Are concerns about disruptive theatregoers simply “cultural elitism”? Arifa Akbar asks if we need to redefine what it means to be a ‘good’ audience.
The recent debate over unruly audience behaviour began, very rightly, with warnings against drunken disorder in auditoriums after horror stories of rowdy musical theatre audiences taking the idea of “dancing in the aisles” a little too literally.
But fast-forward to the latest social media outcry I spotted, over popcorn-munching at the ENO’s Rhinegold, and the conversation begins to assume the same shades of class snobbery and cultural elitism that the industry is trying so hard to shake off.
Civility towards performers, staff and other audience members must surely be a requirement at any live show. We should not need a “respect campaign” as has been mooted by the Society of London Theatre and UK Theatre, to remind us to be considerate, nor even a limit on the sale of alcohol which will hit theatres where it hurts: they are in economically straitened times enough as it is...Keep reading on The Guardian.
The recent debate over unruly audience behaviour began, very rightly, with warnings against drunken disorder in auditoriums after horror stories of rowdy musical theatre audiences taking the idea of “dancing in the aisles” a little too literally.
But fast-forward to the latest social media outcry I spotted, over popcorn-munching at the ENO’s Rhinegold, and the conversation begins to assume the same shades of class snobbery and cultural elitism that the industry is trying so hard to shake off.
Civility towards performers, staff and other audience members must surely be a requirement at any live show. We should not need a “respect campaign” as has been mooted by the Society of London Theatre and UK Theatre, to remind us to be considerate, nor even a limit on the sale of alcohol which will hit theatres where it hurts: they are in economically straitened times enough as it is...Keep reading on The Guardian.