:: Encore Theatre Magazine ::

Encore Theatre Magazine

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::Front Page::

:: Wednesday, July 19, 2006 ::

Teatro Mobile

Two items of near-news concern mobile phones this week. Following Richard Griffiths's much-publicised campaign against - against what? People accidentally forgetting to put their phones on silent? - The Stage is canvassing opinion on the subject. For what it's worth, Encore thinks those recorded and other messages at the beginning of the show are quite good enough. Yes, sometimes you'll sit there and think it's already on silent and then get a nasty surprise, but this happens. As long as you don't answer it and just turn it off quickly, it's fine, and Griffiths et al. should probably lighten up. What is he suggesting? Fining people? Checking your phone in at the cloakroom? Lining the auditoriums of our theatres with lead? Let's also remember, when Griffiths harangued some poor woman out of the theatre, it was that fatuous piece of drama-lite, Heroes. It's not as if he were giving his Lear. Griffiths reputedly ordered the woman out with the words,

"Could the person whose mobile phone it is please leave? The 750 people here would be fully justified in suing you for ruining their afternoon."

As if an actor coming out of character and haranguing a member of the audience were smoothly part of the afternoon's show. In fact, the only way a ringtone spoils the experience of Heroes is by reminding them of the 21st century and that this old-fashioned crap has nothing to do with our lives.

Speaking of crap, apparently the Blue Man Group are going to make available clips of their show that can be sent to and played on mobile phones. At the end of each show the audience will be invited to turn on their phones, at which point, by the magic of bluetooth, clips will be send to their handhelds. According to James Charrington, one of the show's UK producers:

"People see our show and love it but they find it almost impossible to describe it properly to their friends. Now they will have a great way of sharing their experience and a free souvenir of an unforgettable night."

Let's pass over the question of why you would need a 'souvenir' of an 'unforgettable' night. What this is actually about is trying to start a viral advertising campaign where people send the clips to their friends and word of mouth becomes word of MMS.

However, Encore thinks this is unnecessary. It's perfectly possible to describe the Blue Man Group properly. Here goes:

The Blue Man Group is a piece of vacuous franchise theatre in which some anonymous drummers get painted blue and play banal rhythms while splashing the audience with paint; the music sounds like some 80s ad-man's idea of a crazy part-ay, the dance looks like Hot Gossip in macs, and the evening is completely empty - it has to be because this show is being done all over the world in exactly the same way and so can't connect too much to any audience. It is theatre for people who never go to the theatre, music for people who don't care about music, and dance for people who don't understand dance. It has nothing to say about anything; it is not remotely entertaining; it is the wacky act at the Eurovision Song Contest stretched out to fill an evening. If you feel nostalgic for Level 42 you might enjoy it. If you think effort is good enough and volume is its own entertainment, go along. If the very thought of someone with blue make up on their face is sufficient to hold you for over an hour, tickets are available online. Otherwise, if anyone messages a clip from this show to you, they are insulting you. Do not waste your time with the Blue Man Group.

:: posted by Theatre Worker at Wednesday, July 19, 2006

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Comments:

Interesting that you twice refer to putting phones "on silent". Do you not recognise the possibility of turning the fucking thing OFF? It's symbolic of a refusal to leave your own quotidian and engage with the play;

# posted by  Anonymous : 21/7/06 10:23 am

 

Of course you can turn it off, what's the big deal? More important, why do you think that watching a play means abandoning 'the quotidian'? A lot of plays exist in tension with daily life - in fact, how many don't? - and totally immersing yourself in the play as such would be missing the point. But I guess you're just trying to wind us up...

# posted by  Theatre Worker : 21/7/06 3:41 pm

 

The problem with those pre-curtain messages is that audience members go on to phone people up during the interval and then forget to switch them off for the second half.

I once saw a Roy Williams play at the Court upstairs where a phone went off and all of the audience thought that it was part of the scene- it added an interesting element of surprise to a rather mechanical play- but that's been the only time that I haven't found the experience irritatingly disruptive.

# posted by  Anonymous : 23/7/06 2:03 pm

 

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