Bad Audience Behavior- Page 2

[Glebb]

Posted: 7/19/05 at 5:32pm

Except for the occurrence of the ringing of a cell phone of a woman in my row - Act I and Act II of Steel Magnolias a few weeks ago, my biggest complaint is that I can't seem to ever go to the theatre any more without the person behind me constantly kicking the back of my seat. I hate it and want to get up and do something violent. It stinks to feel that way when one is wanting to be transported by the art.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 7/19/05 at 5:40pm

You know, I'm against the death penalty, but I've actually seen people get a cell phone call in the middle of a show, answer the phone and actually have a conversation (one time the actors on stage actually all just stopped in their tracks and waited for this woman to finish before continuing on with the play). People like that deserve the chair.

But one of the most outrageous things I've ever witnessed was once during a play a New York Theatre Workshop (a small 200 seat theatre with perfect acoustics), a guy actually took out a Polaroid camera (think about how LOUD those things are) and took several pictures with FLASH of the show during Act I. He was spoken to, but not ejected, unfortunately, during intermission. I STILL can't get over that.

[justme2]

Posted: 7/19/05 at 5:42pm

A polaroid? NO...he didn't!

And I thought the woman sitting next to us at the Orpheum taking off her shoe and picking her feet was bad.

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 7/19/05 at 5:44pm

rediculous

[Glebb]

Posted: 7/19/05 at 6:04pm

Oh justme2, you made me laugh out loud.
Is your story really true?

[Anakela]

Posted: 7/19/05 at 6:12pm

I had the pleasure once of sitting next to a family of three sharing two seats- their third seat was about ten rows back, mom and two daughters had two tix and then bought a third off some guy on the street so that all 3 could all attend, but then sat with one daughter on mom's lap in the two seats they had together. And how do I know all this? Because they did nothing but *talk* during Act I! Some stuff about the play, pretty dresses and whatnot, and then other stuff that had nothing to do with anything- the pool at the hotel, the better seats they had in NY when they saw Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, etc.

I sicced an usher on them during intermission for breaking the one ass per seat rule, mom went to her own seat, but she was back by the second song of Act II. But at least after that they shut up for the rest of Act II.

Then at another show the bad audience person may have been me- my friend and I were the 3rd and 4th seats in from the aisle and two people further in were trying to 'make a run for it' and be the first ones out in that 5 seconds of darkness between after the show was over, but before the curtain call. My friend and I thought that was rude, so we refused to stand out of their way, and so they had to shimmy around our knees to get out. Petty and rude ourselves on our parts maybe, but who runs out between the end of the show and before the curtain call like that??

I like that Polaroid one, though- that one has to be the worst!

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 7/19/05 at 6:15pm

Margo, your Death Of A Salesman cell phone story actually bests mine for worst timed cell phone call ever. A friend of mine saw Long Day's Journey Into Night in London with Jessica Lange. During her final monologue, a cell phone in the front row rang very loudly and persistently. Lange just stopped and waited for the phone to be silenced before continuing. As he walked past stage door, a security guard was sending people away saying "no autographs tonight, the cast are in no mood" and who can blame them?

[justme2]

Posted: 7/19/05 at 6:37pm

Sadly Glebb, it is true. This "person" (for lack of a better term) proceeded to pick at her feet (BOTH-one at a time)the entire pre show period. She was even bringing her leg up to get her foot closer to her face for inspection!!!

We were disgusted and throwing her looks (that she obviously didn't get) and were about to smack her when the house lights went down and she stopped.

bleeeechhh

[erniesgirl96]

Posted: 7/19/05 at 6:46pm

I worked for a theater doing pick up's after the performances and let me tell you , we would find all kinds of things in the seat. People would bring thier dinner from Carmine's(which uses a ton of garlic..lol), and eat during the performances and leave the rest on the floor. I
have seen everything from cans of tuna fish, chicken wing bones, empty beer cans, and that's just food. We have also found underware, stockings, pillow, needles, and my favorite disposiable cameras. People actually call up the theater looking for thier camera with all the pictures they took of the show the night before.

