The Unworthy Patron

Let me start by saying Limbo, the new Spiegeltent show currently playing in Newcastle, is spectacular. The talent in that cast is breathtaking. The combination of the music and the physical skill is amazing. If you haven’t already seen it, run, don’t walk and make sure you see it before they finish up on May 5.

To the booth full of people who sat behind us, lets chat. You, as a group, got tickets, got dressed up, and found your way to Civic Park that night. Let’s assume that if you are bright enough to put your own pants on without assistance, then can we also assume you are smart enough to realise the difference between a live performance and watching a movie at home in your lounge room? From your behaviour on the night, it’s not clear that’s the case.

In an effort to help you out, if you are home watching, lets say, The Muppet Movie, and you are loud, drunk, sloppy and yelling out racist comments thinly disguised as a compliment, then the only people you are offending is your family, who are already fully aware, you are a bit of a jerk. If you are doing that at a live show, not only are you annoying all the other patrons who have paid good money to be in the audience,e but you are disrespecting performers who have spent years mastering their craft.

The question has to be asked: How entitled are you? You were asked nicely by the staff several times to keep it to a dull roar, but yet you continued. Being able to hear every word of your conversation let me reassure you, nothing you said was so earth-shatteringly important that it couldn’t have waited the 80 minutes that the performers were on stage.

The kid who is not old enough to vote yet knows that she could burn the house down and be in less trouble than if she said something racist. The fact that she had a visceral reaction to your comments and said something as she passed your table on the way out reassures me that I have raised a good human. I wonder what you think your behaviour says about you?

I hope for the performers that all of their remaining shows are filled with Newcastle fans and fellow performers who know your pain, appreciate your effort, and are the audience you deserve. For the unworthy audience member, if you didn’t understand all of the above, let me be more concise. Next time you are at a live show……shut the hell up. Newcastle is better than this.

Sadly, I had a similar experience at an event I was running two weeks later. Thrilled to say this was not a Newcastle local, so it’s obviously a nationwide issue for a certain kind of person. After being spoken to by security and then asking to “see the manager” (uggh) and speaking with me she just couldn’t understand the fact that that her paying for her own ticket didn’t entitle her to ruin the experience for everyone sitting in ear shot of her and the noise they were making. Although you have to love Newcastle, during our conversation, she said, “we aren’t bothering anyone” to which there was a cacophony of responses from the hill saying “just move would ya” “you have been bothering us all game” and a couple too colourful that I can’t repeat them. I turned back, determined not to smile, cause I’m a professional.

Most venues and events have terms of admission and a code of conduct. If you can’t follow instructions from security, that is game over. People need to understand at that point, the fact that you have purchased a ticket doesn’t entitle you to ruin the show for everyone else that your responses of ‘I deserve a night out you know” and “I’m related to so and so” aren’t as compelling as you think they are. At that stage, you are still there because of the grace of the staff, not because you are in the right.