Lauren Boebert's Incident is an Audience Etiquette Cautionary Tale
by Paul Atreides, Guest Editorial
“Henceforth, rude theatre-goers shall be referred to as ‘Boeberts,’ e.g. Some Boebert’s phone went off and they answered it!”
Or so goes the meme that has spread like a bleacher wave.
By now, everyone in the theatre community has certainly heard the reports of the disruption at the Buell Theatre in Denver. Among “other things”, the Congresswoman was vaping, taking photos and video during the performance, singing aloud and bouncing around, and generally causing a distraction.
Could you imagine anything worse? Like many small storefront venues, the stage where I directed a production of Master Class had only a six-inch rise. During a Sunday matinee, filled with what we lovingly called the Geritol Jet Set, a woman got out of her seat, walked onto the stage, tapped the actress on the shoulder, and said, “Speak up, honey, we can’t hear you.” This is despite the fact the actress was mic’ed. (If you’re too young to know what Geritol is, Google is your friend.)
As a critic, you witness many things that don’t mesh with what’s happening on stage. Since COVID-19, it seems that more and more people think they’re at home in front of the TV.
The companies here in Las Vegas typically do a taped general announcement before the show about the use of cell phones and other distracting annoyances. It’s not only illegal to photograph a performance, but the glow of your screen distracts both the actors and those seated around you.
Should you arrive after the curtain has gone up, you may not be permitted to take your seat. “Sometimes, we can let latecomers stand in the back,” says Myron Martin, President and CEO of The Smith Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. “Some producers insist latecomers be held in the lobby, where they watch on video screens, until an appropriate interval.”
Another alternative our theatres have extended to latecomers is exchanging your tickets for another performance if the run is long enough.
Bear in mind you are not at a rock concert. The only time you should leave your seat is in the case of an emergency. Hitting the concession stand in the middle of a show probably isn’t that.
There’s a saying in the theatre: Please let the actors do the talking. And singing. The only exception would be an interactive show like Rocky Horror, or an immersive piece like Sleep No More, the hit show based on Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
Though you may know every word—and we’re sure you have a glorious voice—we paid to hear the performer on stage, so please mouth the words instead of singing along. You can show your enthusiastic response with wild applause at the conclusion of the song. We also know it’s enticing to remark on a witty line or repeat it to a seatmate, but we want to hear what could be the next important piece of dialogue.
May the theatre gods bless that actress in Master Class, she never skipped a beat. When asked about it after the show, she had no recollection of it. That’s total immersion into character. But not every actor is so imbued.
In another production at that same theatre, around the time that smoking on stage or screen became a no-no, an actor was lighting a pipe. A man rose from the audience, marched onto the stage, grabbed the pipe, and walked off with it. The entire cast stood there frozen, mouths agape.
For several productions afterward, both those incidents resulted in a live admonition to audiences prior to performances to never go on the stage or interfere with performers.
I’m sure all theatre companies have dealt with this kind of patron. If yours hasn’t, please tell the rest of us how you managed to avoid it. We’d like to know your secret.