We bumped into Gareth Nicholls from Little Earthquake last night. Apparently he made the front page of the Wolverhampton Express and Star recently when, in character, he rebuked members of his audience for their poor behaviour, talking amongst themselves and the like.
In the past I may have thought, uncharitably, ‘can’t have been very gripping if they were talking amongst themselves’, but I saw a slow by Slot Machine at the same venue (The Arena) last year and sat next to some folk who chatted through much of the show discussing how much they were enjoying it and how good it is.
Given that in the Cinema people now seem happy to wander around during the feature presentation. Maybe we are in some transitional period in which etiquette and conventions are changing, maybe we are on our way back to Elizabethan times. Maybe we’ll all be shouting over the throng before the end of the next decade.
James
Black Theatre audiences are familiar with the running commentary approach to theatre-going. I also remember a lively audience at Paisley Arts Centre, where the ‘familiar’ crowd were egging me on in a ‘Les Miserables’ fight sequence in which my character Javert beat up a woman! That’s nothing, though, to the cacophony that accompanied every performance of an Insomniac/Il Palchetto tour of Italy in ’94 where it was sometimes difficult to hear each other on stage. One expects so much more of a WASP-ish audience.
correction –
One expects so much less of a WASPish audience, doesn’t one?
Kitson challenged a member of the audience on Saturday night for going out to the bar halfway through the show. He was about 20% joking and 80% genuinely saying what do you think this you prat?
Doesn’t stand up comedy rely on the audience being a bit merry to fully appreciate those wry observations about everyday life?
Craig – depends. Kitson apparently stopped doing standup in clubs on a Friday/Saturday night because the audience was not right – too rowdy etc. I guess the theatre at Warwick Arts Centre is classed as ok.