Why would you text at the theatre?

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Unless you're an idiot?
Rosamund Pike calls out audience member for texting during show

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0723zgdp0eo

Given how many posters there are here, there must be those who think it's reasonable behaviour to text or film during performances.

We watched RP in this play (Inter Alia) and it's an incredibly intense experience. I just can't understand the mentality of someone who would pull out their phone and text during a performance.

The problem is with the people who don't bother to do it discreetly. Who do it openly enough that the star has to come out and deliver a speech to explain why it's so fucking rude to text through a performance. If you have mastered the art of doing this so subtly that you cannot be seen doing it, then no one is going to have a problem. In this case, it wasn't someone doing it invisibly was it? If the screen is set to greyscale and you check it silently under your coat then crack on. But the issue being discussed is quite obviously not that. If you're doing it in a way that will interrupt the performance for other people, you shouldn't be there.

I have not read the article about why the very famous Rosamund Pike intervened, nor the comments.

Do people have their entire experience spoilt when light catches someone's bling or when someone deals with an asthmatic cough?

It will be interesting and sad to know how many posters here who Would Never will find themselves Needing To one day.

It’s pretty obvious why.

Some people will have left kids, pets, elderly parents (or all 3!) at home and have their phone on silent for emergencies. Maybe they are responding to a text from the person who’s holding the fort down.

Others are selfish bellends who don’t care about any body or any thing apart from their narc selves.

I went to a really nice event once. Tickets were really expensive. Like really expensive so me and DH went instead of a holiday. People seated next to us came in, dressed like instagrammers, took photos of themselves in the venue and actually wandered off before seeing any of the action. No emergency, just paid ££££ for an Instagram photo. It was so shocking that one of the workers asked me wtf re the seat and asked if he could sit there so I said the people had gone so he might as well enjoy it!

Some people will have left kids, pets, elderly parents (or all 3!) at home and have their phone on silent for emergencies. Maybe they are responding to a text from the person who’s holding the fort down.

I do leave all 3 at home for the theatre and would still not check my phone during a performance or respond to a text. It's not a valid reason.

That may change as your kids, pets, and elderly parents change.

Wow, you’re really committed to posting about this, aren’t you? The endless doubling down shows real dedication to your shitty take

Of course you prepare them in advance and try to explain the etiquette but that doesn't mean they're always going to understand or get it right in the moment.

Not all performances have relaxed performances and not all people are available when relaxed performances are happening.

Of course we managed before phones, but now phones are more integral to certain situations such as diabetes - when I had GD I monitored that via my phone. Should I have ignored the alert until I got to the interval an hour later? For some people phones are crucial now.

Many people have no manners and it seems to be getting worse.

There is simply no excuse.

Good Q. Was at the theatre last week. Hugely distracted by number of folk slipping their phones out to take photos of the performance they’d been asked not to do! To left, right and in front. Rude, selfish, disrespectful and ruined it for others just trying to enjoy. Anyone slipping a phone out, you’re not as subtle as you think you are… your crass actions are irritating the performers and audience so just don’t.

Do people have their entire experience spoilt when light catches someone's bling or when someone deals with an asthmatic cough?

No, they have their experience ruined when some utter bellend whips out their phone and texts through the emotional climax of a really powerful play noticeably enough to upset the cast on stage. She wouldn't have come out at the end to berate someone for having asthma, she came out to explain to a dickhead why being a dickhead is annoying and disrespectful to everyone else in the theatre. If you aren't a dickhead, you don't need to take exception to it.

Yes, I am taking a small break from working very late, and I am not at the theatre.

But I do have fresh in my mind some very bad scenarios I have lived through.

And I will go out.

I definitley have during children’s theatre as it’s the only time my young sons attention is captured and I have to do admin at some point . Not in the actors view though I think. I wouldn’t dream of doing this in an adult show with only adults with me.

