Audience Behaviour - Thread 2

[li tai po]

Fonty, please will you provide a link to that article by the Guardian's chief theatre critic.

[Sim]

7 minutes ago, li tai po said:

Fonty, please will you provide a link to that article by the Guardian's chief theatre critic.

It was posted on this thread a week or so ago and was discussed at some length.  Here it is:

 

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2023/mar/14/snobbery-about-audience-behaviour-stifles-theatre-its-a-collective-experience?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

 

[Dawnstar]

9 hours ago, Fonty said:

Perhaps we should all start requesting the sale of things such as nuts in their shell, or fruit such as apples and pears.  We could then pelt the stage with the remains if the performance isn't up to our elite standards.  After all, isn't that what they used to do in the good old days?  Before snobbery came in?  And think about how this could support the British fruit farmer too.  Win win all round, I think.

 

I think another win-win would be to throw the fruit or nuts at those using their phones, until they put them away!

[art_enthusiast]

10 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 

I think another win-win would be to throw the fruit or nuts at those using their phones, until they put them away!

 

And the people who keep coughing or leaning forward too far!

[Sophoife]

As I was reminded this afternoon at an Australian Ballet matinée of Nureyev's Don Quixote: people (grown adults over the age of 40) who repeatedly move their feet and legs, thumping or kicking the back of the seat in front of them. When I whip my head round and silently glare, it stops, but starts again within minutes. When politely spoken to at interval (apologising of course for the glares), they deny all responsibility, even knowledge, and proceed to repeat the activity in the second act. Come the third, thank you lovely usher I've been moved to the front row of the balcony.

 

At first I thought it must be a child. Not so, all children mesmerised. Not a squeak except when cheering at the end.

 

 

[cackles]

On Front Row last night (BBC Radio 4 21/03) available on BBC Sounds there was a discussion on badly behaved theatre audiences which I found quite depressing as some of the types of behaviour that has been discussed here, on the Forum, seemed to be condoned and should be expected. The Battersea Arts Centre has apparently said that all performances are now relaxed - well I won't be returning there now! 

[Sim]

1 hour ago, cackles said:

On Front Row last night (BBC Radio 4 21/03) available on BBC Sounds there was a discussion on badly behaved theatre audiences which I found quite depressing as some of the types of behaviour that has been discussed here, on the Forum, seemed to be condoned and should be expected. The Battersea Arts Centre has apparently said that all performances are now relaxed - well I won't be returning there now! 

Who was on the panel, Cackles? 

[Lizbie1]

Just remember: things could be worse.

 

https://pagesix.com/2023/03/20/fan-poops-in-aisle-near-hillary-and-chelsea-clinton-at-show/

[art_enthusiast]

22 minutes ago, Lizbie1 said:

Just remember: things could be worse.

 

https://pagesix.com/2023/03/20/fan-poops-in-aisle-near-hillary-and-chelsea-clinton-at-show/

They mention it was an elderly person and that it was ‘rather sad’ so were they potentially incontinent? I do feel for them if that was the case, maybe it wasn’t purposeful.

[Lizbie1]

50 minutes ago, art_enthusiast said:

They mention it was an elderly person and that it was ‘rather sad’ so were they potentially incontinent? I do feel for them if that was the case, maybe it wasn’t purposeful.

 

But it wasn't the first time it had happened.

[Sim]

1 hour ago, Lizbie1 said:

 

But it wasn't the first time it had happened.

And from the description, it would have taken an effort for someone to do that in the aisle in front of everyone.  I would think they were put there surreptitiously when the lights went down.  Eeeww. Some very sick people out there. 😖

[cackles]

There was a panel of three on the Front Row programme, Sim. 

Dr. Kirsty Sedgman who is an expert on audience behaviour and has written a book entitled "The Reasonable Audience"

Lynn Garner, a theatre critic

Bethany North or Norse (?) who has worked front of house for quite some time.

[dance fan]

I am back from NYC watching Sara Baras Flamenco Festival at NY City Center. It was a matinee and the last show of the "Festival"  The show had no intermission but was 1:45 minutes.  After the show began, there was a steady flow of late arrivals who were "helped" by the ushers to find their seats.  I was subjected to the usher to may left and my right sweeping my field of vision with their  flashlights and late arrivals, stumbling in the dark in front of me for 40 minutes.  That right forty minutes of near constant disruption.   Not to be outdone by the late arrivals, there was a woman sitting one row behind to my left, she had her phone on full brightest the entire time, and during dramatic moments, when I'm trying to focus on the show , she would take a picture with the flash.  I gave up turning around and looking at her.  She didn't care.  One row below, a woman showed up 20 minutes late.  She would lean all the way forward blocking us, I tap her shoulder the first time she did it, I asked if she could lean back.  I gave up.  The man next to her, constantly check his phone for text messages.  The couple directly behind me was doing a running commentary of the show in Spanish.  Whenever there is a quiet moment, I can hear somewhere to my right and behind me, the voice of a male caller on the end chatting with someone in the hall.  This continued for most of the show.  The live music was fantastic but somebody thought they could do better so there was somebody playing flamenco music, different song mind you, on their phone.  The entire show, people were taking photos and videos, some using their flash.  The winner of the night was in the last 20 minutes, somebody decided to have a better vantage to take videos with the flash turned on.  This person climbed into the ledge to take their precious video.  

