You Are Not in Your Living Room!

DON’T BE OBLIVIOUS IN THE AUDIENCE
A
Little Theatre Etiquette Goes a Long Way - 11/24/2008

You’re sitting in a darkened theatre anticipating what should be a
spectacular Broadway musical. The seats are fantastic. You expect to be
entertained - and you would be except for the fact that the guy sitting next to
you keeps texting his friend on his cell phone while the woman behind you has
spent the last five minutes trying to open the crackling wrapper of some hard
candy to no avail. This is not what you signed up for. Whether you’re new to
Broadway or a decades-long theatergoer, you know that the people seated around
you can easily ruin a great performance and night out.

Emily Fisher is the House Manager for the Hilton Theatre on Broadway where
Mel Brooks’ musical YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN is now playing. She currently oversees a
staff of 27 ushers, which is a little more than most Broadway houses. With eight
performances a week, she’s given lots of opportunities to see and hear about
etiquette infractions. Fisher believes the situation has gotten a little worse
lately, particularly because younger theatergoers may not have been educated on
what to expect once they arrive for a show.
“Older people that are coming into the building are acting appropriately,”
says Fisher. “It’s the younger people that don’t seem to be taught or explained
what it is to come to the theatre. It’s different than coming to the movies. You
can’t put your feet on the seats.” She knows attending live theatre is a
different experience, one that they may not have been exposed to previously. To
help address some of the breaches they encounter Fisher’s staff helps put things
into perspective for the culprits.
“A lot of the ushers will say ‘Imagine what it’s like if you’re going to
someone else’s house and you’re sitting in their living room. How would you
behave? You wouldn’t put your feet on the seat. You wouldn’t talk when someone
else is talking.' Think about it that way,” says Fisher.
Considering that cell phones are now omnipresent, you’d think the jarring
ringtones they provide would be a constant disruption for audiences. They still
are but clearly not as widespread as they once were. Broadway and touring houses
frequently address “turning off” portable handheld devices during the
pre-performance curtain announcement. This PA prodding reminds the audience to
take action in their seats before the action begins on stage. Fisher
acknowledges that the more frequent issue with cell phones now is “the
illuminated screen that’s a big problem.” She says her theatre doesn’t “have a
ringing problem anymore” but that’s been replaced by “pulling the Blackberries
or the cell phones out to look at messages and text.”
Those tiny mobile screens are highly visible when you’re sitting in a dark
room. When ushers observe the continual glow from specific audience members,
they’ll approach the offenders and say something to them along the lines of
“Please turn your screen off. It’s distracting to others around you. Thank you.”
If their communication is highly urgent or truly important, patrons are strongly
encouraged to quietly exit the theatre rather than make a scene.
It’s inevitable that there will be latecomers to virtually any performance
but it’s a problem that, in most cases, can be avoided with a little
pre-planning. If your ticket says 8:oo pm on it, expect that the show will begin
then. If you’re running late, expect to wait. When patrons arrive after the
curtain goes up, they are usually held outside the house until the end of a song
or in-between scene changes. Often the wait can last 10-15 minutes at which
point the house doors open and the ushers allow for late-seating to begin.
“If you know where you’re going you can get there 15-minutes early. If you
know parking, if you know stuff like that,” says Fisher. “But it’s different if
it’s a venue you’ve never been to before. Look at your tickets and make sure you
know the time. We do Tuesday nights at 7 o’clock and that messes up a lot of
people. I know on a Tuesday night come 7:45 when we’re 45-minutes into Act I I’m
going to have at least ten, sometimes 20 or 30 people show up saying ‘I thought
it was at eight.’” Much of this could have been avoided by simply looking at the
tickets in advance.
“Make sure you know the time and make sure you know where you’re going," says
Fisher. "If you’ve been there before, then don’t worry about parking if you know
all of that stuff but give yourself a cushion of time.”
Fisher notes that another big etiquette violation is seat switching. When you
enter the house and the usher seats you, that’s your seat for the performance.
At least it’s supposed to be. “All of the sudden the lights go down and people
start to shuffle,” says Fisher. “The problem with that is if it’s the top of the
show and we haven’t done late-seating yet, people are going to come for those
seats.” The end result is that the people who are holding the right tickets for
the seats are forced to stand in the aisle or row and block the view of those
patrons behind them while the seat switchers are forced to move back to where
they started. Fisher adds, “It’s disruptive to everyone else around them because
you felt you needed to sit four more seats over.”
The list of “What Not To Do” could go on and on but it’s worth noting a few
more items that seem oh-so-obvious yet they tend to be among the most common:
Talking/whispering: Your fellow audience members paid good money to
hear the actors speak and sing on stage. Please leave those duties to the cast.
Hard candy & throat lozenges: If you absolutely need them during
the show, unwrap them before it begins so that they’re ready to go.
Perfume & cologne: Considering the close quarters of most theatres
and that a lot of patrons may be allergic to powerful scents, fragrances should
be kept to a minimum – if used at all.
Big hair: Ample-sized coifs block views. Besides, do you really want
to go out in public with big hair?
Leaving early: Exiting a theatre before the curtain call is considered
impolite. Not to mention the cast can usually see you heading for the doors
prematurely.
Cameras & recording devices: Not permitted under any
circumstances. Period. And yes, this applies to cell phone snapshots too.
Proper attire: Though there is no official dress code, consider
wearing business casual attire at a bare minimum. Shorts and T-shirts are more
suitable for the beach.
Attending live theatre should be fun, engaging and memorable. If everyone in
the audience is considerate, they’ll be playing a crucial supporting role.
By: Kirk Wingerson

Martin D. Goodkin

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