“The laughter was inappropriate. I was trying not to take it personally, but it was getting on my nerves,” Birney said of the Oct. 6 incident.
And then he snapped.
Monday, November 06, 2017
Actors say rude audiences are destroying Broadway
“The laughter was inappropriate. I was trying not to take it personally, but it was getting on my nerves,” Birney said of the Oct. 6 incident.
And then he snapped.
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4 comments:
I've seen many of these behaviors firsthand when I attend plays in New York - the wrappers, the cell phones, the chatting and whispering during the play. I think a lot of this new behavioral trend has to do with the new environment people are expecting of theater. With food allowed in and the more casual nature with which people attend shows is making the experience more like going to see a movie at your local AMC or Regal Cinemas. Taking the behaviours that are annoying but bearable at the movies, however, are unintentionally rude to the performers who are live on stage rather than being played on a screen. I think what these people are doing is the best way to handle it - reminding the offenders that actors are real people, not a movie being played, and can and will call you out for your bad behavior. I do disagree with selling candy in theaters, but like I said before audiences are expecting a more movie like experience now, especially since the prerecorded musical movies like Newsies have been gaining popularity, blurring the line between Broadway and Main Street.
It’s pretty evident from this article that some people have lost a greater respect for performance theatre. It used to be that people could take two hours and just watch something - be immersed in a fantastical world. This article confirms that some audiences aren’t as receptive to this type of thought. I was in utter shock when I read the end of the article. The fact that a guy thought that the outlet onstage was real is ridiculous. Beyond that, he thought that it was okay to go onstage and plug his phone in. While I have never heard of such disrespectful audiences before this article, I do believe that it’s very important to be mindful of drinking and eating during a performance. Unless you are participating in a Cabaret, there is no reason for actors to be dealing with disrespectful behavior.
I am confused why Reed Birney is upset at the audience members giggling. I understand that this isn’t the normal response of most audience goers but it is clearly an automatic and natural response that Birney shouldn’t be upset with. It’s like being upset with the audience members for existing, which makes no sense in my opinion. I understand it's annoying but I think it is different from someone’s phone going off or a wrapper being unwrinkled. I was also confused when the author listed laughing during the wrong moment and a phone going off. If the laughing is genuine then the actor in theatre shouldn’t be upset because they are trying to evoke natural responses from audience members. I might understand if the person is laughing at something unrelated to the plot but if an audience member finds something funny that might not be conventionally funny then the actor shouldn’t get upset. I find it interesting, how different actors call out audience disturbances and when a show can call allow for it. What intrigues me more is trying to find a solution to stop the disturbances. Is there a way to effectively call people out without ruining the flow of the show. I’ve seen Broadway shows where the stage manager came out and said last night one phone went off in the mezzanine, this night I want to no phones to go off (sadly one did) or ushers have a comedic speech asking audience members to turn off their cell phones or even in Waitress a whole jingle sung by Sara Bareilles reminding audience members to turn off their cellphones. The list goes on and on of how different shows achieve this but I am wondering, which methods work better and if these better methods can be applied to a larger number of shows to decrease the number of disturbances.
I feel like there are more and more annoying and disruptive audience members now than there were before. It might have to do with the technological world we live in and that people watch a lot of their entertainment from their home on their computer. People are not used to sitting still for that long and not being disruptive or doing whatever they want. There is not the same amount of respect that there used to be for live performance. It does not help that snacks and drinks are allowed in the theatre and you cannot stop people from eating during the performance and unwrapping their food. The alcoholic beverages also make people rowdier and not as focused on the performance. Alcohol makes people do a lot of different things and if they have too much they can be very disruptive to the rest of the audience and the performers. I do not know what can be done to eliminate these disruptions except educated audience members on proper theatre etiquette.
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