BackStage Utah

Perhaps someone has posted about this issue before, but I haven't seen it. During the past two years or so, the following has occurred while I have been acting in a play or attending one:

While attending a show at a local prominent theatre-in-the-round, a woman on the front row was knitting. Now, with theatre in the round, it is inevitable that light will splash on the audience. Come to think of it, she probably bought her front row ticket for that very reason�to have light to see what she was doing. She probably didn�t realize that the audience members could see each other (especially since she didn�t look up much from her knitting. I don�t know how much of the show she actually saw). Anyway, it was VERY distracting for me as an audience member sitting across the way. She moved so much she upstaged the actors. There were times she seemed annoyed that the actors were so close to her�especially when a swordfight was going on right in front of her. Sometimes, her yarn would get tangled and she�d straighten it out using her arm�raising it high above her head. It almost looked like she was trying to participate in the swordfight onstage. I tried to find her to say something during intermission, but couldn�t. She was late getting back to her seat. If I had been acting, I would have stayed in character and swiped the stuff out of her hand.

Same show: Following the climax of the play and as the plot is wrapping up, 20 to 30 people get up and leave like it�s the end of a sporting event, their team is losing, and they want to beat the traffic.

In a small black box theatre�during my speech in the opening scene of a show, a guy in the second row pulls out a bottle of whiskey and paper cups and proceeds to loudly pour (�glug, glug, glug�) and pass drinks down the row to his friends!

I attended a show at a small theatre (150 seats) and saw a local film industry talent agent there. She came to see one of her actors who was in the play. Apparently, she forgot she was a professional adult at a live performance (mistook herself for a dumb teen in a movie theatre) and decided it would be a good idea to make out in the back row with her date. People running the lights talked for quite a while afterward about how distracting it was.

Same show: A drunk homeless man was in the back snoring and yelling in his sleep. The producer woke him up and escorted him to the lobby where she babysat him to ensure he didn�t wander back into the performance space. His mother had bought him a ticket so he would have a warm place to go. He managed to wander back in later�and began snoring loudly right during the climax of the play.

After frantically hurrying offstage into the dressing room, and while stripping down to nearly nothing for my quick change, the pungent stink of poop nearly knocked me over. I looked up in my naked state, startled to see a strange woman I had never met with a baby in her arms. She informed me that she was going to use my dressing room to change the baby and that it was okay because her mother was on the theatre board. I was late for my entrance onstage. The woman stunk up the dressing room, returned to her seat, and the baby continued to fuss throughout the show.

Not one, not two, but THREE cell phones went off during the first scene of the show�immediately following the pre-show announcement asking people to turn them off! One of them ANSWERED THE PHONE!!! �Both of us onstage were playing distraught characters, but we didn�t need the audience to help create that!! Both of us were quite angry backstage. I know I shouldn�t have let it affect the rest of the performance�but it did.

While doing a show in a large proscenium theatre, I consistently saw small lights coming from the audience. People had their phones on silent but were texting during the show. I�m sure they figured that it was dark, that they weren�t bothering other audience members, and that no one would notice if they were discreet. Well, it bothered me and the other actors. It was annoying, rude, and distracting�especially during scene changes when we were trying to see our way offstage in dim lighting. Plus�cell phones left on often mess with sound equipment.

Several audience members were talking in full voice during a play I attended. We kept looking over at the talkers, frustrated and annoyed with them. After the show, the people who had been talking came over and scolded us by saying that we should have handled ourselves differently and that giving dirty looks wasn�t an appropriate way of dealing with our frustration. If they were bothering us, we should have TALKED with them about it! WHAT??? During the show??? NO!!!! We didn�t want to add to the problem! We wanted it to go away!! They thought WE were rude!

Is it just me . . . or is there a HUGE problem with audience etiquette around here? This has been bothering me for quite a while now. Has anyone else had weird experiences with audience members? How do we better educate people about etiquette at the theatre? Pre-show announcements seem to be getting longer and longer. Do they really need to say �no knitting, no pouring drinks, etc.�? Am I expecting too much? Should we just expect ignorant people to get up and leave in the middle? Should they do what they want because they paid for it? Should we say, �It�s okay. They don�t know any better.�--or is it important to educate people? I think an educated audience generally gets more out of a play than an uneducated one. Thoughts?

I've witnessed some of them, and I'd like to contribute a couple more stories.

I was in a Utah parody theatre and FRONT ROW (which is basically one foot away from the stage) was a girl whose cell went off, and she answered it!  The actors poked fun at her, she acted all embarrassed, there were laughs all around.  A little bit later her phone went off again, and she answered it again.  That time an actor took her phone from her ear, whereupon he took it backstage and we made a video on it detailing how incredibly rude she was.