[Glebb]

Posted: 7/19/05 at 6:46pm

That is disgusting. So sorry that happened.
she should have opted for the zoo.

[Eliza0114]

Posted: 7/19/05 at 7:21pm

my school just did "As You Like It," and during Phoebe's main monologue...EVERY NIGHT without fail...a cell phone would ring.

it was really quite ironic.

[morosco]

Posted: 7/19/05 at 7:31pm

Years ago when I worked for a theme park we did 5 shows a day in one of the theatres. Between performances the ushers would walk the rows and pick up after the previous audience. You would not believe how many dirty diapers were left on the floor!

[jeremykushnier1fan]

Posted: 7/19/05 at 9:24pm

Some people simply don't respect the theatre anymore,and it's ashame because you pay to go and enjoy amazing talent and some ungreatful people ruin it.

[adewitt]

Posted: 7/19/05 at 9:39pm

MargoChanning,

Sorry to be nitpicky, but one of your sentences was screaming out for grammatical repair:

"Elizabeth Franz was delivering her final lines about she and Willy finally being "free and clear" literally laying on the stage (on top of Willy's grave)...."

"She" should be "her," and "laying" should be "lying." I won't bother to address the punctuation errors. The Internet is rife with faulty punctuation, but bad grammar makes one seem poorly turned out.

[BroadwayIsLife18]

Posted: 7/19/05 at 9:47pm

When I saw Phantom a few nights ago there was a family behind me talking NON STOP throughout the entire first act. One of them took a few flash pictures too. At intermission I turned around and told them that they better shut up (well, not exactly in those words haha). Seriously, if someone is being rude at a show, just ask them to stop. We don't pay for full price tickets to listen to people's conversations.

[Dreamcatcher]

Posted: 7/19/05 at 9:52pm

And I thought the cell phones were bad....ordering Pizza in the middle of a show?? Good lord....

I'm currently interning at a local theatre and one of our jobs is to clean up the stage area after the summer camp finishes during the day and when we do this on the day after a show, my God, some of the stuff we find on the floor..... It's honestly like a baseball game, food containers, wrappers, leftoevers etc as far as the eye can see. It was just plain disgusting. And don't get me started on the amount of gum and other sticky candies under the seats. Since when did theatre's become dumpsters for all leftover food? Sorry for the mini-rant, but I guess the impact of it didn't quite hit til I had to clean it all up. :-P

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 7/19/05 at 10:15pm

adewitt?

Did you just join to giva Margo a grammar lesson?




Good luck here.

[morosco]

Posted: 7/19/05 at 10:34pm

Uh oh! lol

[exedore]

Posted: 7/19/05 at 10:43pm

Suddenly I don't feel so bad about the obnoxious blue-hairs that sat behind me jabbering through Hairspray in DC last Thursday afternoon...wait a second, yes I do. One would think that people that old and experienced in theatre going would know how to behave themselves.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 3:25am

"Un-believable... I guess some people think going to the theatre is like sitting in their living room watching a dvd."

Oh boy do they ever! And its getting worse at both high priced professional shows and low priced community theatre offers! And they carry on loud conversations ("We have to talk loud so we can hear..") about unimportant matters, ("Wasn't she the girl we saw in that other show?" "No I think that was the other girl." "Which One?" etc etc ) or if not they always pick the moment a song starts to open their purse and unwrap a candy.

At one recent performance, every 5 min or so all thru Act One I could hear crinkle crinkle crinkle ... and spied an older couple in the row ahead of me as the culprits. At intermission, with a friendly smile I approached them and explained that all though the first act I was distracted by the noise of candy wrappers and could they please do all of us a favour and unwrap the candies they would need for the second act during the intermission. It did the trick, but I don't feel I should have to do that!

