During a recent New York performance of Douglas Carter Beane’s play “Shows for Days,” star Patti LuPone confiscated an audience member’s cellphone as she moved out into the audience. According to a recent story by Los Angeles Times writer David Ng, the actress had previously yelled at an audience member in the middle of a 2009 performance of “Gypsy” on Broadway for using a phone.
Just last year, Kevin Spacey roared at an audience member for using his cellphone during a performance of the one-man show “Clarence Darrow” in London, according to the New York Daily News. “If you don’t answer that,” said Spacey to the offending member of the audience, “I will.”
We are well into the 21st century, and still many theatergoers either aren’t aware or simply don’t care about just how disruptive cellphones can be — not only to other audience members but also to the actors and stage crew themselves. And cellphones are only the beginning of disruptive behavior.
Actor and director Jennifer Parker Hohl has been involved for years with the Utah Children’s Theatre and notes that at the beginning of every performance, a live person explains theater etiquette to the young audience.
“We explain that this is a live event with real people who can see and hear the audience nearly as well as the audience can see and hear them,” Hohl said. “It’s not to say that the audience should never make any noise. There are good noises and bad noises.”
While good noises, the children are told, include laughing, clapping and even crying, bad noises include talking, crying babies, the commotion associated with late arrivals and, of course, cellphones.
“Pretty much anything to do with a cellphone, unless it’s turned off or in sleep mode, is totally distracting in live theater,” said Hohl, who indicates that the phone’s lights and texting can be every bit as distracting to actors and fellow audience members as ringing or talking. “It is very difficult for everyone, audience and cast alike, to ignore the blatant modern interruption.”
Hohl related a story of something that took place during a performance of “Father of the Bride” at Hale Centre Theatre a few years ago. She was onstage with a fellow actor when an audience member’s phone began to ring. “Usually when this happens, there is a scrambling in the seats and it gets turned off quickly. This time, it just kept ringing and ringing and ringing. It became impossible to go on.”
Her co-star, David Weekes, walked over to the man in the second row and asked him to answer it so the production could continue. The man answered the phone then handed it to Weekes, who said, “He can’t really talk right now, he’s watching a live performance of ‘Father of the Bride.’ He’ll call you back after the show.”
Texting is also a major problem. Hohl recalled an HCT performance of “Fiddler on the Roof” in which a young woman on the front row not only was texting during the entire show but also propped her feet up on a set piece. During the wedding scene, covering her microphone and staying in character, Hohl said to her, “I do not know why you need to be texting; I pray to God it is not an emergency. But it is very rude for a woman, a mother, to behave in such a way in front of her children at a wedding.”
The woman put her phone away.
Though the use of a cellphone may rank as the most distracting offense in theaters today, it is important to remember that other concerns continue to plague actors, stage crews and other audience members alike. Arriving on time, both for the initial curtain and after intermissions, is common courtesy. Additionally, if an audience member must leave for any reason during a scene, care should be taken to do so as silently as possible.
Director John Sweeney recalled an incident during the run of HCT’s “The Little Mermaid” in which an audience member disrupted the show’s technical crew.
“Our music director was sitting, watching the show from the sound booth, when all of a sudden a woman boosted her son up over the wall into (his) arms, all while announcing her son had to (use the bathroom),” Sweeney said. “Then all of a sudden, she climbs up and over the wall herself in order to take him in.”
Sweeney urges theater patrons to use the restroom before the show begins.
“Typically, Act 1 will last between an hour and 90 minutes,” Sweeney said. “You don’t want to end up having to have the entire row stand up for you just as you get to the climactic song before intermission.”
Perhaps one of the most demoralizing things an audience member can do comes at the very end of the performance.
“It’s always disappointing to me when I see audience members get up and leave during the curtain call,” said actor and director Josh Richardson. “Often, performers work for little to no pay, so the only reward we will receive is your applause letting us know that you enjoyed our efforts to entertain.”
Hohl and Sweeney agree that audience members leaving during the curtain call is very inconsiderate.
“It’s a particularly rude habit that abounds here in Utah,” Hohl said.
Sweeney added, “It’s disrespectful to the performers who deserve your applause, and it’s once again inconveniencing the theatergoers around you who may have to clear the way for your exit. There is no traffic in Utah that has ever occurred that justifies such a disrespectful action.”
Cody K. Carlson holds a master's in history from the University of Utah and teaches at Salt Lake Community College. An avid player of board games, he blogs at thediscriminatinggamer.com. Email: ckcarlson76@gmail.com