Stage Whisper

‘FORGET the high ticket prices, the turgid plotting and the questionable acting and know that live theatre is enriching your soul.

”The rest is silence”

So when you watch the performance, please refrain from moaning about the basketball player sitting directly in front of you and whimpering in agony as your foot cramps up.

Try to retain a reverential hush.

But what’s that noise? Kevin Spacey, who’s directing the play Cloaca at London’s Old Vic theatre, has heard something he does not care for.

It’s not the Spanish language students talking in loud whispers or even the snoring – it’s the rustling of sweet wrappers.

”I don’t think people take these things seriously,” says Spacey in the Guardian.

”That’s why mobile phones go off in theatre, and that’s why people open candy bars thinking if they open it slowly it will be less annoying than if they open it fast.

”My answer is that I say to each audience ‘Don’t!’ You have to respect the fact that there is some degree of behaviour that we expect in the theatre and we’re going to demand it at the Old Vic.”

So Kevin says that if you don’t know how to behave, don’t come to live theatre.

That means no mobile phones. No talking. And, definitely, no snoring…’

Posted: 21st, September 2004 | In: Uncategorized Comment | TrackBack | Permalink