In the last few years, it seems like a “Please turn off your cell phones” request is a precursor to every show I see. Despite the (usually) polite warning, people generally completely ignore it and leave their phones on. Truthfully, I usually leave my phone on vibrate- it could be an emergency!!
Kris Joseph’s blog post brings up the reactions high-profile actors have had to audience cell phone use this year. Audiences have taken to texting and twittering (and even talking on the phone!!) while a performance is taking place. His reaction? “Hey. Actors. Suck it up.”
At first thought, I disagreed with him. Can show goers really not wait until intermission to update their statuses and check their emails? They probably could if they really tried, but what if it actually benefitted the actors & their show?
Last year I produced (directed, in theatre speak) an American Idol-esque show on MUTV called Marquette Superstar. While the first 4 episodes were heavily edited before they aired, the finale was live. We had about 100 people in the audience, with about 6 seats in the front row designated as the “Twitter Section.”
I was uneasy about the Twitter idea at first… Who wants to perform to a front row full of people with their heads buried in their laptops? I asked the hosts and contestants and they were ok with it, so we went through with it.
To my surprise, it was a success! The show was streamed live onto our website, and the Twitter row acted as a great complement to it. For the production crew and the talent, it was a great way of getting honest audience feedback. It was hard for me to enjoy the show while it was happening, so it was nice to read about it on the Twitter feed the next day.
In Marquette Superstar’s case, there was only one show, so we weren’t able to reap the benefits the tweet row would have promotion-wise. If one of my friends Twittered that they were at a show and were enjoying it, I would definitely look into going to the show. Think about it: It’s so good that they can’t even wait until it’s over to talk about it? That’s not bad attention. Unless the show is bad, but in that case they should have worked harder and created a better performance. Tough, I know, I guess I’m just mimicking Kris Joseph’s “suck it up” attitude.
I think the same “have to talk about it now” feeling applies to texting. When I’m watching a TV show or at the movies if I feel inclined to send my best friend a “OMG, you have to see “insert pop culture media phenom here” I’ll do it. It took all of 5 minutes of The Hangover before I texted to brother and told him to do nothing else until he had seen that movie.
I know that the fact that theatre is live makes a difference, but I do think it its ok to use electronic devices as long as it’s minimal and discrete. Ruth Jamieson wrote a list of rules for tweeting during live theatre- a little overboard maybe, but interesting nonetheless. Obviously not everyone is going to be texting & tweeting about the show, but some will be, and these days live theatre should take all the attention it can get.
