Why do fully grown adults still think it's ok to talk in shows?
Why do fully grown adults still think it's ok to talk in shows?
#1Why do fully grown adults still think it's ok to talk in shows?
Posted: 11/29/15 at 7:53pm
WARNING: Forgive me for ranting, but I just kind of need to vent.
I'm becoming more and more fed up with how frequently I see/hear people talking above a whisper during shows. I don't like to make generalization about groups of people, but 90% of the people I've heard talking during shows it has come from elderly audience members. That isn't to say that all old people are rude audience members - far from it (if that were the case, every performance would be chaos). But I'm shocked that anyone who has been living in our society for over 60 years can still think it's ok to talk during shows.
Most of the time it happens right when the lights have gone down at the beginning of the show - that incredibly important moment when the audience makes the transition from being in their own reality to escaping into the show. And half the time I have to listen to some old couple continuing their conversation from before the show.
Today I saw Incident at Vichy, and the guy behind me kept talking even after the show had begun. The show begins with a good 20-30 seconds of silence onstage, and he clearly thought that just because there wasn't dialogue, he was free to keep on gabbing. During the show, an older woman actually yelled "get him!" when
a man was pointing a gun at a Nazi
Sorry, for the rant, but it's just something that really frustrates me. I'll end with a quote from The Frogs
Don't say, "What?"
To every line you think you haven't got.
And if you're in a snit because you've missed the plot
(Of which I must admit there's not an awful lot),
Still don't
Say, "What?"
Phantom4ever
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/17/07
#2Why do fully grown adults still think it's ok to talk in shows?
Posted: 11/29/15 at 7:57pm
I just finished directing a musical at the high school level and we had some big problems with students talking in the audience during the show. I tracked down the worst offenders and tried to make it a teachable moment, but I wasn't ready for their opinions on the matter. The students said things like "it's just like a movie. You can talk at a movie theater so why can't you talk during a play?" The general consensus seemed to be that they have the right to talk if they want to and nobody can really stop them. So this is the next generation of theater goers
Hamilton22
Broadway Star Joined: 7/18/15
#3Why do fully grown adults still think it's ok to talk in shows?
Posted: 11/29/15 at 7:59pm
Oh God another audience complaint thread.
#4Why do fully grown adults still think it's ok to talk in shows?
Posted: 11/29/15 at 8:00pm
But what's interesting is that I've actually found people of my own generation to be much more polite. I remember I was at An American in Paris, and I was sitting in front of a big group of high-schoolers. My immediate thought was "oh lord, they'd better be quiet," but they never caused any trouble. Meanwhile the adult woman in front of me was taking pictures during the show and an adult man beside me was loudly unwrapping candies throughout
Updated On: 11/29/15 at 08:00 PM
BroadwayConcierge
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/24/15
#5Why do fully grown adults still think it's ok to talk in shows?
Posted: 11/29/15 at 8:00pm
Oh God, another Hamilton22 gripe.
#6Why do fully grown adults still think it's ok to talk in shows?
Posted: 11/29/15 at 8:02pm
Hamilton22 said: "Oh God another audience complaint thread. "
Is this a thing that people post about often? If so I apologize. I guess they never really catch my eye when I'm scanning the board. You're free to ignore this one as well.
Hamilton22
Broadway Star Joined: 7/18/15
#7Why do fully grown adults still think it's ok to talk in shows?
Posted: 11/29/15 at 8:06pm
Yes there have been quite a few recently and they always end up becoming rather large threads.
#8Why do fully grown adults still think it's ok to talk in shows?
Posted: 11/29/15 at 8:26pm
Just a thought - many folks past 60 begin to lose their hearing. Hence, we talk a little loud because we actually can't hear ourselves talk. I'm guilty of that.
#9Why do fully grown adults still think it's ok to talk in shows?
Posted: 11/29/15 at 8:29pm
Also - my comment related to a complaint made in this thread.
Why the hell do you care how many threads about this topic there are? In fact, how does the amount or topic of threads here impact anyone's life?
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#10Why do fully grown adults still think it's ok to talk in shows?
Posted: 11/29/15 at 8:29pm
^ was groing to say the same thing...they can't fully hear themselves. I shush people. They get the hint.
Age has little to do with manners OR theatrical etiquette knowledge.
#11Why do fully grown adults still think it's ok to talk in shows?
Posted: 11/29/15 at 8:30pm
But why would you talk at all during a show? If you have to say something, wait for the applause.
Auggie27
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/13/03
#12Why do fully grown adults still think it's ok to talk in shows?