Then I was in an Idaho parody theatre when, once again, a front row teenage girl was texting the entire time.  Her parents were right next to her, who completely didn't care that their child was being ridiculously rude.  The actors made many pointed comments about her, her texting, and her rudeness, but apparently she was too distracted to hear for she continued on.  I guess the parents finally said something as after intermission she moved.... a whopping two feet back to the second row, where she continued texting.  I am not exagerating when I say she never once stopped texting through the entire show.  And her parents did nothing.  I'm just as mad at the parents as I am at the girl. 

Honestly, I think the bad theater etiquette epidemic has three responsible parties: movies (not that they're bad, I just think people take more liberties when the people they're watching are pre-recorded, then don't know what to do when they're confronted with live), cell phones, and bad parenting.

Bruce Wayne wrote on May 30^th, 2009 at 1:49am:


No, indeed, you are not. I am pretty careful about my standing ovations.

gcarp wrote on May 30^th, 2009 at 2:42pm:

I've always called them Leaving Ovations...everyone's just standing up while they clap so they can head out to the parking lot.  Especially if they like getting out the door before the receiving line is set up in the lobby.

It's not just Utah audiences that can be rude, or just oblivious to others around them. I've done theater in Virginia, southern California and northern California. There are always audience members that bug not only the actors but other theater goers.
  I've also had the experience of someone answering their phone (after the pre-show announcement). A few other stories: I worked in a small theater (90 seats) with the front row about a foot from the stage. Several times we had people prop their feet on the stage during the performance! During intermission, some would sit on the edge of the stage while twice we had people actually get up and sit on the set's furniture. When the stage manager requested they leave the stage they acted like she was the rude one.
  It also frustrates me when someone arrives late (such as once mid way through the 1st act) and not only expects to be seated but talks the whole way to their seat.
  I'm sure most theater folks have stories to share. Unfortunately, it's like "preaching to the choir". Maybe it would be a good idea for the Tribune to do an article on audience etiquette one Sunday in the theater section. It might just open a few people's eyes (the oblivious one's anyway... the rude are rude regardless).
   Regarding standing ovations, again this isn't unique to Utah. I have seen it in many theaters. I've always been stingy with my SO's, maybe because they seem to have become so common.

best thing ever: A group of 5 pro actors from london came to perform Hamlet up at USU. 4 men 1 women playing all the parts in a condensed but still very heavy duty production. They were phenom! Seriously, one of the most moving performances i have ever seen...they wore blacks and when changing character, they would just add a small piece to their costume to represent someone different. One guy played Rosencrantz AND Guildenstern both. AMAZING. Seriously flawless. Anyway...the night i went. A girl on the front row...text book open, i pod on, earphones in, and TOTALLY asleep. The guy playing hamlet was livid. He gets into one of his soliloquies, walks right over to the area this girl is sitting, and he screams at her "FRAILTY, THY NAME IS WOMAN!"

it was awesome.

the girl was then escorted out by an usher at the request of the 5 actors.

BlueRoses wrote on Jun 3^rd, 2009 at 11:13am:

Erica Hansen wrote a piece on some of this a while back: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700234384,00.html.  I also have a vague memory of her writing something about a decline in audience dress standards.  I think we may have even discussed it here.  It may have been one of her blogs, but I can't seem to find it now.

Anyway...I completely agree with all your thoughts on trolling lines (as in, trolling for compliments).  I dislike them intensely.  They do them routinely at both Hale theatres.  I know that their audiences have come to expect them and are disappointed when they want to compliment an actor who is not there (for whatever reason).  So, when I work at HCTO I participate.  At least I have lot of good stories about the CRAZY things people have said to me.  Truly.  Crazy.

Whiel waiting for Spiker, I have a receiving line story.  I was the title character of a heavy show, lots of crying onstage and all that.  One of my adult lead actors, who never learned his lines and would point out to me the lines I missed, had his father attend a show. Apperently his dad was in a well-known movie in a well known character role.  Anyway, he came through the receiving line and after the initial handshake and "good job", he proceeded to give me acting notes!  Of all the nerve.  He should have been speaking to his son.

I hate receiving lines.  Hate them, hate them, hate them.  I hate being in them and I hate going through them (even when I have friends in the show).

I don't care for recieving lines, as an actor, or a member of the audience. I find them awkward and uncomfortable. And,as I have said before, I never take at face value any compliment given inside a theatre. It always seems to be likely to have been given out of a sense of obligation as sincerity.

On the reverse side of bad theatre manners, I conisder it incredibly bad manners for theaters to ask or instruct people to applaud, something of which I see a lot these days (usually in the introduction speach). Fine, people may be rude and not applaud. that does not justify the tacky rudeness of actually asking for applause, and I pity the performer so starved for approval that they get a sense of validation out of applause they had to ask for.

I'm not a fan of the lines.  If I'm in a show where that's the done thing, I stand in the line, but I'd usually rather be in the dressing room changing back to street clothes.  And when I go to see a show, if I want to say hi to a friend, I go directly to them and don't give empty handshakes and compliments to everyone else in the cast. 

