Bad Behaviour at a Show

Cursed Child part 2 is 6pm on a Sunday, the alert could coincide nicely with the act 3 jump scare there.

I’m writing this on my phone while waiting for my flight back from NYC to London so forgive me not posting a link but Page Six (you can find them and full details of this on Instagram) reports that Hillary and Chelsea Clinton went to see Some Like It Hot at the Schubert Theater on Broadway and ‘the lights came up for intermission and there were two human turds in the aisle just near the famous political duo’

The mind boggles pondering whether whoever was responsible carried this out during the first act or sneaked the doings inside in their pocket and lobbed them at some point 😝

The Bridge also asking for no nuts. Cast member has allergy. Not a problem is it? 

I wonder if there's scope to prosecute/sue people for selling or posting nude images taken without permission during a show? 

In general I think theatres do almost nothing to stop phones being used during shows. The article says Good put stickers on phone cameras - that certainly didn't happen the night I saw it. Usually there's only an usher holding up a sign before the show, which a lot of people don't even look at. Occasionally an usher will say something on the way in about switching off phones (I think I recall this at the Old Vic and Almeida). Why aren't there announcements in every theatre at the same time as "the performance will begin in 3 minutes" saying "Please switch off your phone now. You will be asked to leave if you use your phone while the actors are on stage." It's so rare to go to the theatre and not be disturbed by phone lights and ringtones. 

And yet that's where Mail's photos were taken from. As was seen at Take Me Out in NYC, there's no way to know if someone has a second phone with them for nefarious purposes - as everyone had to use Yondr pouches for Take Me Out. People will always find a way around processes, the answer has to be heightened surveillance and enforcement.

Of course not. As I mentioned, it's simply something I've not seen before in a theater.

The angle in those pictures was looking downwards with people visible in the onstage seats, so must have been taken from the circle.

Clearly they’d have known there was a strong possibility of someone filming it, so it’s bizarre to me that the people on stage, sitting under stage lighting and visible to hundreds of people are made to lock their phones away while the hundreds of people sitting in the dark aren’t.

Though the minuscule foyer at the Pinter’s a bit of a nightmare to get in and out of on a good day, checking everyone’s phones will only make that worse.

Why is everyone assuming the photos were taken with a phone? There are discreet cameras disguised as, say, pens available on Amazon. For £40.

Yes a phone is the last item to use to take discreet photos, with its big screen lighting up as you lift it and probably on automatic flash.

So locking away phones will only deter casual photographers but a stern warning would probably work almost as well as a deterrent.

From what I am reading on Twitter the behaviour at Stage Doors seems to be getting worse.

Bonnie and Clyde now have a sign up reminding patrons to be polite, which is depressing that it even needs to be said.

I’m sharing this article. Unfortunately, it reflects what we already know from this thread, but at least this is getting sustained publicity in the hope/ to pressurise for there to be changes to protect everyone.

www.theguardian.com/stage/2023/mar/28/uk-theatre-staff-audience-behaviour-abuse-drunken-theatregoers