Will you PLEASE be quiet??!!
Mon, 26 Aug 2002, 09:26 amLeah Maher32 posts in thread
Will you PLEASE be quiet??!!
Mon, 26 Aug 2002, 09:26 amHey kids,
Not wanting to take attention away from the interesting three way romance developing in the "Reviewers in the Missed" thread, an interesting point has been raised way down there in the Reviews forum; what do you do about noisy audience members?
The amazing Mr Kelso in the equally amazing Copenhagen at the Octogon very recently apparently employed the simple break of character and "Would you please be quiet, the rest of the audience is tying to listen." before returning to character and picking up from where he had been so rudely interupted.
Is this the best way to go about it? Or should you just ignore it and hope it goes away? Or send a runner out in the interval to hunt down the culprits and have a quiet word? Or get the cast and crew together in the car park afterwards to make sure these inconsiderate audience members never bother another actor again?
Suggestions? Stories? Annecdotes?
Leah
Not wanting to take attention away from the interesting three way romance developing in the "Reviewers in the Missed" thread, an interesting point has been raised way down there in the Reviews forum; what do you do about noisy audience members?
The amazing Mr Kelso in the equally amazing Copenhagen at the Octogon very recently apparently employed the simple break of character and "Would you please be quiet, the rest of the audience is tying to listen." before returning to character and picking up from where he had been so rudely interupted.
Is this the best way to go about it? Or should you just ignore it and hope it goes away? Or send a runner out in the interval to hunt down the culprits and have a quiet word? Or get the cast and crew together in the car park afterwards to make sure these inconsiderate audience members never bother another actor again?
Suggestions? Stories? Annecdotes?
Leah
Re: How to be an audience member?
Wed, 28 Aug 2002, 08:48 pmCraig K Edwards wrote:
>
>I'm not so optimistic about the position of theatre performers /
> producers to demand audiences to behave better. There's one
> thing which people seem to be forgetting here - like it or
> not, the audience don't actually have to go to the theatre at
> all. Like any other consumer, if what we provide doesn't fit
> what they want, they won't go. It's that simple.
Not completely disagreeing with your statements, Craig K, but expanding the point of view.
I believe there's a reasonably well-established standard of behaviour for live theatre audiences that the majority of patrons agree to. Basically; respecting someone's right to view the performance they've paid for, and not interfering with that experience.
I don't think it's unreasonable to demand that that respect is offered to all paying customers.
The anecdotes of disruptive bad-mannered audience members presented in this thread represent a very minor percentage of the theatregoing public.
If reprimanding them and informing them that their behaviour is inappropriate offends them to the point that they leave, never to return, I don't think it's such the tragedy for our attendance figures that you are making it out to be.
1) They were probably being disruptive because they weren't engrossed in the show anyway, in which case there's a chance they wouldn't come back, reprimanded or not.
2) I don't pigeonhole people by their behaviour...one case of poor behaviour doesn't mean they'll be like that in future. Dealing with them may embarass them away forever, but more probably they'll return later with better manners.
3) 97% of the auditorium will appreciate the disruption being dealt with, admire the actor for dealing with it, remember the spontaneous theatrical experience and return to see more live performances.
An actor is usually very sensitive to how the audience that night is responding...if there are one or two individuals being disruptive, then to demand that they be more well-mannered actually IS giving the audience (as a whole) what they want.
Only if the vast MAJORITY of the crowd were talking and not paying attention (in which case you'd not be able to discern or isolate a disruption) would you need to consider adapting what you're doing (and start dodging the tomatoes) to accommodate them.
Cheers,
Craig M Williams
[%sig%]
>
>I'm not so optimistic about the position of theatre performers /
> producers to demand audiences to behave better. There's one
> thing which people seem to be forgetting here - like it or
> not, the audience don't actually have to go to the theatre at
> all. Like any other consumer, if what we provide doesn't fit
> what they want, they won't go. It's that simple.
Not completely disagreeing with your statements, Craig K, but expanding the point of view.
I believe there's a reasonably well-established standard of behaviour for live theatre audiences that the majority of patrons agree to. Basically; respecting someone's right to view the performance they've paid for, and not interfering with that experience.
I don't think it's unreasonable to demand that that respect is offered to all paying customers.
The anecdotes of disruptive bad-mannered audience members presented in this thread represent a very minor percentage of the theatregoing public.
If reprimanding them and informing them that their behaviour is inappropriate offends them to the point that they leave, never to return, I don't think it's such the tragedy for our attendance figures that you are making it out to be.
1) They were probably being disruptive because they weren't engrossed in the show anyway, in which case there's a chance they wouldn't come back, reprimanded or not.
2) I don't pigeonhole people by their behaviour...one case of poor behaviour doesn't mean they'll be like that in future. Dealing with them may embarass them away forever, but more probably they'll return later with better manners.
3) 97% of the auditorium will appreciate the disruption being dealt with, admire the actor for dealing with it, remember the spontaneous theatrical experience and return to see more live performances.
An actor is usually very sensitive to how the audience that night is responding...if there are one or two individuals being disruptive, then to demand that they be more well-mannered actually IS giving the audience (as a whole) what they want.
Only if the vast MAJORITY of the crowd were talking and not paying attention (in which case you'd not be able to discern or isolate a disruption) would you need to consider adapting what you're doing (and start dodging the tomatoes) to accommodate them.
Cheers,
Craig M Williams
[%sig%]
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