Audience lack of manners

[Guest fountainhall]

I am going to go on one of my rants!

 

Last week, I was at a performance at the Bangkok Dance and Music Festival of the wonderful Cloudgate Dance Theater from Taiwan. This is one of the world's great companies - artistically quite extraordinary. It also helps, perhaps, that the boys are all tall, slim and muscled as only (mostly) Chinese dancers can be, and gorgeous I had made sure to take my binoculars

 

But the behaviour of some in the audience was dreadful - and that of the Thailand Cultural Centre ushers not much better. I was not going to comment till I saw the following on the yahoo page this morning. Apparently, Hugh Jackman recently stopped a preview performance of his new play on Broadway when a cell phone rang during a particularly dramatic moment.

 

Jackman broke character to tell the owner of the ringing cell phone, "You want to get that?" as the audience erupted in cheers. As the ringing persisted, Jackman pleads: "Come on, just turn it off." He then paced the stage of the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, waited about a minute for the ringing to stop before the play resumed.

 

And yes, of course there was a phone breaking the silence in Bangkok! Why, I wonder, can owners of cultural and entertainment buildings not have the right to block signals during a performance?

 

The work being performed lasted 75 minutes without interval. It was a slow-paced and deeply moving performance without any natural break, danced first to movements from unaccompanied Bach cello suites and thereafter simply to the sound of running water. Visually it was absolutely stunning. For anyone interested, there's a You Tube clip at -

 

 

Yet, after about 20 minutes a whole host of late-comers were ushered in by ladies whose hard heels click-clacked on the steps, almost completely destroying the atmosphere of what Britain's Daily Telegraph described as "a dream of a show, one of the most ravishing things I’ve seen in a theatre, an experience of beauty". Surely someone must know that ushers should wear soft soled shoes!

 

Worse, though, were the number of children brought in on the arms of parents. There is a regulation in arts venues in most parts of the world that children under six are not permitted to a performance - unless it is one specifically targeted at young children. Not so here in Thailand, it would seem. Keeping very young children quiet for 75 minutes is impossible, unless they are asleep. One man seated near the back decided he wanted to occupy empty seats near the front. So he thought nothing of disturbing everyone by dragging his 2 kids down the steps and into somewhat creaky seats. After many minutes of seat swapping, whispering, and feet tapping, the man eventually decided the show was not to his taste, and upped and left.

 

I saw nothing on the tickets or advance PR materials about late-comers not being permitted to enter the auditorium, nor of children under a certain age not being admitted. These failings, plus the usual glut of empty seats in the huge section reserved for sponsors, do little to enhance the attraction of the Festival for tourists, something it has been trumpeting loudly in the media recently.

[Guest lvdkeyes]

I have been to Tiffany and Alcazar a few times when I had visitor who wanted to go. Every time I was there, there were bus loads of Chinese tourists. I honestly don't know why they bother to go to a show. They talk during the whole performance and fight over seats well into the performance. I am going to the Thailand Cultural Center on the 17th to see Ballets de Trockadero de Monte Carlo. I certainly hope this is not going to be a problem. I am afraid I will not be quiet about it if the audience doesn't act appropriately.

[Gaybutton]

I am afraid I will not be quiet about it if the audience doesn't act appropriately.

I don't blame you. It costs a lot of money to go to Bangkok for a performance and rude people have no business spoiling it for everyone else. If it happens, I hope you won't be quiet about it. You would have every right to be angry.

[Guest fountainhall]

I am going to the Thailand Cultural Center on the 17th to see Ballets de Trockadero de Monte Carlo

 

Since the 'Trocks' have been here before and are more pure 'fun' than Cloudgate, I suspect - and hope - the audience behaviour will be much better. I'm going on the 16th.

 

GB is quite right to bring up the price issue. The cost of tickets for Cloudgate was more than you'd pay for the same company in London, New York - or even Singapore and Hong Kong. The presenter therefore has at least as great an obligation to ensure the audience enjoys the programme without interruptions.