Actor stopped because of emailer in audience

[ChangeNameLikeIChangeSocks]

I just read about this in the guardian, I'll put a picture of the heading of the article.

He says he "thought" the audience member was sending emails on his laptop. I wonder how he knew that, presumably he couldn't see the screen, and signal in theatres is dreadful. I would take a punt that he was in fact playing minesweeper.

I'm going off topic. The reason I wanted to post this is because it leapt out as me as a parallel to typical behaviour in many of the (Good!) schools I've taught in. Low level disruption. Except it's not one audience (class) member, it's most of them.

So I had to smile wryly to myself that this made the national news.

Either the audience member had very good reason, or this is a natural follow on from the deterioration of respect and good behaviour in schools.

Oh actors, come teach the dear children!

The light from the laptop would have illuminated the guy's face/torso, so it would have been very obvious and distracting, both for the actor and anybody next to or behind laptop guy. Imagine paying good money to go to the theatre then some dude in front of you opens up his laptop and your attention has to compete with the light from that, it's not on. Phones off is a rule in the cinema or theatre for good reason.

If you're sooo big and important that you need to be on your laptop during that particular hour or two, just leave and spend the time in the foyer. Theatre is supposed to be immersive, it's not for paying half your attention to.

Hamlet is an incredibly emotional role. When he was young didn’t Daniel Day Lewis have some sort of breakdown while playing the role - he thought he saw the ghost of his own father during a performance.

It was probably the Guardian's theatre critic writing his review.

😂

I agree about the sarcasm. It tends to come across as not being confident in an ability to take control in a more straightforward way.

Also agree this behaviour in the theatre is much worse because of the lit screen in the dark facing backward at other audience members. We were recently at a couple of theatre productions which were suitable(ish) for family, though targeted at adult audiences, and ironically all the children in there behaved very well. It was the adults on their phones that were the problem. The guy in front was just surfing on his phone and the woman two along kept taking selfies - pulling that daft chicken-laying-an-egg wide-eyed pout: here I am at the theatre being “culch-ered.” Only not …

I would be so pissed off to be sat next to someone at the theatre and hear noise coming from their headphones. And before you say you’d have it on quiet, you can still hear it. Just either don’t go or put up with it for a couple of hour to be polite and not annoy others around you who do want to be there.

Meant to quote @DonnaBanana there.

I saw that production of Hamlet. It was utterly brilliant (and I have seen several in the past). That moment when the soliloquy is about to begin was electric - the whole story turns on this moment, and you could have heard a pin drop. To think of someone getting out a fucking laptop at that moment is extraordinary. Not to mention that those tickets were a) expensive and b) much sought after, so it was waste on a number of levels.

I honestly think that everyone is so used to doing everything on screens now that they forget other, living people are in the room with them and can see and hear them now.

@EarringsandLipstick I have to disagree with you about checking messages; it is rude. As an educator you will know what it is like to be trying to explain something important, and seeing people on screens.

What could possibly be so important in your job that it couldn't wait until the coffee break, unless you're a doctor on call or something? Every training course I have been on has had breaks every 90mins- 2hours at least.

Audience behaviour has deteriorated souch post-covid, it has nothing to do with children in schools and everything to do with grown adults forgetting how to behave in public. Talking, recording, singing along, heckling all seem to be the norm now and it's awful. Good on Andrew Scott for calling it out.

And bad behaviour is exacerbated by theatres pushing alcohol at people. Decades ago you could have a drink in the theatre bar prior to a performance or during the interval. Now you can take drinks into the auditorium with you and even order it from your seat. Not sure I've been to any performances in recent years where someone hasn't knocked over a bottle. And of course once people have had a few drinks they don't realise how loudly they are 'whispering'.

The OP said she was a teacher so I doubt if she is doing that.

Really? You find that being passive aggressive in front of the person who 'dragged' you out easier than just saying no? So weird, and a waste of money

It's not that I think it's ok to be (for example) scrolling on your phone during a course. It's not, and I'd never do it. Nor would anyone I work with (except my boss, who is utterly screen addicted!).

It's the telling off by the instructor, as the poster indicated.

I will occasionally need to check my phone for a few seconds, or be able to absent myself from the room to take a call. As a professional, I expect to be able to make that decision & not be patronised by the trainer. (And I never have been).

In the rare case someone was on the phone continuously and this was disruptive, the facilitator should raise it with them separately. I have never seen it happen.

With regard to what I do, no I don't agree that it's disruptive when I'm teaching. I see it as the students' choice to engage. But as I said, I do design my classes with plenty of interaction / tasks so that means they actually can't be on their phone for the entire time.

Any course I've been on myself has been similarly designed.

