Bad Behaviour at a Show

Just visited Broadway from the UK for the first time and had very varied experiences with audiences. So, will the real New York audience please stand up.

Saw two plays whilst in America. First play was No Mans Land at the Cort Theatre and the audience was immaculate. I know Stewart and McKellen was on stage but it really was the quietest audience I have ever been a part of. I like this I thought.

Second play was Macbeth at Lincoln Centre Vivian Beaumont Theatre and I had a very different experience. Firstly given playbill manual which included message about mobile phones and sweets. I thought this is why American audiences are so quiet and attentive. Made a mental note to take warning note back to UK theatres, a note I will return to.

But at that stage my cup run was over (does that phrase translate?). Audience bad behaviour including talking, yawning, inappropriate laughing. The amount of sweet and biscuit wrappers being rustled loudly after the interval was dreadful. Any theatre owner who sells sweets in such packaging should have rotten vegetables thrown at them in the town centre and mobile phone usage!! Several people were on the internet and checking messages, twitter etc etc. It was at this point I lost my 'please refrain from using mobile phones and unwrapping sweets loudly' message as I hurled it at the latest mobile phone user.*

What is the real experience of a theatre goer in New York?

* I didn't really throw my paper warning message at a mobile phone user. This would have been bad behaviour but I did find her phone usage at the theatre incredulous.

Yes.


From your description, you got the two extremes. Its "usually" somewhere in the middle. While there are certainly stories of horrid audience groups, its more often an isolated patron or two that are distracting.

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Audiences have certainly gotten worse lately. Last week I almost ripped the phone out of the woman's hand next to me. She and her date were bored by PIPPIN by the first act. So, she kept turning her phone on every 15 minutes to check (FB? The time?). I decided not to make scene, figuring they'd leave at intermission..but they came back. I warned (threatened?) them before Act 2.

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Considering that more people than ever carry their cells into theaters, it's surprising they seldom ring. More common is the distracting bright screen being displayed.