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Post by foxa on Jun 30, 2018 19:37:11 GMT
Happy to report a very quiet and well behaved audience at the 5.30 show today.
I'm glad I saw it.
Andrew Scott is just so good.
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Post by dramallama on Jun 30, 2018 20:38:59 GMT
I went to the 7pm performance today and unfortunately, two phones went off. Ushers did mention to everybody to turn phones off but, as always, people didn’t listen.
I still enjoyed the performance and I’m so glad I went along to it. Andrew Scott really is something and I do like Simon Stephens’ writing even though I can see why not everybody agrees with that.
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Post by nash16 on Jun 30, 2018 22:22:49 GMT
Another problem this show had that seemed to invite bad behaviour, weirdly, was its performance times.
A 7pm start time for a performance of just 30mins. Smack in the middle of an evening out.
What would office workers potentially do after work/pre-show? Grab a bite to eat, sink a few drinks? The play could be seen as easy, quick entertainment before resuming their evenings out.
This certainly seemed to be the case when we went and two men (husbands of the two quit women with them) talked sotto voice, but still TAKES, all the way trough the play.
They had obviously had a few and thought nothing of narrating what Andrew was recounting.
No one got up to shush them as nobody wanted to disrupt the environment Andrew and the play were trying to create.
Also a 30min play at a prestigious venue with a "celeb" actor to people who maybe don't go to the theatre much would seem very appealing. We're in we're out.
Maybe a newer audience unfamiliar with theatre protocol was attracted by this and subsequently brought with them these disruptions.
It's so sad because you don't want to dissuade new people or create a marshal law, but at the same time you want respect for the actor(s) onstage and those around you to be upheld.
The story above about the woman having a drink thrown over over head and nothing done about it by the OV is disgusting and disgraceful. If the theatres take no action, how are the audiences meant to learn?
It's eternally exhausting, as audience members, having to do the jobs of those paid to work at the theatres and supposedly "usher" a show or manage their ushers.
Something needs to be done.
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Post by NeilVHughes on Jun 30, 2018 22:42:48 GMT
foxa was also there for the 5:30, sharing the Theatre with a group of people who are destined to never grace the bad behaviour thread was a pleasure. Have never felt such an intense silence, the whole theatre became Andrew’s plaything, he was able to take us wherever he wanted in a way I’ve never seen before. Having already seen it once earlier in the run, the ushers were much more active when it came to phone use this time. Seeing it for a second time also allowed me to focus on the performance, the nuances and craftsmanship Andrew brings to the role is phenomenal. From a selfish perspective I hope he follows in the footsteps of Mark Rylance and will always primarily be a stage actor who does films.
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Post by crowblack on Jul 1, 2018 7:52:32 GMT
a newer audience unfamiliar with theatre protocol I've found that chatters and fiddlers with mobile phones come from all age groups, though here, judging by the crowds in the foyer, the Sherlock factor looked like it was bringing a younger demographic in. I didn't notice any mobiles in the performance I went to last weekend, but at Hamlet (in preview) the girl sitting next to me on the front row was in a world of her own and pretty well eating a picnic, including numerous individually-wrapped sweets, a couple of feet from the actors - so close I couldn't 'shush' her - then checking her mobile for train times through the third part and dashing off before the end.
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Post by kathryn on Jul 1, 2018 8:11:43 GMT
foxa was also there for the 5:30, sharing the Theatre with a group of people who are destined to never grace the bad behaviour thread was a pleasure. Have never felt such an intense silence, the whole theatre became Andrew’s plaything, he was able to take us wherever he wanted in a way I’ve never seen before. . I was there at the 5:30 too and it was wonderful to experience that silence. Fortunately the chap in front of me had finished up his pot of nuts by then so it wasn’t broken by him scrabbling around in the bottom of the pot looking for the last one, as the first couple of minutes were. I will just say, re: headphones leaking music, that I don’t think anyone does that deliberately! Sometimes mp3 players accidentally get turned on by a knock and the person they belong to doesn’t realise it’s theirs and is sitting there fuming about it with everyone else. Fortunately I’ve never had it happen in the theatre but I’ve had it happen in the office before...