 

I spoke to the manager after the show.  I asked her if NY City Center has a new policy of letting people in during the show.  She sad, it depends on the performance.  The performer decides whether or not to let late arrivals in.  I said, there was no mentioning to audience to remain quiet, to not talking, to not use their phones, to not take videos.  She was surprised by that.  Another usher was there and the usher said, it was bad today for some reason.  They tried to ask people to stop talking, using their phones but they were too many infractions and they would be adding to the distractions.  What surprised me was they said it was bad inside the hall but also outside as well.  

Edited March 27, 2023 by dance fan

[Jan McNulty]

What a dreadful experience for you @dance fan.

[alison]

Absolutely appalling.  That may be one of the worst examples of audience behaviour I've heard of. 

[Sim]

Gosh that’s awful.  Why do people pay to go and see a live show if they’re not going to pay attention, and just bother others?  It’s appalling.  

[JNC]

Indeed. And why did the usher(s) and management allow this? 
 

 

[dance fan]

There was no announcement instructing the audience prior to the show.  I mentioned this to the manager and she was surprised by this.  There was a gentleman introducing the performers  and perhaps he was supposed to make the announcement and didn't.  I'm speculating.  The fact was no announcement was made.  The usher that I spoke with after the show said that they could do anymore, without adding more to the distraction.  Of course, they the ushers did enough damage in the first 40 minutes helping late arrivals to stumble their way finding their seats.  I'm not sure what else could be done.  Based on the behaviors of the audience, I think they would have rioted had the ushers tried to enforce better behaviors.  I won't comment on this but will repeat what the manager said to me.  "This audience doesn't appear to be your typical dance audience in New York.  They may not be familiar with how dance audience should behave.  Perhaps the silver lining, if there is one, is that attending this show will encourage them to attend more dance performances and in time they will learn proper behavior."  I make no comment when the manager said this and I will make no comment here.  I'm passing along the statement.  The manager did ask me if I was going to attend the next show "The National Ballet of Canada" and I replied yes.  

[Dawnstar]

Another very depressing article. https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2023/mar/28/uk-theatre-staff-audience-behaviour-abuse-drunken-theatregoers

[Sim]

3 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

Another very depressing article. https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2023/mar/28/uk-theatre-staff-audience-behaviour-abuse-drunken-theatregoers

Ironic that the theatre critic from this very newspaper wrote just a couple of weeks ago how great it is for audience members to be able to check their phones, eat and drink in the auditoria (although she did say that drunkenness is unacceptable...but if people can take alcoholic drinks in, it is somewhat inevitable that this will happen).  Who cares about the effects on the poor people who work there:  they are badly paid, work hard, have to clean up the mess and suffer physical and verbal abuse.  But hey, as long as two fingers are put up to the elite snobs who just want to watch the shows in peace, who cares about the staff?

[Geoff]

The Times has this report today:

 

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/theatre-staff-may-exit-stage-left-over-bad-audiences-5x3lg95km?shareToken=ee32128ebac1c3a640d0622d137f89a4

[Christine]

On 14/03/2023 at 17:27, Sim said:

Genuine question:  do ballet/opera audiences in, say, Paris, Vienna, Milan, Stuttgart take food and drink into the auditoriums?  

Please excuse the late reply, I‘ve only just discovered this post: no, people are not allowed to take their drinks or food inside the theatre / concert halls (classical music/dance, not pop music, jazz venues etc.) in Stuttgart. I would find this very distracting! It‘s a different matter with performance relays in cinemas, but that will be the case everywhere, I guess. 
It will be similar in other German cities, I‘m sure.

 

 

[Odyssey]

It’s not permitted in the auditoriums of either the Palais Garnier or Bastille houses. 

[Silver Capricorn]

Food and drink are not allowed in the auditoriums of the National Theater and the State Opera in Prague.  Coats and luggage must be left in the cloakroom.  There is no way that anyone would place these things under a seat in the auditorium.

[San Perregrino]

i received this from  ATG in advance of my visit to A Streetcar Named Desire next week:

 

"Dear 

We are really excited about welcoming you to Phoenix Theatre, where we want everyone to enjoy the show. With that in mind, we politely ask that you show consideration to your fellow audience members, who have come to enjoy the performances on stage.