The problem is it doesn’t become less annoying if it’s someone vulnerable doing it. If someone paid £100+ to go to the theatre it doesn’t matter whether the person next to them is just bored shitless and browsing Facebook or if they are vulnerable and not understanding why they can’t use their phone. It DOES ruin the show for some people. I’m autistic and I get so distracted by noise and lights. I also love “rules” and I always follow them. I have had to leave shows (mainly cinema) due to other people talking/texting/watching things etc. I absolutely cannot take sitting there with all that going on. I have to leave or my brain itches so much I want to scream and hit myself. So in order to be inclusive for all the noisy people you’ll be excluding me. But I’m assuming that’s ok though right? Only those with disabilities that create noise need to have allowances made. Those that can’t tolerate unexpected/against the rules noise need to suck it up or leave? I guess my (and people like me) circumstances don’t require a little more grace.

Honestly though most people (including me) could tolerate someone very very quickly glancing at their phone to check blood sugar or to turn a hearing aid up. But in my entire life I have never seen that. What I have seen more times than I can count is people scrolling on Facebook or Instagram. Texting about where they are meeting later or what they had for dinner. Taking selfies and sending it to people. Those are the things you need to leave (and stay out) for. No one in here is really talking about someone literally just glancing at their phone very quickly once or twice. It’s the texting/scrolling etc that’s the issue.

Time travel to Shakespeare's era and audience behaviour will be a real shocker.

I leave my dog at home when I go to the theatre; I've never come out to any frantic texts from him yet. (If he learned to type though, he definitely would be asking where the cheese is and he would absolutely think it's an emergency situation)

More seriously, I also leave my kids and one of them has a serious medical condition. I check my phone at the interval and at the end. Sometimes I might be on a flight (I travel for work) or on a train with crap WiFi and so I'm uncontactable. Phones are seen as a panacea to anxiety, but I think they massively exacerbate it. It does everyone good to be unavailable every now and again.

But should we really never go to the theatre because one of us has a chronic illness and we are caring for a child with a chronic illness?
Tbh, yes. Or get a seat on the back row.

On reflection, i guess we're dealing with a New Thing, and, as a society, haven't reached a concensus on how to deal with it. (Which allows entitled bellends free reign.)

Why would you put yourself in a position to be out of contact for hours in any of these scenarios? Or why not step out of the theatre to check?

It won't. It absolutely, utterly will not.

If I do not feel like I am able to commit to an hour without texting, then I know I am not in a position to be at the theatre. Any other situation is not critical enough for me to be checking my phone.

There are obviously committed Theatre Texters who will never change and will continue to ruin the experience for others, but if anyone out there is currently on the fence, just don't do it. Please.

This**

I think actors by their very nature want to be the focus of attention. That’s not a bad thing but explains why it bothered her. Personally, I think there’s an element of people liking something to froth a bit about and phones are an easy target. It’s far less disruptive to quickly check a phone than to get up and down multiple times and sometimes you do need to be contactable.

If you need to be contactable, stay home. Nobody's that important.

Alas. It may.
Sometimes you just have to get away.
But you can't be 100% uncontactable.

Though I am starting to realise that shitwork and holding the fort sometimes fall more on some people and, in the minds of those who have dodged responsibility, the service humans should NEVER be allowed to go out.

This is all very judgmental, some people really have no idea of the lives others have to lead.
If I wasn't able to check my phone or pop off a quick text - I would never get the chance to do anything - EVER
Postponing isn't an option - I would never be able to reorganise.
I would still have the same issues they will never go away. I turn down the brightness limit the number of texts but at the end of the day I am the widowed parent of a SEND young adult & that never stops, all times of the day & night every day.
I regularly have to leave things & go home, have meals interrupted & go home, leave work & go home
At the end of the day I try to be discreet & limit interactions but I cannot be totally out of contact for hours ever - maybe that gives some people more of an idea

Dear lord, it's the actors' narcissism expecting everyone to be paying attention to the show they're in the theatre to see?

If you have to be contactable every single minute, don't go to the theatre.

Please actually read what Pike said about the experience and why it's a problem. Not because of actors' egos, that's an absolutely ridiculous thing to say. It's because it ruins the experience they're responsible for providing to everyone. You should try getting up on stage and delivering an intense and emotional scene only to look up and see someone texting and everyone around them distracted and annoyed by it. If you can't put your phone away for an hour, choose a different activity than the theatre.

Phones should be banned in the theatre and in the cinema. If you don't like it, don't go.