Stage Actor Patti LuPone Separates An Asshole From Her Cell Phone -- Without Breaking Character
Love this. In "Good Manners for Nice People Who Sometimes Say F*ck," I write about Lawrence Fishburne stopping "The Lion In Winter" to go off on some dick on his cellphone.
Kenneth Terrell and Sara Hammel wrote in US News in 1999: "During a performance last March of the Broadway play The Lion in Winter, an audience member's cell phone rang. After putting up with the annoyance for 20 seconds, actor Laurence Fishburne stopped the scene and boomed: 'Will you turn off that f - - - ing phone, please?' He got a rousing ovation."
The latest in stage actors who aren't putting up with this crap is Patti LuPone. Erik Piepenburg writes in The New York Times:
When the woman seated at the end of the second row texted -- and texted and texted -- during the show, Ms. LuPone took action. Without breaking character, Ms. LuPone walked into the audience and took the woman's phone. "She didn't know what was going on," Ms. LuPone said in a phone interview on Thursday. "I should be a sleight of hand artist." (The phone was returned after the show.)Q. So what happened Wednesday night?
A. This woman -- a very pretty young woman -- was sitting with her boyfriend or husband. We could see her text. She was so uninterested. She showed her husband what she was texting. We talked about it at intermission. When we went out for the second act I was very close to her, and she was still texting. I watched her and thought, "What am I going to do?" At the very end of that scene, we all exit. What I normally do is shake the hand of the people in the front row. I just walked over to her, shook her hand and took her phone. I walked offstage and handed it to the stage manager, who gave it to the house manager.
...Q. If you could see it, then the rest of the audience probably could, too. It takes one screen to disrupt an entire theater.
A. I don't know why they buy the ticket or come to the theater if they can't let go of the phone. It's controlling them. They can't turn it off and can't stop looking at it. They are truly inconsiderate, self-absorbed people who have no public manners whatsoever. I don't know what to do anymore. I was hired as an actor, not a policeman of the audience.
...Q. How did the audience react when you took her phone?
A. They got it. She was totally seen texting because she was in light. Some people gasped when I took the phone. Some people applauded.
It is completely, completely distracting to have somebody on their phone in the movies -- and especially -- when a stage performance is on, to both the actors and the audience.
I just can't believe or even understand the day-to-day arrogance a person has to have to do this right in front of actors on stage.
Yes yes yes. I love what LuPone did, and I hope more discussions will be had now about how to better eliminate this terribly disrespectful behavior from theaters. Technically it is illegal for people to be using their phones in that setting -- maybe we need police presence in each theater? Or just more Patti LuPones...
Anya at July 9, 2015 11:41 PM
Can they just play this first?
You know the people with the phone, it's all about them. The rest of us (and the fine folks trying to perform on stage) are just there to amuse them. How dare we?
DrCos at July 10, 2015 3:42 AM
I've always liked LuPone; She is very talented. It is good to see that she also has class in how she dealt with the jerk.
But, I can't help but think - why was it up to the actors to do something? Where was theater management? Aren't their ushers or someone who could stop this kind of rudeness in its tracks?
I would like to see theaters remove such rude jerks from the theater.
No exceptions! You have a phone on, whether for talking or texting, theater management removes you from the theater. period.
Some higher priced performances, such as the opera, ballet, etc. (not that I can afford or even care about such stuff - But, my company years ago offered discount tickets to the nutcracker at Christmas time, so I went) have a policy of no late arrivals. If you show up late you cannot be seated until first intermission. This is for everyone else's enjoyment of the performance.
Granted, removing someone is much different from not letting them in if they are late. But, the policy of no late seating is well known (and, if I recall correctly, it was printed on the tickets we bought ahead of time) and causes more people to be on time.
So, maybe a policy of removing such rude people from the theater will cause them to think more before being rude. They will never think "Oh, I shouldn't use my phone because that would be rude." But, they might think "I shouldn't use my phone because they will kick me out." A narcissist has to be dealt with in a manner they can understand.
