The cost of bad theatre etiquette

Over the last few weeks, we have read many articles about badly behaved theatre goers, where actors have had to pause performances to address poor theatre etiquette.

Recently, Rosamund Pike called out an audience member during the curtain call of her new play ‘Inter Alia’ after being distracted by someone in the stalls texting during an emotional scene.

In a later performance, Pike had to ‘keep cool’ when a phone alarm sounded and disturbed the play once again.
Michelle Terry, the artistic director at Shakespeare’s Globe, also had to address an audience member about texting during a performance. Why can’t people go ninety minutes without looking at their phone?!

Across the industry - Lesley Manville, Cynthia Erivo and Andrew Scott have also called out lack of courtesy and continued disruption.

Many people blame lockdown, saying theatregoers forgot how to behave. With that being six years ago, I don’t think we can keep using lockdown as an excuse. I think people just no longer care about how their behaviour affects others.

Like this example where a baby disrupts The Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of The Tempest The RSC’s guidance does say babes-in-arms can be admitted to all performances. It also states that if the baby disturbs others, “an adult may need to watch the show from the screen outside the auditorium with the baby”. Would you be happy to attend a performance with a young child? There are so many opportunities for parents to enjoy theatre with their little ones, with family friendly shows or relaxed/chilled performances. There was no thought or respect from this parent.

For me, good theatre etiquette is arriving on time, no talking, turning off phones, respecting those around you and the actors on stage, not eating smelly food or having too much to drink.

With ticket prices continuing to rise, we expect the very best theatre experience. As an audience member, we don’t want to have to contend with disruptive behaviour from others and be put in uncomfortable or confrontational positions. This takes our focus away from the performance we’ve paid to see and creates unnecessary stress.

It shouldn’t be our responsibility to challenge these behaviours. Theatres must take stronger action. Here are just a few options to trial:

1. Better conflict management training or additional security. This will help our Front of House teams deal with rude audience members. Teams and actors are already receiving verbal and physical abuse whilst at work. This can’t continue.
2. Adopting zero-tolerance policies on filming by placing tamper-proof stickers on phone cameras. This is already happening at The KitKat Club for Cabaret. Why not at other venues?
3. Place a full-on phone ban. Lyn Gardner suggests this in her latest article in The Stage. But how easy would that be to implement? Liberation, coming to the West End next year is becoming a ‘phone free zone’. Will this be the start of something?
4. Have a limit on drinks allowance. This would put a stop to disgusting behaviour, where some theatregoers are having to take matters into their own hands

These concepts all come at a price. It’s either venues increasing outgoings to implement new ideas or venues losing ticket sales through lack of customer trust and fear of safety.  

It is a difficult situation for venues that are already feeling the financial pressure.  However, making sure the audience experience is good for everyone and the actors’ work is respected should be at heart of everything we do. Implementing changes shouldn’t come at the expense of audience experience, but as an investment for the future.

Something needs to be done, and quickly.