This post is for anyone who has ever been in the audience of a show, especially if you’ve been in the audience of many shows. Because no matter where you are, or what the curtain speech asks about turning off your cell phone, there’s a good chance you’ve experienced some bad theatre etiquette. Whether it’s someone talking through the show, pulling out their cell phone or smart watch, or even someone’s phone actually going off, there are so many ways that people can demonstrate poor theatre etiquette. It’s something I’ve seen from many angles…working front of house, being in an audience, reading the news (Patti LuPone, I’m looking at you)…people can suck.
It’s one of those things that I don’t really understand. You’d think that people know better, especially adults. Mostly adults. But it’s remarkable, the amount of interruptions you can experience during a show. Sure, there are the major things, like phones ringing, but there are also (relatively) minor things, like someone pulling out their cell phone and all you can see is a bright screen. I’m pretty sure it bugs the hell out of most of us, and most of the time, I think a lot of these people don’t even get that they’re doing something very wrong.
I was recently at the opera. A few rows in front of us there were three women who had some of the poorest theatre etiquette I’ve ever seen in my life. Fully grown adults, talking and laughing through the show. At least one of them pulled out their cell phone and started scrolling through it, opening up her calendar app like she was checking something. I couldn’t even believe what I was seeing. You’d think adults, at an opera would know how to behave in a show’s audience. I was absolutely floored.
In some cases, I would imagine that some people just weren’t taught proper theatre behavior. And I guess that could still be the case with adults. It just seems sort of unlikely. But I also think it’s just sort of common sense. These things are disruptive to both the people on stage and the people sitting around them in the audience. It can really impact a theatre going experience. Those women sitting in front of us at the opera? Definitely distracted me from the show I was supposed to be watching. Did they care that they were doing that to fellow audience members? Probably not.
When I was working front of house, there was this one woman who I knew had a problem with using her cell phone. I believe she tried to arrange rides around show timing, but I saw, multiple times, her cell phone going off in the middle of a show. One time, she even tried to blame it on the person sitting next to her (I had seen on the video feed her picking up her phone when it went off). I think cell phones going off is what most people think of when it comes to theatre etiquette.
And of course, it’s not just phones going off. It’s people who can’t stand to be away from texting for a few hours. In one famous case, famed Broadway actress Patti LuPone actually grabbed a cell phone from someone who was texting in the middle of a show. This is definitely an extreme reaction, but I can also understand the emotions an actor could feel when they see someone on their phones in the middle of your show. Honestly, it’s downright offensive. But is it worth reacting like that, which ruins the show for everyone.
It doesn’t seem like a difficult thing, honestly. If you’re bored with a show, or don’t want to watch it, or whatever might drive you to pulling out your phone, please go out into the lobby. Why ruin the experience for everyone around you? Or everyone in the whole theatre when your phone goes off? It’s rude, and why would you want to be the one to do that? Even if people don’t know whose phone it was, they’re going to be pissed. It’s going to be something that people talk about. And shouldn’t they be talking about the show, rather than that some asshole’s phone going off?
Since cell phones became a thing, I think every show I’ve been to includes a reminder to turn off phones in the curtain speech. So it’s not like you can just forget to turn off your cell phone. There is literally someone telling you to turn off your cell phone. And of course, people will always talk during a show. That can be just as distracting as a cell phone. Whispers are rarely as quiet as you think they are.
The saddest part is that this is probably never going to change. There will always be those people in front of you talking, or that cell phone that goes off, or someone texting through a show. And it’s always going to drive us crazy, and those people probably aren’t ever going to realize what they’re doing. So theatre goers will always have to deal with this sort of thing. People on stage will always have to deal with this sort of thing. Hell, whoever is in the booth will have to deal with this sort of thing. It’s unfortunate, but perhaps a part of the experience in and of itself.
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