- 3 minutes ago
Theatre etiquette is evolving, but not always for the better. Once a sacred and respectful communal experience, attending a live show has become a battleground of clashing norms and distractions. From noisy snacks and phone filming to unruly audience antics, this video explores how theatres have become uncivilized and what that means for both performers and patrons alike.
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00:02Welcome to Ms. Mojo and hold on let me just text my mom back real quick oh sorry hi excuse
00:09me so
00:09sorry yes I think you're in my seat oh wait no my bad sorry my my how can I resist
00:20you does anyone
00:21have a light I dropped my forget it where were we oh yes welcome to Ms. Mojo and today we're
00:33asking
00:33what on earth is happening to theater etiquette and when did audiences forget how to behave in
00:38these public spaces then versus now what happened once upon a time theater was treated like a sacred
00:54communal event with its own set of unwritten rules for me there is nothing more magical than that
01:00moment right as the lights go down and the crowd is waiting in silence with anticipation for the
01:07show to begin you showed up on time sat down kept relatively quiet and did not treat the orchestra
01:13section like your living room during a Super Bowl party simple now there's a growing clash between
01:18the old school respect the sanctity of the theater crowd and a newer more casual mindset where theater
01:24is viewed as just another entertainment product someone paid for I think people are so entitled
01:29to feel as though they conduct themselves however they choose and if they paid $150 for a ticket
01:36surely that means they can sing along film the big showstoppers unwrap a family-sized packet of
01:41Maltesers during the death scene and provide live commentary to their friend in row g you can help
01:47us create a great experience for everyone by avoiding conversation while the show is happening theaters like
01:52this are designed to carry sound even a whisper can be heard across the room traditional theater goers
01:58often see any noise or disruption as proof civilization is collapsing while younger audiences sometimes view
02:04strict etiquette rules as stuffy outdated or weirdly gatekeepery and honestly both sides kind of have a
02:14point theater is no longer treated solely as a rare formal event it's competing with every other form of
02:20entertainment fighting for our attention span in a world where people watch Netflix while simultaneously
02:25scrolling tick-tock and texting someone about another show they're half watching he was doing this
02:30constantly the hell is that and I go over a little closer as I'm talking and I take a look
02:36and he's on his
02:37phone he's texting he's like what's going on I'm in a play it's okay I get it sure some shows
02:47now actively
02:48encourage audiences to film curtain calls but this is a double-edged sword yes free marketing is free marketing but
02:56does
02:56that blur the line of etiquette for audiences
03:06and looming over all of this is the modern existential crisis if you didn't post your standing ovation on socials
03:13did it even happen
03:20the home theater fallacy in our era of instant streaming entertainment is always at our fingertips
03:26wow the tv's hooked up to the internet you could stream whole seasons of old tv shows
03:32hmm seen it seen it seen it we've shifted from event participants to curators of our own experience
03:39armed with pause buttons and complete control over when and how we watch add in the second screen
03:45phenomenon and focusing on just one thing at a time can feel almost like raw dogging live theater demands the
03:51exact opposite experience it requires us to surrender control enter a shared physical space adhere to
03:58someone else's schedule and just stay in the moment great no i missed the whole song and yet audiences
04:07increasingly arrive in what can only be described as living room mode just enjoy the fact that theater
04:12is a place where you can completely shut off from reality and you have an excuse for it like literally
04:17it's the theater etiquette the people around you paid a small fortune to hear the actors on stage
04:23not your hot take from seat f-14 and please we are begging that glowing pocket-sized rectangle can wait
04:31until intermission you do not urgently need to know where you recognize ensemble member number three
04:37from during the emotional climax of act one
04:39people never be satisfied
04:48then there's the physical restlessness every show now feels like at least three people are training for a fitbit
04:54step challenge we understand emergencies happen sometimes nature calls but when did it become a
05:00challenge to sit through an entire act and while we're here the seat in front of you is not a
05:05footrest
05:06i can't believe i need to say this basically i went to see the play recently and because it's summer
05:11it's very hot you know like this girl was just having her sliders on and then at some point i
05:17just
05:17saw she took her sliders off and put her feet up on the kind of like divider between the sections
05:21and look we want you to enjoy your show snacks we're not monsters but if your candy wrapper is louder
05:27than the actors adjustments need to be made quick hack ask the bar for an empty cup and pour your
05:33treats into that before the show starts you're welcome stop unwrapping your snacks if you're
05:38gonna get snacks unwrap them before the curtain dear god we can hear you we can see you too audience
05:43main character syndrome astronomical ticket prices are absolutely frustrating but paying a lot for a
05:49seat does not magically transform a professional theater into your personal karaoke lounge they were
05:54singing along um you know rather loudly getting a little rambunctious um and they were asked nicely
06:01uh by this man you know at first to please please stop they responded back you know with some expletives
06:08not a very nice uh response every theater now seems to contain at least one person who believes the
06:13cast album is actually a backing track for their performance congratulations on knowing every word to wicked
06:20but we promise you the cast's got this we appreciate your enthusiasm but please save your tribute for the
06:26shower
06:34and while we're at it unless you're seeing something like the rocky horror show that explicitly encourages
06:40audience participation please trust that the cast can get through their lines without your help and
06:45definitely do not heckle them all you're really doing here is yanking every other audience member
06:50out of the story our job is to stay within the story because there's a lot of other people who
06:55have
06:55come to watch it so it's really important that they get the experience then we have the phone filming