I was at an event at Christmas that was incredibly hard to get tickets for and I’d looked forward to for weeks. I took my smallish child and made sure they had a book with them in case they got bored in the parts they might not understand.

It was spoiled by two teenagers behind us who spent the entire time fidgeting, talking, and watching videos on their phones. The movement and light from the phones was distracting even from the row behind. The people next to us left halfway through without saying anything, the people sitting next to them looked furious. I didn’t want to say anything as I was so trying to lose myself in what we were listening to, and not create an ‘atmosphere’ but eventually I just reflexively asked them (politely) if they could keep it down. Five minutes later their parent, who had been sitting across the aisle and saying nothing to them, took them out ana everyone around us looked relieved. The effort to get those tickets must have been substantial - why do that and then just let them behave like that?

That was my thought when seeing this story, the first time round and now. So many people would have loved those tickets and made the most of being there - what a shame that people so unbothered by it didn’t stay away, and ended up spoiling other people’s much anticipated night.

In our case it was a one-off time specific thing so can’t even try for another performance

I give training courses and if somebody has a phone out while I am talking I stop and say ‘I will carry on when you have finished, it must be very urgent and wouldn’t want to distract you’

If you did that to me in a training course I would be singularly unimpressed and I’d make it clear in my feedback to the course organiser that I thought your approach was childish and had no place in a professional working environment.

Stinks of a big Ego to me.
Maybe the person on laptop was bored stiff and only went because partner incapable of going alone? It wouldn't bother me personally, if l was on stage or in the audience, and l never use phone, laptop when out. I agree it is annoying if people talking throughout.
It's the same when people need to get up to use the loo and get heckled by person on stage, who knows that they don't have IBS or are about to throw up?
Or when people arrive late, usually through to no fault of their own.
I think people on stage need to realise they are not so important as they like to believe and the world doesn't revolve around them.I
Person on laptop could have recently been informed of a family death for all we know.

It is actually refreshing when you see this sort of behaviour challenged in public.

Last summer DH and I were on holiday in France and one day went on a river boat trip. There was a live commentary throughout the trip in French but we were offered an audio guide in English. All good.

Two rows in front of us were two women, Dutch I think, who also had audio guides. A few minutes in to the trip one of these women's phone rang and she proceeded to answer it and hold a conversation, all while the guide was trying to give his talk.
After only a few seconds he stopped his talk, strode down the boat and, in English, told this woman to get off her phone as it was distracting and disrespectful. She meekly complied. Good for him.

Using a laptop or a phone during a performance is terrible and they should have been evicted. Similarly people on their phones in the cinema.
I don't think it's anything to d with behaviour in schools though.

Don't be silly.

👏👏

That's it exactly - not the issue of being on a device which is a fair point but the approach.

There are other, professional ways of ensuring full engagement.

Even at Cineworld you are told not to have your phone on !

One of the teachers at my DCs school.used to have a rule that if kids had their phone on in class and it rang, they had to put on loud speaker to answer. The teachers phone rang in class once and they followed their own rule!

I think people on stage need to realise they are not so important as they like to believe and the world doesn't revolve around them.I

Are you for real?

Person on laptop could have recently been informed of a family death for all we know.

In which case they should have left.

Being bored stiff is not even close to an excuse for being disrespectful, distracting and rude. Adults can be bored for a few hours - it certainly doesn’t give them a right to ruin an experience for others because their ego is so huge they think it’s more important that they be allowed to do exactly what they like at any moment of the day.

And why would having recently been informed of a family death justify using a laptop in a theatre?!

Unless you’re about to reveal that you’ve done three seasons with the RSC I don’t think you can confidently assert that it wouldn’t bother you to see someone using a laptop if you were the lead role in the most crucial scene of a play people had paid a huge amount of money to watch, and you’re certainly in the minority if it wouldn’t bother you to be sitting in a dark theatre immersed in a performance only to have the person in front of you open a laptop and dazzle you with a big bright screen.

It is extremely distracting when people are on their phones or laptops in a darkened theatre the screen light shines and people can't help but be drawn to it detracting from the stage. And its distracting for actors too trying to do their job. Theatre tickets are expensive when I go I want to concentrate on the performance not someone's screen.
There is no excuse the laptop and phone should be turned off. Being bored is never an excuse and if he was waiting for an important call or message then he shouldn't be in the theatre!.
Good on actors who call out this behaviour

Would it have been as offensive if the guy was taking notes with pen and paper?

As an ND person with terrible working memory, I often use my phone to make notes if someone is saying something important. Therefore, me having my phone out typing while you talk is actually a sign that I am listening intensely and think what you are saying is important enough to remember!

I've noticed people have become increasingly ragey about this in recent times.