Now, initially, it will be more disruptive than the phone use itself; but, after just a few times the theater management will get good at removing rude people.
Maybe, I'm just asking for a big, tough, muscle-bound, leatherneck bouncer at the theater?
charles at July 10, 2015 4:07 AM
I agree that it is the usher's job and the theater's job, but that didn't help LuPone in the moment. I wonder if theaters will start having policies about this.
And yes, regarding the bouncer, charles, that's probably what you're asking for. Seems necessary!
I'd also love it if they'd have a policy: "Photos will be posted of anyone texting or taking a call during the performance."
Amy Alkon at July 10, 2015 6:19 AM
"I don't know why they buy the ticket or come to the theater if they can't let go of the phone. "
That's the most head-scratching part. It's not like New York theater tickets are cheap. (And it's not like she had one of those half-prict TKTS tickets either, not if she was in the front row right in front of the stage.) If I'm going to spend money on a Broadway production, I'm damn sure going to pay attention. If I wanted to text in public, I could go down to Bryant Park and do it for free.
Cousin Dave at July 10, 2015 6:28 AM
Technically it is illegal for people to be using their phones in that setting
Great, another minor law we can nicked for just because a cop is bored and needs to meet their quota for month.
Can you name the statute? no, I'm being serious, I don't see how that's the State's business in any sense, but the State doesn't have sense so I can see them doing something silly. They love to try and regulate behaviour.
I R A Darth Aggie at July 10, 2015 7:33 AM
I really don't enjoy going to the movies w/ my wife... she likes to text right up to when it starts. and sometimes during. I say something, and I'm "rude" for doing so. Solution? no more movie dates.
And on a related theater note, there's this:
"Twitter and Facebook lit up Sunday evening and Monday morning after several cast members and audience members posted their speechlessness at a report that an audience member had clambered onto the stage of the Booth Theatre and tried to plug a cell phone charger into an outlet on the set of Hand to God."
http://playbill.com/news/article/audience-member-tries-to-use-stage-outlet-to-charge-phone-at-hand-to-god-352658
the other patrick at July 10, 2015 8:03 AM
I wish cellphone jammers were legal and installed in theaters.
I know, I know: safety issues and but-what-if and all that.
But I still wish it could be done —just post a prominent sign outside warning this is a cellphone-free zone, enforced by technology, and by buying a ticket and entering the premises you agreed to that condition.
At intermission, people would stampede outside to check their phones the way they used to do to light up.
Kevin at July 10, 2015 9:08 AM
"I wish cellphone jammers were legal and installed in theaters."
It's been known to happen. Just sayin'. Although GSM phones are a lot harder to jam than the old AMPS phones were.
Cousin Dave at July 10, 2015 9:52 AM
And actually, theaters don't need to actually jam. All they need to do is have the building shielded. This is not hard to do in new construction; admittedly, it's harder to do in an existing building.
Cousin Dave at July 10, 2015 9:55 AM
Cousin Dave, how reliable are the inexpensive ones you can buy online? Just askin'.
Kevin at July 10, 2015 10:08 AM
I recently saw KA at the MGM grand in Las Vegas, and at the very beginning of the show there was this guy in one of the front rows taking flash pictures. They made a big show of it, taking his camera, taking his cell phone and pulling him out of his seat, shoving him around and generally harassing him for it. It wasn't until they broke his stuff and threw him over the edge into the pit that I realized it was staged, but what a way to get the point across!
Matt at July 10, 2015 1:42 PM
"Cousin Dave, how reliable are the inexpensive ones you can buy online?"
They are effective over a small radius, say 5 feet. For a room the size of a theater, not very. You'd have to crank out some serious power to jam GSM over the entire volume of a room that size.
Cousin Dave at July 13, 2015 8:24 AM
So the stage-jumping cellphone-charger has issued an apology.
Excerpt:
"I don’t go to plays very much, and I didn’t realize that the stage is considered off limits."
http://playbill.com/news/article/hand-to-god-phone-charger-issues-apology-353090
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at July 15, 2015 4:12 PM
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