The last show I was in was Hello, Dolly.  I ended up with a heck of a lot of rouge on my cheeks, which was usually what people commented on as they came through the line.  I made a game of counting how many comments I got on my makeup...

Phirechild wrote on Jun 4^th, 2009 at 10:51am:


The Utah Spontaneous Erection. I love it! 

This quote is awesome:

Quote:

JingleBeq wrote on Jun 3^rd, 2009 at 2:41pm:

I hate receiving lines for the primary reason that I get "wow, you're tall!" at least sixty times a night. During a show at the Hale, I took my heels off so people would stop saying it, and then I got "Good job! Where are your shoes?"

For the love. � I do agree about receiving lines-- I don't like them. I always feel like a "thank you" is inadequate for any compliment received... those people just sat and watched me work my ass off for two hours. I feel like I should be the one thanking them for hanging in there. It's a thing.

Here's the Wall Street Journal discussing the topic

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124424873407590721.html

After attending The Lion King this summer in London and having multiple of the things mentioned above happen in one performance, I decided to dedicate a whole new part of my drama curriculum to Audience behavior because it drives me to wazoo when people are so rude.

cb23 wrote on Jul 5^th, 2009 at 9:10am:

I think that's a fantastic idea. I think a lot of bad audience behavior can be chalked up to ignorance, not malice.

StageNinja wrote on Jul 6^th, 2009 at 9:02am:


Theater can seem very real sometimes

One of the shows of "Curtains" at Hale in West Valley there was an older gentleman who had a hearing aid in about 7 rows up.  It kept squealing the whole first act.  It was so loud we picked it up on our microphones and it would drive us crazy.  Several of us stopped the show throughout to see what the noise was, but none of the other patrons would say anything to this person.  By the time the show was almost over we were so annoyed we almost stopped the show to tell him to turn it off, but we were too close to the end.  I am surprised the patrons around him didn't tell him to turn it down.  Sometimes it is the job of the patron to shut other patrons up when they are loud.

Beast wrote on Nov 4^th, 2009 at 1:07am:

As an actor, I would never even dare ask that question.  "Thank you" and "thanks for coming" are frequently the only responses I give in receiving lines... I cannot imagine someone having the gall to ask a stranger how they liked the show. It's scary enough to ask your friends and family. 

What about just having an usher pull the rudies, sleepers, snorers, knitters, texters, blatherers, etc. out of the audience, refund their money, and tell them to be on their way? �Isn't there a way to have a walkie talkie backstage to call up an usher and get the problem removed?

I haven't attended many plays, but I have attended some. �I've attended more group comedy improv. �In none of the cases has there been a "receiving line." �I must say the idea sounds dumb. �Really dumb. �Why not, after a movie, have the ushers and projectionists and concession stand workers all stand outside the movie theatre to receive compliments on "the great work on cleaning up twizzlers" or "superb focus" or "that popcorn was just terrific"? �Seriously. �The automatic standing ovations aren't enough of a fluff job for the cast that they need to get head in the lobby, too? �I'd avoid that ego stroking session like the plague it is.

Only In Las Vegas wrote on Jul 6^th, 2009 at 5:36pm:


Never been on my to do list, no.

The Kaylee and the Ivy wrote on Jan 24^th, 2010 at 1:44am:


You also managed to be brilliant too.  If you don't remember that either, it's okay.  I remember.

LOL!  Loved this whole discussion.  I guess I am a little older then most of you... but people are people, where-ever you go and they do some pretty weird things.  Bottom line is that nothing I read here surprised me.  Of course that doesn't mean that I agree with rudeness.  It does seem that people these days don't respect anything or anybody.  It doesn't seem to matter how much they spend for a ticket... they own the place and they are the customer, hence they have the right to do whatever they want.  Which means of course that whomever they are watching, then has a perfect right to stop whatever they are doing and "comment" on the rudeness, assuming that they don't ruin the show with the new dialogue (which can of course happen).  Hmmm, so the knitting lady OBVIOUSLY shouldn't have been knitting---but what is one to do.  She must have been "made to come along" with some other theater goers who were probably embarassed by her behavior.  Then of course, the txting and cell phones and sound are all problems, what sounds more frustrating is that again you were no doubt faced with people who wanted to come, and one who didn't... and thus everyone PAID the price... but the rudeness went on.  And lastly, the oviation delima, which is of course a delima.  People are just tired of sitting, ready for the parking lot rush... or just maybe they thought the performance was GREAT!  Guess you all better just enjoy that one, and think the latter!  After all if you are going through the pains of all the other stuff, you might as well enjoy the applause.

Putting all that aside, try hard to concentrate and remember why you are "performing."  Be glad the audience is with you, and comfortable.  Remember someone is paying the rent, and just be glad people bought tickets... so you can do it again.  Gosh I didn't know I had so much to say.  As far as educating people on their behavior... keep trying, I am sure some of it sticks.  But remember the important thing is your performance and that of your fellow actors!