Actors - Are Apple Watches irritating?

Question for the actors out there (and other audience members, for that matter) - Do you see - and are you bothered by - audience members glancing on small watch devices like Apple Watches?
I'm talking about hands on lap with a brief tap to check the time. And for those unfamiliar with the device, it has a MUCH lower light output than a smartphone. Perhaps I've spent too much time analyzing the structure of musicals, but I do enjoy tracking the action onstage with the time.

BroadwayConcierge said: "Fellow audience members who neglect to turn off their Applewatch during the show drive me up the frigging wall. It might be a very low light, but it’s still a light. These days, it’s quite often that I reachover to tap a person to get them to notice it.Just turn the damn thing off! Don’t they have asetting specially for when you’re in the theatre, too?"

Thank you. May I inquire further - when this has bothered you, was the audience member next to you, in front of you or further away?

You can definitely see them. It doesn't bother me, per say, but it is noticeable at times.

It does bother me. A light is a light and a screen is a screen.

No matter how quick the glance is, it's still a light and no matter where you are sitting, SOMEONE can see it. And especially the actors, looking out on a sea of black, can see when little pops of light come up.

Depending how important the time-tracking is to you, you could try a cheap, old-fashioned watch -- not one with a light, but one with a face that's big enough and numbers that are bold/clear/offset enough that you might be able to read it in the darkened house.

They are also very annoying for ushers. I think a lot are used to them by now but they get mistaken for cell phone screen lights. I have seen ushers go down to tell a patron to turn their phone off and stop short when they realize it is an apple watch. As a patron I find them distracting especially when sitting in a mezz or balcony seat and watching them light up constantly in the front orchestra. Yeah, just turn them off or put them in theatre mode.

franny, actors can see more than you think they can from the stage!

Updated On: 10/17/17 at 07:32 AM

Notice how a thread that was supposed to be about the perspective of actors (presumably while acting) was hijacked by those only interested in themselves (in the audience).

I would think that actors are largely unaffected by and unaware of silent things in the audience. I'm sure watch screens are less noticeable than the reflection off eyeglasses. Should we ask the audience to take theirs off?

And yes, actors CAN and DO see and hear more that you would ever think. They see every little light from the stage and every person getting up during the show: in the orchestra, mezzanine and balcony. Remember, there are still some lights on in the theatre house so these people cut into the light so it catches their sight line from the stage. Even the whispers and any form of commotion can be heard from the stage. Actors have mentioned all of this in the past.

I've yet to encounter this problem on stage. I'm generally more annoyed by the sounds coming from the audience than anything visual. Hearing candy being unwrapped...or talking...or (the worst) a phone going off...takes me out of it. I've seen the red camera lights (oy, but tell stage management and it gets taken care of). I've clocked folks walking out of shows while I'm on stage, which pulls me for a second, but somehow it's a goddamned Werthers being unwrapped that does me in.

I'm not an actor, but I did notice Apple Watches when I sat onstage at Great Comet one time. It wasn't super distracting, but I could see them, especially during applause breaks. I guess that's the same view as an actor's in that case.

BrodyFosse123 said: "And yes, actors CAN and DO see and hear more that you would ever think. They see every little light from the stage and every person getting up during the show: in the orchestra, mezzanine and balcony. Remember, there are still some lights on in the theatre house so these people cut into the light so it catches their sight line from the stage. Even the whispers and any form of commotion can be heard from the stage. Actors have mentioned all of this in the past."

...but are any of these things so distracting that they break an actor's focus/concentration? Although an actor might notice these things peripherally, or even subliminally, they're all pretty innocuous. I doubt actors give them the time of day (see what I did there?)

I don't think we should even get to the point of optioning "theatre mode". Everyone has cell phones, already. They all have clocks on them. Just don't wear a light-up watch when you go to the theatre, Apple or Samsung or whatever. I'm a technology geek, so I get why people have them (I would like to have one, myself), but I'm smart enough to know not to wear one in a theatre. Or at least to keep it covered with a sleeve (though it's not a reliable option). Take it off and put it in your pocket! Put it back on when you leave the show! GAWD! I often forget how stupid people can be, but it slaps me in the face every time I sit in an audience for a Broadway show or Broadway tour.