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Tuesday, March 14, 2023
Snobbery about audience behaviour stifles theatre – it’s a collective experience
Stage | The Guardian: The recent debate over unruly audience behaviour began, very rightly, with warnings against drunken disorder in auditoriums after horror stories of rowdy musical theatre audiences taking the idea of “dancing in the aisles” a little too literally.
1 comment:
Emily Carleton
said...
I have mixed feelings about the author’s stance in this article. While I agree we can’t expect everyone to be absolutely silent when eating popcorn, I also strongly dislike it when people are on their phones. Some people remember to dim the light on their phone and silence it, but many times people forget to. Theatre practitioners work so hard to make their envisioned world come to life, why make it even more difficult for them? Audience members need to be more respectful of their fellow man, like someone coughing, sneezing, or even snoring. I think the author also underestimates how often front of house workers are treated poorly. I wonder if this has been a gradual shift or if it has been exacerbated by the pandemic. Based on my experience, people seemed to have forgotten what decent human behavior was while they were stuck behind a Zoom screen. I had the luxury of attending many Broadway shows while growing up due to my proximity to New York City and it always felt like an event to dress up for. When did people start treating Broadway like a shitty open-mic night? You kind of hope that people who are treating staff like this are intoxicated, because who in their right mind treats another human being like that?
1 comment:
I have mixed feelings about the author’s stance in this article. While I agree we can’t expect everyone to be absolutely silent when eating popcorn, I also strongly dislike it when people are on their phones. Some people remember to dim the light on their phone and silence it, but many times people forget to. Theatre practitioners work so hard to make their envisioned world come to life, why make it even more difficult for them? Audience members need to be more respectful of their fellow man, like someone coughing, sneezing, or even snoring. I think the author also underestimates how often front of house workers are treated poorly. I wonder if this has been a gradual shift or if it has been exacerbated by the pandemic. Based on my experience, people seemed to have forgotten what decent human behavior was while they were stuck behind a Zoom screen. I had the luxury of attending many Broadway shows while growing up due to my proximity to New York City and it always felt like an event to dress up for. When did people start treating Broadway like a shitty open-mic night? You kind of hope that people who are treating staff like this are intoxicated, because who in their right mind treats another human being like that?
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