The audience from Hell

Hello Gordon, Interesting topic that you raised. The use of mobile phones and i-pods by audience members in theatres and cinemas seems to be an increasing occurance along with conducting conversations with friends or wrangling with snack wrappers. I personally find it intriguing and sad that modern audiences seem to struggle with maintaining concentration or focus for an extended period of time without the need to be eating, texting, talking or wriggling about. Student audiences at the theatre. I will assume you are referring to secondary level students. I wonder how often the average secondary school student has attended a live theatre performance these days - not including Theatre In Education which occurs at school. Is it sadly possible that many young audiences simply don't know how to conduct themselves in a theatre environment? Pulling faces, calling out or being disruptive and distracting may, unfortunately, be the symptoms of an audience who is 'feeling something' from the performance but just don't know how to appropriately express or deal with their emotions. Kind of like when kids attend their first grade 6 'sex education' night and end up giggling or laughing a lot to conceal their embarrassment. Being disruptive, dismissive and silly is easier than responding in a more profound way. In the stand up comedy world audience distractions done purposely is known as heckling. Interestingly, most hecklers(apart from the blindly drunk)don't actually heckle to purposely bring down the performer. They do it to draw attention to themselves and to attract the notice of the comedian so that, for a brief moment they are 'part of the act'. Quite a few people who watch stand up secretly wish they had the guts to get up there themselves. I wonder if young audiences who try to elicit the attention of the actors are behaving in a similar vein? My thoughts? I would love for a pro manners and anti technology revolution to sweep our cinemas and theatres. Eager minds in, electronic distractions out. As frustrating as it is, I also hope that young audiences keep getting brought to live shows - the younger the better. Electronic and virtual entertainment can never usurp the experience of a live show. Young audiences need experiences that engage their minds and enhance their experience of being 'human'. Real humans. Actors of Australia - we have a precious and vital role ahead of us. Tulipa.