Texting in the theatre; Washington Post Article

An interesting article in today's Washington Post about people texting during a live performance.

Msg to Rude Playgoers: Trn Tht Drnd Thng Off!

Updated On: 10/21/07 at 09:18 PM

I just don't see the need to communicate with someone during a performance. We go to see a show, not to talk to or text someone during the performance. That can be done before the show, during intermission or after the show. I have had a few texters next to me and in front of me and it is annoying. The light catches my attention and distracts me from the show.

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It's absolutely appalling. Unless you have a relative in the hospital about to expire at any moment, there's no justifiable reason to text in a theater.

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If you have a dying relative in the hospital, I don't see WHY you'd be at a show.

Seriously, I don't really know who can't go two and half hours without texting someone. I'm thankful I've never seen it in theatres (yet!).

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I used to be completely 100% against any kind of cell phone use in the theatre. I was always the cell phone Nazi to my friends, insisting that everyone both SILENCE their phone AND turn it completely off.

...but I can now actually see some exceptions.

One of my friends I usually go to the theatre with is extremely respectful, but when his sister was 8-9 months pregnant, he would keep his cell phone ON, but completely silent during the show. That way, he could check quickly and quietly once or twice during the show just to make sure his sister hadn't gone into labor.

Also I have a relative who is a doctor and is often called in on emergencies. He does pretty much the same thing with his beeper, keeping it on complete silent as not to disturb anyone. He checks it unobtrusively just a few quick times during the performance.

Both of these people are avid theatergoers and I don't think a) having a pregnant sister or b) having a job where you can almost always be called in, is any reason to have to stop going to the theatre.

So, if I don't HEAR it or SEE it or NOTICE you checking, I don't see anything wrong with this kind of important cell phone use being someone's personal prerogative.

I still always turn mine on silent AND off.

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When I saw Drowsy Chaperone 3 weeks ago, the woman next to my friend was texting throughout the show. It took every ounce of energy not to grab the phone out of her hand and.....

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Ahmelie...you're amazing! I LOVE that you take the battery out! If I were that clever, I probably would, too!

Oskar Eustis always takes his battery out. He has shared this every time I've been to Shakespeare in the Park...

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Even more horrific?

The erosion, too, of what people understand to be the rules of a night at the theater might be accelerating. It was reported in the Philadelphia Inquirer a couple of years ago, for instance, that just before the start of a Saturday night performance of "Menopause: The Musical," a pizza deliveryman arrived at the theater "with a large plain pie for a group of women in Row K." (The paper said that the artistic director intervened, explaining to the women that they were "not at the circus.")

I give up on humanity.

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And it doesn't just happen in Broadway Theatres. I went to a double feature film at Film Forum where three high school kids were texting through out both films. My thought was: why did you come to see a movie or play if that's what you are going to do the entire time. It's extremely rude, annoying and pitiful that you can't sit and watch something that is 2 1/2 hours or less. If you MUST text, at least have the courtesy to wait until intermission. Show some respect for people and the actors on the stage. If I were a parent whose child was texting during a performance, I'd take it away. I wouldn't want to pay good money just to have my child, or friend or parent not watch what we came to see. Appalling is the word for it. Go do something else with your short attention span. It is a shame.

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I was at a show earlier this evening and there was a guy in front of me with one of those new phones with email and he didn't stop even when asked by the usher to do so. How hard is it to turn it off for two hours.

Now I understand why some ushers get grumpy about cell phones, they even made an announcement and it's posted in the playbill.

I also believe with the latest group of theater patrons they should give them etiquette lessons when they sell tickets.

Updated On: 10/22/07 at 05:06 AM

Being polite is very difficult for many people it seems. It's all about THEM and the hell with everyone else!

If you think it's bad for the audience, which it is, can you imagine what it is like for the actors on stage? The cell phones and such go off at the worst time, you know, when there is supposed to be a pregnant pause, only to have it give birth to some stupid tune from a cell phone?

It's a sad state of affairs!

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It blows my mind that so many adults these days seem to be incapable of sitting quietly and watching a show for 2 1/2 hours. If you are so bored by the show that you feel the need to text, do the rest of the audience a favor and just leave. If you are enjoying the show, just sit there and enjoy it! You can tell your friends all about it when it's over. I went to a concert last week and so many people in the audience were preoccupied with talking, texting, taking pictures, etc. that I doubt they were really seeing or hearing much of the show. I just kept thinking, you all are missing this experience because you are so distracted.