Apologies for long post but felt this needed to be said: I had the pleasure of sitting next to a lady and her son at Charlie and the Chocolate Factory last week, both of whom had never been to the theatre. Needless to say, their excitement was palpable. As the first act began and the curtain raised to reveal Mark Thompson’s tremendous set, the child turned to his mother and in a hushed voice said “Wow mum, look!” Clever kid, I thought, knows to keep his voice down in a theatre, there is still hope for the younger generation. But these were obviously not the sentiments of a lady behind us, who tapped him on the shoulder and rather sternly told him that he “WILL NOT talk throughout the whole show, young man!” The kid looked like a puppy who’d been kicked in the face, but he curled up to his mother and settled into the show. Unfortunately the rudeness didn’t stop there and throughout the act the lady, who later made a point of telling me how often she goes to the theatre and how much she had spent on a ticket, continued to ‘tell off’ the child any time he got excited and shared the moment with his mum. When we returned from the interval, the mother and child had swapped seats but alas, the Duchess of Rudeville continued her barrage of discipline, this time aiming it at the mother. The second act passed and as the cast came out to take their bows, I looked at the mother and to my horror saw her wiping tears from her cheek. The theatregoers behind us were so intent on having an evening at the theatre free from distractions that they had completely ruined another family’s trip, and perhaps even put them off coming to the theatre again, I know the child will think twice when asked whether he’d like to go to the theatre or the cinema in future. Don’t get me wrong, there are some people out there that do spoil theatre for others, indeed I wrote an article on ‘The Definitive List of Rules every Theatregoer should abide by’, however fellow theatregoers should not be taking it into their own hands to remonstrate with perpetrators of these rules. If someone is making too much noise or using their mobile phone, then tell an usher whose job it is to deal with these problems in an appropriate and polite way. Just as I deplore Maureen Lipman for criticising Jamie Lloyd’s production of Richard III, claiming that it only attracts people who spend most of the day with wires in their ears (they’re called earphones Maureen and I’m one of those people), I’m frightened that regular theatregoers, like the iron lady behind me at Charlie, taking it upon themselves to verbally abuse others who aren’t necessarily aware of ‘theatre etiquette’ will alienate new theatregoers, people who the theatre industry rely upon to continue and thrive. And what is this ‘theatre etiquette’ that we are hearing so much about recently? To my knowledge, there is no such thing written down and put on display for every theatregoer to see and take note of. How are we to expect people follow ‘our rules’ if we don’t tell them what they are in the first place? I’m not by any means claiming that people should be allowed to eat, drink, talk or text as much as they like during a performance (although this was the case in Shakespearean theatre), but in order to attract and retain a new generation of theatregoers we need to adapt to the changing times.
Posted on: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 13:50:56 +0000
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