Professional Documents
Culture Documents
of theatre etiquette
Words to live by when youre watching the show
BY LARRY GRAY
The following ten commandments of theatre etiquette serve two purposes. First, I
must admit that as an actor and director of plays, musicals and operas I just had
to get this off my chest. There. I feel much better. The second purpose is education. I
hereby give permission to anyone to reproduce and to print these commandments and
to spread them far and wide. May I suggest you print them in your programs? If thats
not an option, perhaps you can hand out copies to your students at the outset of a
new class or before theyre heading out to see a show. One way or the other, maybe
we can educate a few people and make the theatre a more pleasant experience for
everyone.
TEACHING THEATRE
This is the first and the greatest commandment. Please note that the commandment does not say, Thou shalt not talk
loudly, or Thou shalt not talk excessively, or
Thou shalt not talk about subjects other than the
performance in progress, or anything else. No, the
commandment is quite categorical. Thou shalt not
talk at all. There are two reasons for this commandment, both so obvious that experienced theatregoers are in danger of becoming consumed with the
theatre-going equivalent of road rage when they
encounter a talker. But since talking in theatres is so
epidemic, apparently lots of people dont get it.
So here goes. Reason number one. No matter
what you do, no matter how hard you try, no matter
how quiet you think you are, it is simply impossibleyes, impossibleto talk in a theatre without
disturbing people around you. And please note that
talking is also annoying, disturbing, and distracting to
the actors onstage. No, you are not an exception.
And no, the play or movie or concert does not improve with your running commentary to your friend.
And no, there is no question you feel compelled to
ask that justifies annoying everyone else.
Reason number two. No matter how clever you
think you are at multitasking, it remains an immutable law that if you are talking, then you are not
completely listening. Theatregoers are allowed, indeed encouraged to talk before and after the perfor-
to feel strong emotions, prefer to defuse those emotions by laughing. They dont know thats what they
are doing, but experienced performers and theatregoers do. Ironically, these inappropriate laughers, in
trying to avoid embarrassment, actually draw attention to themselves and advertise that they are emotionally immature.
TEACHING THEATRE