the seats

The Denver Post: "So I was recently seated at the Denver Center's Ricketson Theatre, waiting for the start of 'Sunsets & Margaritas,' when the woman arrived at the seat in front of me. She took off her coat and draped it over her chair, depositing its fluffy hood right onto my lap.
Where it remained, oblivious to her, for the duration of the play.
I wondered, would it be inappropriate to request a tip for checking her coat? Or to write 'GET OFF OF ME!' on her hood with my Flair pen?
The latter, I was fairly sure, might be."

5 comments:

Katherine! said...

Many of these rules make a lot of sense. It is always so disappointing that audiences have become to so rude to the actors and to the other audience members. I never knew that the audience were at one point charged for cell phones going off. I think this should be continued, even though the economy is so bad.

Brooke Marrero said...

I agree with the cardinal rules of theatre etiquette in this article. When the atmosphere that a show creates is ruined by a rude audience member, it is hard to return yourself to the show. I'm not sure how much I agree with actors stopping shows to reprimand unruly audience members.

Chris said...

I have found the examples in this article to be very true. Especially in high school theater where the audience is used to watching movies and TV in the comfort of their own home. They don't seem to understand that the proscenium is NOT A ONE WAY MIRROR. In my high school we even had parents working on computers during a show. Really? I appreciate the NYC law about charging for cell phone rings and the current rules that set an age limit on people in the house (usually no younger than 4).

David Beller said...

This article reminded me of a theatrical experience I had once. I was sitting in a theatre at the Edinburgh Fringe festival and regardless of how relaxed these productions are, this still astounded me. A woman came in (obviously drunk) and took the seat next to me on the aisle. She was on a phone call planning her evening for the next night. As the lights are going down she continues her call. This call lasted for almost 15 minutes and through 2 ushers asking her to stop. I was flabbergasted. I do not understand how someone could come to a live performance and not understand that is different from their TV at home. [Luckily, the performance was not too good either, so I did not feel too cheated]

Unknown said...

I completely agree with this. All of these things should be rules that one learns the same way they learn that its nice to hold the door open for the person behind you. I hate it when people are so obnoxious during performances and its true that "what gain too light we esteem too cheaply" and with the current state of the economy, the prices of tickets have to go down if they want people to attend which might attract some of these more annoying people. Most of all -- why don't they just kick them out if they are being loud; granted sometimes it's just the little things that the staff doesn't notice unless if they're in their direct area, but if they are being as loud as that guy must have been for during A View from the Bridge, then KICK THEM THE FUCK OUT