It became a most viewed video on YouTube! The incident with Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman telling the patron to shut off their phone. And, you remember Patti Lupone’s break-out-in-rant on a guy taking pictures on his cell phone, right? Of course, how many times have you experienced this in a live theatre, at the movies, at a restaurant and even in the bathroom stall next to you. There’s a growing etiquette problem and the Theatre may be the ones to do something about it.
Sure, we do the pre-theatre announcements, usually done in a funny way, (Rock of Ages says it “it makes you look like a douchebag.”) I’m just not convinced that the “Please take this moment to shut off your cell phones” is enough for audiences. We need to do more. Check cell phones in the lobby? Or get the community together for an ad campaign!
Buy some television commercials, Do a live social etiquette lesson on ustream.tv, create videos and throw them up on YouTube. We can get the Ad Council and the FCC in on this. We need a public message that is funny and will stick. (Sure, there are more important things like Teen Dating Violence Protection and quitting smoking, but cell phone abuse is out of control, right?)
I think it would be great if we did a video series of regular life incidents where the cell phone is involved and throw in one of our theatre celebrities.
Scene 1: A family is enjoying a lovely conversation over a beautiful dining room table. Amidst light-hearted chatter, a cell phone goes off. Everyone is looking at the eldest kid who answers it. Kid says “Oh hey Bra, yeah, no, it’s fine, I can chat.” Mom looks at Dad, Sister looks at younger sister. Then they all turn to brother. They know what’s about to happen. BOOM! Patti Lupone BUSTS in. She screams, “Who do you think you are? This is a dinner table. Everyone at this table has respect except for YOU. Get ‘em out of here (then an usher comes in, all dressed up, escorts the douchey kid out of the house.) Then, Patti sings “Here she is boys! Tell the world! Heaaaaz Patti!” Cue ad message.
Scene 2: A crowded, quiet subway. Next stop, Broadway/Lafayette. A super cute girl walks on and gets a call. She gets service! She picks it up and snorts and laughs “Omygod, I know, O-M-G-W-T-F, I knah! Omygod, I hate her! I knah! I knah!” Everyone on the subway gets quiet…you hear a rattling of the car; There’s a roar coming, but, it’s not the train. From the sea of passengers barges through a very angry Hugh Jackman. He grabs the cell phone and crushes it with his hands. He gazes at the shell-shocked girl. All he says is “You’re annoying everyone on the train.” Then runs out, Wolverine style.
What do you think? Do you have any other suggestions of ad ideas for this theatre cell phone problem? Leave your ideas in the comment sections below.
I recently attended Taylor Mac's THE LILY's REVENGE, the production dealt with cellphone etiquette wonderfully. The World Famous BOB worked the issue into her entertaining pre-show, rewarding people with candies from her cleavage for promising not to take photos and for turning off (not just silencing) mobiles… at intermission she encouraged everyone to text like mad, microblog like a maven and to purposely not talk to each other but only use mobile devices. It was hilarious, it was smart, it was an interesting experiment and was purposely integrated into the performance event (not just the show but the event of coming to see a show). This wouldn't work for every show obviously but I believe there is something to cleverly incorporating etiquette expectations into the experience of live performance.