Worse was a friend of mine who stages 4 productions a year for a community group. At one recent performance a family came in and as the show began they started opening bags of potato chips. The house manager was on his toes and confiscated the snacks and asked the mother to meet him at intermission. As soon as the house lights went up he was down the aisle and proceeded to lecture her loudly and point to signs at all theatre doors and a notice in the program explaining that no food or drink is allowed in the theatre. (Making matters worse, the theatre had just installed all new seats and the owners were anxious to keep them in good shape!)

[grizzabella]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 12:01pm

The terrible behavior of audiences is staggering. However, allowing food in the theatre at all is part of the problem, and selling things like hot dogs and beer is absurd. I was at a regional production last weekend (rural PA) and while snacks were sold before the show and at intermission, they did not allow food or drink in the theatre itself, and the ushers enforced it. Of course, it wasn't nearly as big as a Broadway theatre either.
Love Margo's suggestion about cell block technology. That should be implemented. It's really all about respect, isn't it?

[WonderBoy]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 12:15pm

This is something that gets on my last nerve every single time. I was born and bred to be in this business and of course I cannot fathom some of the things that people do when attending the theatre. I have no problem when a person makes one or two comments during a show as long as they are quiet and respectful of fellow patrons. I also have no problem with beverages being brought into a theatre, it actually supports my theory that all live theatre should be seen with the presence of alcohol in your system. I draw the line there.
People think that the going to a show in a theatre is like going to a movie in a theatre. Which nowadays has become more and more like sitting at home and watching a movie in your living room. I go to see a film and I go crazy by all the people talking to one another. Everyone getting up 15 times to get more popcorn. People talking on their phones and making noise with their food and drink. I simply cannot abide it. I want to sit there and focus on what is going on.

Sorry for the senseless ramble it drives me absolutely batty!

[EddieVarley]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 12:24pm

Oh Lord! The Society Hill Playhouse is where I started my creative journey many years ago working on NUNSENSE, Deen Kogan and her late husband Jay were huge mentors of mine, believe me Philly audiences are sometimes murder!

We did a production of GREASE there once, I was Teen Angel, and during HAND JIVE, a woman jumped on stage drunk as a skunk and joined in on the action!

Deen must of given that woman HELL, she was a powerful leader!

[justme2]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 12:42pm

I have given up completely on going to first run movie theaters. The frustration of cell phone noise (and lights!), the constant chewing and gnawing of food, the full conversations going on around me, and the fear of being punched, shot or stabbed because I had the audacity to ask someone to be quiet is not worth it.

[Barihunk]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 1:05pm

To further Philly audiences' bad reputation:

I attended a recital by Renee Fleming at the Kimmel Center. Right at the beginning of her encore of Marietta's Lied from Die Tote Stadt a cell phone rang. Not uncommon, but in this instance, the culprit was seated in the seats behind the stage, in full view of the entire audience who witnessed her answer the call and proceed to keep talking on her way up the steps and out of the theatre.

This story takes the cake though (WARNING - NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH):

Several years ago I attended a performance of Show Boat at the Media Theatre (a suburb of Philly). The woman seated to my right and her party enter just as the lights are going down. We reach "Can't Help Loving that Man of Mine" in the first act and the woman next to me leans forward and hikes up her skirt. The next thing I hear is the emission of bodily fluid. I was astounded to think that this woman was peeing in her seat, when I realized she wasn't peeing at all. She was vomiting. While I was horrified, this did not phase her in the least. She completed the task at hand and procede to tap her foot in her mess while the odor permeated the theatre. As soon as intermission hit (the longest act of my LIFE), my friends and I made a bee-line for the house manager who would not believe what we had to say. Finally he rolled his eyes and checked it out. He then proceeded to ask this woman and her party to leave (turns out they were all inebriated).

After that experience, nothing surprises me in regards to audience behavior.