When an audience laughs at the wrong moments, whose fault is it? — Page 2

I don't know. I saw the first preview of CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF and I too was appalled at the audience's incredibly inappropriate reaction.
I was shocked when people were laughing at Brick trying to hit Maggie with the crutch. Similarly, people seemed to be peeing their pants of laughter when Big Daddy yells at Big Mamma and basically verbally abuses her. It bothered me that two examples of domestic abuse were just source of laughter for the audience.
I agree with the poster that said a lot of it had to do with people just seeing Terrence Howard, Phylicia Rashad (who is sort of camping it up which explains the inappropriate laughter when Jones lashes against her), and James Earl Jones. People couldn't believe Jones would be using profanity, and they of course were rooting for Howard for some reason.
I really enjoyed the production but it was despite the audience, not because of it.
Similarly, I have never understood why people laughed during CAROLINE, OR CHANGE when Caroline tells Noah "hell is where Jews go when they die."

---

I agree, Canada.

---

I think people laugh for different reasons. Or even people see something that reminds them of something in their lives and start to laugh... a similar memory or whatever. I think its awkward when people laugh at dramatic moments, but that's what you get with a live audience. It's a give and take... I don't think that it's anyone's "fault" or you can say its a culmination of everyone involved if you really think about it. The way the actor's interpret it, or what the writers write, or the way it was staged... ect.

Debbie Allen's.

---

Updated On: 6/22/08 at 07:26 PM

Double post. Sorry.

Updated On: 6/23/08 at 08:59 PM

I've always seen laughter when that green baby's raised. It's so FREAKING stupid.

And I was in a local production of Les Mis where, (during a "school show" where schools are invited) there was heavy laughter when Gavroche died, mainly because the actor playing him seemed to think he was the Black Knight from Spamalot.

Having seen "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" this past Saturday, I love this post. I think the audience laughing during inappropriate moments in this show was a combination of so many things. It was the direction, the actors themselves and how they portrayed their character, and the audience. Prior to seeing this show I had never seen any other production of "Cat" including any movie versions of it. Phylicia Rashad, who is my FAVORITE theater actress, was good as usual, but when she first bursts onto the stage, her portrayal of Big Mama is hilarious! It wasn't until James Earl Jones' Big Daddy really starts to speak cruelly to her (for example, when he tells her to blow out the candles on his birthday cake),I had to stop and say "Whoa!" This scene is not meant to be funny. There is nothing funny about it and it's very sad. I noticed that the audience seemed to calm down from the laughter also as if they were getting that same message, especially when Big Mama tells Big Daddy that she has always loved him, even the hate in his heart. I had to think about certain loved ones in my own family who have taken verbal abuse from a spouse pretending that everything was okay, knowing full well that their spouse despised them. Part of the issue (not a major issue) for me was taking seriously that an African-American family spoke in the dialect of this family. I am not saying this out of anything racist, being that I am an African-American Southerner. But the truth is, I kept thinking about Whitley from "A Different World" when I heard these characters speaking. I just couldn't take the dialect seriously and it was hard for me to get past that. There were also times when there were so many people on stage, it was hard to focus on who was saying and doing what. It almost seemed like some actors didn't know where to go. It was quite chaotic. And even with the incredible actors that were in this production, it came across in so many instances as nothing more than a high school production. Overall, I was pretty disappointed.

The audience's fault? Hardly.

The director sets the tone of the piece giving the audience cues as to what the evening is about.

This director imposed a broad tone that panders to the audiences associations with sit-com humor. An approach I feel that cheapens the entire play.

I remember when PASSION was in previews and the audience was laughing spontaneously at little moments.

Sondheim and Lapine listened to the reactions and realized that needed to clarify there intentions. They made minor adjustments and the laughing stopped.

Allen intends the reaction her direction elicits.

---

The mods are homophobes. It's common knowledge by now.