Posted: 11/29/15 at 8:31pm
It's pandemic, and it's awful in movies, too. Worsening. I can't believe how horribly people behave at films. Yes, boomers and older are the worst offenders; in truth, most of the films I see don't bring in younger demos, "Truth," "Spotlight," "Steve Jobs" "Suffragette" and "Room". The urge to speak during key scenes -- or immediately after personal annotation -- "she's so good here, she usually plays comedy, but she's very believable, don'tcha think?" -- seems to be catching. The origins of this syndrome are mysterious. People my age grew up in movies and theaters know better. It pisses me off that people don't even attempt to whisper during trailers. It's my prerogative to want to hear trailers. But people speak in booming voices; if you turn and glare at them, they act as if my request for quiet is insane. As they do over overtures and incidental music in the theater. Good luck enjoying an entr'acte.
Start a thread every week. The rudeness is deadly.
#13Why do fully grown adults still think it's ok to talk in shows?
Posted: 11/29/15 at 8:32pm
I have never sat through a show without saying something to someone. I bet everyone has spoken during a show. You can speak without anyone else hearing you.
#14Why do fully grown adults still think it's ok to talk in shows?
Posted: 11/29/15 at 8:33pm
Auggie27 said: "Start a thread every week. The rudeness is deadly. "
But here? Where so many people are regular theatregoers anyway? Something like this needs a more Gothamist-like audience.
#15Why do fully grown adults still think it's ok to talk in shows?
Posted: 11/29/15 at 8:52pm
Some guy next to me recently kept checking his work e-mails next to me at a show, but as soon as I leaned over like I wanted to read them, he got all defensive and stopped reading them. 
#16Why do fully grown adults still think it's ok to talk in shows?
Posted: 11/29/15 at 8:57pm
Jane2 said: "I have never sat through a show without saying something to someone. I bet everyone has spoken during a show. You can speak without anyone else hearing you.
I don't think I've ever said a word during a show. Or even a movie, except to quiet someone else. It's very rude and disrespectful, and no, you can't speak without someone else hearing you.
Updated On: 11/29/15 at 08:57 PM
#17Why do fully grown adults still think it's ok to talk in shows?
Posted: 11/29/15 at 8:58pm
"You can speak without anyone else hearing you."
If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
#18Why do fully grown adults still think it's ok to talk in shows?
Posted: 11/29/15 at 8:59pm
Jane2 said: "I have never sat through a show without saying something to someone. I bet everyone has spoken during a show. You can speak without anyone else hearing you."
Are you serious? No, I have never in my adult life talked during a show other than during applause.
#19Why do fully grown adults still think it's ok to talk in shows?
Posted: 11/29/15 at 9:07pm
"no, you can't speak without someone else hearing you."
WRONG WRONG a thousand times WRONG. Part of the enjoyment of going to a show with a friend is to share some thoughts about it at the moment. You and Lizzie Curry may not care to do that but my friends and I (all theater professionals) do. Leaning over and whispering to my friends and they to me is done all the time. and we'll keep doing it. In all the decades I've been attending shows, I"ve shared thoughts on occasion with friends and never, never, have I had anyone shush me, or given me a look for any reason. EVER.
#20Why do fully grown adults still think it's ok to talk in shows?
Posted: 11/29/15 at 9:10pm
Didn't you just say your hearing is going? So how do you know this is wrong, much less a thousand times so?
I'm sure you've gotten looks. You just didn't notice.
I hope I never sit near you.
Hamilton22
Broadway Star Joined: 7/18/15
#21Why do fully grown adults still think it's ok to talk in shows?
Posted: 11/29/15 at 9:11pm
Pick a little, talk a little, pick a little, talk a little cheep cheep cheep, talk a lot, pick a little more.
#22Why do fully grown adults still think it's ok to talk in shows?
Posted: 11/29/15 at 9:15pm
Well, whispering in someone's ear is different (although even that can be annoying, if you're blocking someone's view behind you by leaning over). I assumed we were talking about speaking above a whisper, since JBroadway made that specification in his original post.
#23Why do fully grown adults still think it's ok to talk in shows?
Posted: 11/29/15 at 9:15pm
"I hope I never sit near you."
Is that a threat or a promise?
#24Why do fully grown adults still think it's ok to talk in shows?
Posted: 11/29/15 at 9:16pm
hork said: " (although even that can be annoying, if you're blocking someone's view behind you by leaning over). "
Especially if it happens repeatedly.
#25Why do fully grown adults still think it's ok to talk in shows?
Posted: 11/29/15 at 9:17pm
LizzieCurry said: "hork said: " (although even that can be annoying, if you're blocking someone's view behind you by leaning over). "
Especially if it happens repeatedly.
Exactly.
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