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Post by Deleted on Jul 1, 2018 9:44:39 GMT
I wonder if little Andy Scott's fan base has something to do with it too? They are younger and probably not used to going to the theatre and behaving in a respectful manner to others. They're more used to watching Netflix on the bus and living their lives through their phones so they're not used to sitting down quietly and concentrating on something in the dark without distractions.
Cattle prods are definitely the way to go.
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Post by sf on Jul 1, 2018 11:45:32 GMT
I wonder if little Andy Scott's fan base has something to do with it too? They are younger and probably not used to going to the theatre and behaving in a respectful manner to others. They're more used to watching Netflix on the bus and living their lives through their phones so they're not used to sitting down quietly and concentrating on something in the dark without distractions. Cattle prods are definitely the way to go.
And duct tape. Lots and lots and LOTS of duct tape.
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Post by foxa on Jul 1, 2018 12:00:03 GMT
sf - I'm slightly obsessed with the drink pouring incident you witnessed. That's off the scale.
Yesterday's 5.30 performance - I was up in the Dress Circle - a pretty diverse group, but it was early enough I suppose that none of us was visibly drunk and there were probably more solo theatre-goers than usual, so possibly more hardcore theatre fans.
And to stick up for the young ones (and I'm oooollllldddd) - I think good and bad behaviour spans the generations, so cattle prods and duct tape for all! :-)
Again, thanks for the recommendations here for this, it was your enthusiasm that spurred me to go and I am really glad we did.
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Post by kathryn on Jul 1, 2018 13:07:54 GMT
I think it’s probably wrong to think that Scott’s fan base are newbie theatregoers or all that young, to be honest. He’s done a fair bit of theatre since Sherlock premiered back in 2010, and anyone who became a fan of his even as a young teenager in 2010 would be in their early twenties now.
I’m afraid audiences across the board now seem to be incapable of making sure that electronic devices are turned off,
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Post by Deleted on Jul 1, 2018 16:29:54 GMT
I think it’s probably wrong to think that Scott’s fan base are newbie theatregoers or all that young, to be honest. He’s done a fair bit of theatre since Sherlock premiered back in 2010, and anyone who became a fan of his even as a young teenager in 2010 would be in their early twenties now. I’m afraid audiences across the board now seem to be incapable of making sure that electronic devices are turned off, Yes, it’s weird that audiences seem to be losing their focus. At the Theatre the other evening I could hear the rustle of snack packets, the consistent humming of silenced but still buzzing mobile phones; the woman sitting beside me drained the dregs of her drink very loudly through a straw; the woman behind me kept tapping my shoulder then indicated that she wanted to escape by climbing over my seat but then didn’t move. In the interval she said that she had been feeling ill but was now better. Someone had a child on their lap at a performance intended for adults. The child was well behaved except for intermittent whimpers.
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Post by kathryn on Jul 2, 2018 19:15:08 GMT
Yes, that’s why I love my proper electronic noise cancelling ones - I don’t need to have them up loud to block out the background noise.
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Post by NeilVHughes on May 11, 2020 20:47:58 GMT
A masterclass in story telling, a performance of such precision and nuance the actor disappears and all that is left is Alex and his all encompassing hole. Destroyed.
Available for a week an one not to miss.
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Post by justfran on May 11, 2020 21:19:23 GMT
I watched it this evening - what a brilliant performance from Andrew Scott. I’ve been lucky enough to see him on stage (in a different play) and think he is such a great, versatile actor.
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Post by Forrest on May 12, 2020 12:55:29 GMT
I've watched the recording before, but could not resist watching it again last night. It's such an incredibly beautiful text (kind of Churchill-esque, in the way how the unsaid is left to linger in the air, and yet very much Stephens in how nuanced and gentle it is - I love his writing; well, the little of it I know at least) and a performance that manages to be both light (and so charmingly funny, in that way that makes you giggle shyly) and excruciatingly devastating and heavy at moments. So beautiful. (I think Scott is incredibly talented, and this just kind of helps cement that idea.)
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