Phones

I found my self sitting in a theatre the other day and the phone of the woman sitting next to me rang and SHE ANSWERED IT.  This was for me the final straw and after asking her politely to cease I eventually asked the house manager to expell her After some time he did.

This is not the first time thios has happened although it is the most blatant. At the Adelaide Festival Fringe I sat in a Bio box and on two occasions when we had a theatre full of school kids (year 10 I think) I could almost read by the light of the mobile phone screens as they constantly texted each other.

Now don't get me wrong, I would not be without my mobile. But I turn it off in theatres and cinemas and on silent in restaurants. I also endeavour not to have long involved excessively frank and loud conversations about what I did last night on crowded trains.

Is there any suggestions out there about dealing with this issue when you're trying to run a show in a venue. Any tactics that can get those phones off. Even recorded annoucements seem only partly successful. I understand that there are devices available on sale in the US that damp signals to mobile phones over quite small areas. They seem to be used in schools. That's using a hammer to carck an egg but hey.