07:00epidemic she was texting through the entire first act and she was sitting right there in the second seat
07:05it was everybody can see look how teeny this theater is and she was oblivious to everybody except for
07:12herself and her father nothing says i respect the fleeting intimacy of live theater quite like
07:17watching the entire finale through your iphone camera while blinding 12 strangers with maximum
07:22brightness you may think you are capturing a memory but in a sad irony you are missing the moment
07:27by failing to stay present and yes pre-show cocktails occasionally play a supporting role in all this
07:33emboldening some intoxicated attendees to mistakenly believe they are the true star of the show it's
07:39inevitable that they want to try and claw back some of that lost revenue by selling um more alcohol
07:45before performances but i think that is a contributing factor to the to the problems to be
07:51clear enthusiasm is wonderful theater should be fun we absolutely want audiences laughing gasping
07:58applauding and having a great time but there is a difference between participating in the communal
08:03energy of a show and behaving like the production was mounted specifically around you
08:13don't be that audience member maybe you've accidentally broken an unwritten theater rule before
08:18it happens an usher politely asks you to put your phone away you apologize everyone moves on society
08:25survives unfortunately that increasingly isn't how these interactions go videos like these frequently go
08:31viral theater workers have told sky news they're regularly dealing with far worse we're hearing
08:36more stories about audience confrontations over basic theater etiquette ushers are now genuinely
08:41hesitant to approach disruptive patrons because there's a real chance the interaction escalates into
08:46verbal abuse or worse the real issue here is the front of house staff who are being verbally abused
08:53physically assaulted being made to feel incredibly anxious in the line of duty that i should not be
08:58describing as a line of duty some west end venues have even introduced body cams for front of house
09:03staff which is honestly just bleak theater etiquette did exist before covid human beings once managed to
09:09sit through live performances without live streaming them singing over them or arguing about why the rules
09:15apparently don't apply to them they'd become used to being able to control so much of their immediate
09:20environment so they just weren't prepared to be asked to do certain very reasonable things and it's not just
09:26ushers dealing with this behavior actors increasingly get treated like public property the second
09:31they leave the stage superfan made their way back
09:35stage to my dressing room after the show following a group of people who were here for me stage door
09:40interactions are approached like they're included in the ticket price rather than an optional act of
09:45generosity after an emotionally and physically exhausting show also and we can't believe this has to be said
09:52but a theater ticket isn't an open invitation into the actors personal lives actors are human beings
09:58they get sick injured and deserve rest if we don't come out of the stage door it's not because we
10:03don't
10:04like you it's because we have lives just like you some of us have wives children dogs and some of
10:10us are
10:11unhealthy and don't want to get you sick prioritizing their health and their safety is not a personal attack
10:16on your evening plans doing any version of the balcony performance where she appears in public
10:20in the same spot at the same time every day seems a foolish move then there's the treatment of
10:26understudies who continue to be viewed by certain audience members as disappointing substitutes rather
10:31than wildly talented and exceptionally hard-working professionals we promise you everyone is doing
10:37their best to give you the best experience possible and kathy went on with basically running through every
10:43scene and every song once and then went on in front of 1500 people and i just wanted the audience
10:48to
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11:13and be the first to play terrible influence what happens now the truth is theater etiquette probably
11:21isn't going back to the ultra formal standards of decades past and that might not entirely be a bad
11:26thing theater should feel alive the actors very often feed off the audience's energy what doesn't
11:32work is the complete lack of shared understanding about where the line actually is
11:36everybody
11:45theaters are increasingly finding that audiences respond far better to clear expectations than stiff
11:52scolding rules at this time please silence all cell phones and other electronic devices
11:58all photography and video recording is strictly prohibited
12:05thank you and enjoy my show a funny pre-show announcement telling people to put their phones
12:11away will always land better than an usher materializing in the aisle shining a torch in
12:16everyone's faces during a high-stakes scene some productions now actively build participation into
12:21the experience whether that's encouraging audience reactions allowing photos during curtain calls
12:26or creating specific moments where people can fully let loose without disrupting the show itself
12:40because the reality is audiences are excited they want to feel involved they want memories they want to post
12:47their playbill film the curtain call and cheer for their favorite performers the trick is channeling
12:52that energy the right way
13:00at its core modern theater etiquette is less about rigid rules and more about basic communal awareness
13:06two girls who were on the onstage seating there's a scene going on behind me with two other actors
13:10and two girls to start talking to me as me and just being like dan dan look up here and
13:15i was like
13:15no i can't like and so they i think they they weren't they weren't kicked out but they moved them
13:19from the
13:19onstage seating to the not onstage seating it's understanding that your behavior affects hundreds
13:24of other people sharing the same space your focus is part of the experience your attention is part of
13:30the atmosphere it's a communal experience acknowledging that we're all human beings
13:33there was an exchange of energy and we get to send some of that back and in a world where
13:37everyone
13:38is constantly distracted the act of fully engaging with something live and unfiltered has actually
13:43become pretty rare and really isn't that exactly what makes theater special in the first place
13:57have you felt a shift in theater etiquette what's the worst audience behavior you've seen
14:02let us know in the comments
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