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!

Could not agree more.

That's a bit different isn't it. Maybe the person still had work to do that day and the boss had sent them to the training course without allocating their work to someone else.
And people use laptops in training to take notes so no difference in terms of disruption.

Michael Sheen too

https://nation.cymru/news/michael-sheen-stops-performance-of-under-milk-wood-because-of-phone-interruptions/#

Agreed. It's a either an ego thing of needing to look /feel important. Or it's someone profoundly disorganised who hasn't arranged suitable cover.

If you can't take a day off from your job then you are on a slippery slope to burnout

In other words, another audience member distracted the actor to bring laptop man to his attention. The laptop didn’t disturb the actor, the other audience member did.

I think this is unlikely - On stage you can't discern much of the audience at all, because the stage lights are so bright, and the audience is in darkness.

I think the other audience member drew the laptop user's attention to the fact that the play had stopped and the actor was glaring towards the laptop glow.

And if you are more engrossed in a bit of technological shite than in an excellently acted production of one of the world's greatest plays, then you shouldn't bother going to the theatre at all.

Good for him.
Using any electronic devices (let alone a laptop!) in a theatre is disrespectful both to the performers and to other members of the audience who've probably paid a lot.

A few years ago we saw Cabaret in Manchester - there was some disturbance (iirc a phone rang and was answered). I've forgotten the exact details but I think at the next scene change, 'EmCee' (Will Young, I think, but completely in character) came out in front of the curtains and delivered a brilliant rebuke. I hope the miscreant was suitably chastened, it was quite enjoyable for everyone else!

I was at a stand up comedy show & the comedian warned the audience to not use their phones or take photos as it disturbed the show.

There's always one, of course, took a photo in the first five minutes - from the front row. The comedian made him hand it over, put it down the front of his pants, lay down and dragged his lower body half across the stage, like you see a dog do. Then handed it back.

Not one more phone was seen during the entire peformance.

It was hilarious. It might seem off colour but he was that kind of comedian anyway. And no disturbance!!

I know it's not the same but I often feel frustrated at the amount of people on trains who are having calls on loud speaker (often repeating themselves multiple times because of sketchy connections/tunnels) listening to music on headphones but so loud you can hear it half a carriage away or just watching/listening to stuff at full volume, no headphones (or putting kids videos on at full volume)
I frequently get up to move if this is overwhelming but sometimes it's impossible to escape other people's noisy devices when half the carriage seems to be doing it!

But it isn’t just post Covid. This has been a long-term decline in standards of behaviour. Public spaces in general (including schools). Look at how many posters there are in hospitals and doctors surgeries reminding adults on how to behave. Schools phone lines starting with a reminder not to be rude. Fire services reminding the public they won’t tolerate abuse. Adults are meant to show children how to behave and there has been a long-term decline in this even before Covid.

If a trainer told senior managers off in a passive aggressive way for checking their phones they'd never be back. They have no back-up and do need to be available.

Or somebody frightened that if they get their work covered it will become apparent how little they actually do, and that they have a backlog of months of work which they haven't bothered with because they have been playing Candy Crush instead of working.

I always preferred to take notes in a notebook with a pen and type them up later. Doing it on a laptop just took too much concentration away from the actual training.

I wonder if that was staged?

If so - it was an inspired way to prevent people fanning on with their phones.

Gruffling · Today 10:37
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Would it have been as offensive if the guy was taking notes with pen and paper?
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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!
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I've noticed people have become increasingly ragey about this in recent times”

So buy a copy of the text. No need whatsoever to “take notes” during a performance. Disrespectful to the actors and to other audience members.
If I’d paid a lot of money to see a live performance, I’d be ragey with you too and tell you to turn your bloody phone off (which the theatre will already have told you to do).

DH and I travelled by train in France recently and couldn’t help but be impressed when a man in an adjacent seat whose phone rang stood up and went to the end of the carriage to take the call.

That's fine for you if you have the time, but I would see that as double work.

My dog would adore the carol service. Music, esp piano, makes her fucking howl as if her heart was breaking. I should think the soloist bringing in Once In Royal David's City a capella would be glad of some support, no?

Yep - notebook and pen all the way for me, too.

Apart from anything etc you can then put arrows in showing connections, exceptions to rules and so on much more clearly and easily.

Plays/performances are completely different to bloody corporate sheep-dip trainings that everyone has to endure.

And some descant from the dog!

A training day is not a day off though.
In some ways, I prefer the days before I had a laptop and work mobile because if you were not at your desk, you couldn't be expected to answer any requests.

I completely agree.

I don't understand having a laptop at a play. For one thing, the theatre is so expensive I'd want to be concentrating.

Good for him. Too many people don't know how to behave in the theatre any more.

You don't allow yourself to be 'dragged' there. You tell the person there is no shame or taboo about going to the theatre or a concert etc on your own and they need to go by themselves.

I would regard having to trail through a series of "notes" all in the same font etc (because swapping/ changing colours etc) would be too time consuming.

Taking manual notes allows for connections, emphasis - and other things that might spring into your mind at that time eg "patient X presented with A, B and C . . ." you might think "Hang on - there was a paper about B that I saw just the other day - did it mention any links with A or C?" and you can make a quick note to remind yourself while you remember.

Also (for me) ear/ eye to brain to hand notes make stuff easier to process and remember anyway - you are utilising two/ three memory pathways.