I went to see Hamlet last night.
In a way, I'm actually glad that David Tennant has a bad back and couldn't be in it, because I dread to think what it would have been like otherwise.
We were sitting in an ocean of teenage girls, all done up like they were going to a nightclub - not that there's anything wrong with that, per se - all texting each other along the rows of the theatre, chatting at the tops of their voices, generally being teenagers... didn't bother me whilst the lights were up.
But... the play begins. They are STILL talking and texting despite announcements asking for phones to be switched off and texting and photos not being permitted.
Myself, my friend and the elderly couple next to us all 'SSHHHH!' them. They reduce their volume but are still giggling inanely at the mention of 'cock crow' and 'beaver' (honestly, I felt like I was sitting in an episode of Beavis & Butthead) - then the poor understudy playing Hamlet makes his appearance. OMG.... the chatter! Oh, it's not him. Where is he? Is that him? It looks like him, are you sure? It IS him! (no it wasn't, they had just done his hair very similarly and the part had obviously been directed to suit DT's mannerisms as he did do a very good impersonation of him).
Every time he came on they started laughing and talking. Consequently the beginnings of 3 soliloquies were missed and due to a massed outbreak of 'ewww' during the gravedigger scene, most of 'alas poor Yorick' went by the wayside too.
And the final fight scene had a running commentary of Who's he? Dunno. It's her brother, innit? Why's he fighting him, s'not like he killed her, is it? What's up with that one? Dunno. Why's she dead? What's happening now? He only cut his hand, why's he dead? Who's that? ad infinitum.
On the way out one girl was loudly declaiming about her right to talk to her mates if she wanted (I gather someone had said something to her) and what was their problem etc etc etc...
Much as I applaud any initiative to get young people into the theatre, is it really too much to ask that they have some consideration for others who might actually want to watch the play? Even if they're not aware of the etiquette of theatre-going, surely common manners would indicate that you don't talk and text your way through a performance?
Or am I just a mouldy old gimmer and should I get my zimmer frame booked now?