Pittsburgh Arts, Regional Theatre, New Work, Producing, Copyright, Labor Unions,
New Products, Coping Skills, J-O-Bs...
Theatre industry news, University & School of Drama Announcements, plus occasional course support for
Carnegie Mellon School of Drama Faculty, Staff, Students, and Alumni.
CMU School of Drama
Tuesday, April 18, 2023
‘We’ve had to stop people fighting and urinating in their seats’: the ugly new side of theatre audiences
Theatre | The Guardian: On Good Friday, police were called to a Manchester performance of The Bodyguard musical after staff at the Palace theatre, who were attempting to quieten an audience member singing loudly, were greeted with “unprecedented levels of violence”, according to the venue’s front of house supervisor.
What is wrong with people now a days? There is no need to go see a show and behave this way. I wish we would go back to a time where audiences knew to not be on electronics, to silence cell phones, or to even just not talk during a performance. This kind of behavior isn’t fair to the staff and ushers who are trying to do their job, and most likely are ushers because they enjoy the theatre. I’m sure this sort of behavior won’t change anytime soon and will probably get worse as we go further on in life. I would love to see a change though, to make theatres respectable and a place to enjoy art without any distractions. When I go to New York City for the first time and see a Broadway show, I’m very nervous that it will be ruined for me because of a rude audience member.
It is incredibly unnerving to hear how horribly Front of House staff are being treated and that the industry tries to sweep it under the rug as quickly as possible. Anyone who has ever worked in retail can regale you with horror stories of how terribly people treat them, but that is not an excuse for this behavior. 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?
2 comments:
What is wrong with people now a days? There is no need to go see a show and behave this way. I wish we would go back to a time where audiences knew to not be on electronics, to silence cell phones, or to even just not talk during a performance. This kind of behavior isn’t fair to the staff and ushers who are trying to do their job, and most likely are ushers because they enjoy the theatre. I’m sure this sort of behavior won’t change anytime soon and will probably get worse as we go further on in life. I would love to see a change though, to make theatres respectable and a place to enjoy art without any distractions. When I go to New York City for the first time and see a Broadway show, I’m very nervous that it will be ruined for me because of a rude audience member.
It is incredibly unnerving to hear how horribly Front of House staff are being treated and that the industry tries to sweep it under the rug as quickly as possible. Anyone who has ever worked in retail can regale you with horror stories of how terribly people treat them, but that is not an excuse for this behavior. 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?
Post a Comment