When Audiences Act Up, Actors Get Rowdy Right Back
source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2009/apr/16/theatre-patrick-stewart-godot-beckett
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"What on earth is happening out there in theatreland? It's like the G20 riots. Reported instances of actors losing it with disruptive audience members mid-performance and yelling at them to stop phoning/taking photographs/giggling/whispering/coughing/breathing (delete as necessary), seem to be as regular a feature as opening nights themselves. Sometimes the victims even have the temerity to answer back. If things get much worse, audiences will have to be safely kettled in the circle bar till the performance is over.
Actor Patrick Stewart apparently lost his rag with an autograph hunter outside the stage door of the King's theatre in Edinburgh, after a performance of Waiting for Godot. "Are you the arsehole who was sitting in the front tonight?" was his introductory comment, before bellowing "You know, what I really want to know is how you can sleep at night? I really hope you're pleased with yourself."
Apparently, the importunate individual had been spied earlier by Stewart trying to take a sneaky photograph of him and his co-star, Ian McKellen, during the curtain call – in clear contravention of explicit warnings that photography was not permitted. While most punters will have gone to see Vladimir and Estragon, others are clearly there to gawp at Picard and Gandalf.
To many it may seem that thesps are in danger of forgetting whom it is who pays their wages. Oscar Wilde famously said the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about at all: and if leading actors don't want to be pestered for a little piece of their magic, they shouldn't be in live theatre. Should they?"
Actor Patrick Stewart apparently lost his rag with an autograph hunter outside the stage door of the King's theatre in Edinburgh, after a performance of Waiting for Godot. "Are you the arsehole who was sitting in the front tonight?" was his introductory comment, before bellowing "You know, what I really want to know is how you can sleep at night? I really hope you're pleased with yourself."
Apparently, the importunate individual had been spied earlier by Stewart trying to take a sneaky photograph of him and his co-star, Ian McKellen, during the curtain call – in clear contravention of explicit warnings that photography was not permitted. While most punters will have gone to see Vladimir and Estragon, others are clearly there to gawp at Picard and Gandalf.
To many it may seem that thesps are in danger of forgetting whom it is who pays their wages. Oscar Wilde famously said the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about at all: and if leading actors don't want to be pestered for a little piece of their magic, they shouldn't be in live theatre. Should they?"
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