We all have a part to play in making sure the theatre is a fantastic experience for everyone – you can help by ensuring the professionals on stage are the only people entertaining us with their performances, and by being kind to our dedicated staff who are here to make sure everybody is safe. Anti-social behaviour towards our staff or other customers will not be tolerated."

[capybara]

12 minutes ago, PeterS said:

i received this from  ATG in advance of my visit to A Streetcar Named Desire next week:

 

"Dear 

We are really excited about welcoming you to Phoenix Theatre, where we want everyone to enjoy the show. With that in mind, we politely ask that you show consideration to your fellow audience members, who have come to enjoy the performances on stage.

We all have a part to play in making sure the theatre is a fantastic experience for everyone – you can help by ensuring the professionals on stage are the only people entertaining us with their performances, and by being kind to our dedicated staff who are here to make sure everybody is safe. Anti-social behaviour towards our staff or other customers will not be tolerated."

 

A good attempt but maybe too subtle for those who need to read and heed the message.

 

I was interested to read - I think in The Times article that a show had been stopped while trouble-makers were evicted. This is no bad idea.

 

[Scheherezade]

4 hours ago, Christine said:

Please excuse the late reply, I‘ve only just discovered this post: no, people are not allowed to take their drinks or food inside the theatre / concert halls (classical music/dance, not pop music, jazz venues etc.) in Stuttgart. I would find this very distracting! It‘s a different matter with performance relays in cinemas, but that will be the case everywhere, I guess. 
It will be similar in other German cities, I‘m sure.

 

 

 

4 hours ago, Odyssey said:

It’s not permitted in the auditoriums of either the Palais Garnier or Bastille houses. 

 

3 hours ago, Silver Capricorn said:

Food and drink are not allowed in the auditoriums of the National Theater and the State Opera in Prague.  Coats and luggage must be left in the cloakroom.  There is no way that anyone would place these things under a seat in the auditorium.

 

And here, we must be seen to tick the "we are not elitist" and "all comers welcome, particularly those who have no consideration for others by way of proof of our non-elitism" boxes, in much the same way that we must now decry excellence to signal our solidarity with the all-encompassing "let's-offend-no-one" mediocrity.

[Jan McNulty]

A non-forum friend has just texted me from a west end theatre where she is seeing a matinee:

 

"Grrr another ATG theatre with lots of tiddly women with Champagne buckets and glasses in the auditorium - disgraceful really."

[zxDaveM]

perhaps we should start a campaign that if your enjoyment of a performance is spoiled by selfish, unmonitored/unrectified audience distractions, then complain and demand a refund. If enough refunds start going through the door, perhaps theatres will take better preventative measures

[JNC]

4 minutes ago, zxDaveM said:

perhaps we should start a campaign that if your enjoyment of a performance is spoiled by selfish, unmonitored/unrectified audience distractions, then complain and demand a refund. If enough refunds start going through the door, perhaps theatres will take better preventative measures

this is actually a great idea. Realistically I doubt they’ll give refunds (unless really terrible behaviour but even then would imagine only a partial refund) but the more complaints they get and the more people say they won’t come to performances if this behaviour is tolerated may have some effect. 

[Guest oncnp]

From the Times (paywall)

 

Theatre audiences do behave badly — but it’s a two-way street (thetimes.co.uk)

[Blossom]

 

7 hours ago, oncnp said:

From the Times (paywall)

 

Theatre audiences do behave badly — but it’s a two-way street (thetimes.co.uk)

The end of the article reminds me of my visit to To Kill a Mockingbird last week. Pouring with rain and had to stand on the doorstep while 3 different bag checkers had an issue with some uneaten gluten free food I had in my bag which i had never intended to eat in the theatre. The reason they gave for this was beyond ridiculous (it might get contaminated if it was opened). 
I started wondering if their concern was that I might throw it towards the stage - no other risk posed.

[Jan McNulty]

55 minutes ago, Blossom said:

 

The end of the article reminds me of my visit to To Kill a Mockingbird last week. Pouring with rain and had to stand on the doorstep while 3 different bag checkers had an issue with some uneaten gluten free food I had in my bag which i had never intended to eat in the theatre. The reason they gave for this was beyond ridiculous (it might get contaminated if it was opened). 
I started wondering if their concern was that I might throw it towards the stage - no other risk posed.

 

Nothing to do with food but there was a MASSIVE queue to gain entrance to my local ATG theatre a few years ago.  It was a FOUL night with heavy rain and nowhere to shelter.  The staff on the door were insisting on checking tickets and rigorously searching bags before they would let you into the foyer...

 

There were a lot of very damp and disgruntled audience members in the audience that night!