Arriving at the Phoenix Theare to see Blood Brothers again last night, my heart instantly sank: lined up outside were ranks of noisy teenage school kids. And worse still, they were seated all around the stalls, not just safely tucked away upstairs. I asked Bill Kenwright’s marketing manager if this was a typical audience before it started. And he replied that yes, it was: most nights they had school parties in. But though he didn’t want to jinx things, he said I mustn’t worry: they usually behaved themselves.
Ah, yes, I thought - we’ll see.
I’ve written before here about disastrous trips to the theatre where the performance has been all but destroyed by the kids around me. On one particularly painful occasion at the National Theatre, where I actually moved seats to avoid a sneezing, wheezing, coughing adult beside me, I took myself, as I wrote here, “out of the frying pan - or the flu zone - and into the fire.”
About fifteen minutes into the second play of a triple bill I was seeing there, “two young women arrived and re-claimed their seats in front of me - and their nearly-constant chatter and general jiggling about began, that was only alleviated when, another half an hour later, they stormed out of the theatre again. The peace was only temporary: they returned yet again a few minutes later, and one of them cracked open a can as she rowdily sat down, and kept up a constant commentary for the rest of the play.”
Earlier this year, too, Ken Stott had to stop a performance of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge that he was appearing in at the Duke of York’s after being driven to distraction by a group of rowdy teenagers. According to a report in the Daily Mail at the time, halfway into the first act he snapped. “Switching from his stage American to his native Scots accent he told the teacher responsible for the children to remove them, or the play would not go on. The house lights were switched on and there was then a 15-minute stand-off as discussions took place with the offending youngsters. According to witnesses the audience took the side of Stott and even resorted to chanting ‘out, out, out’ in extraordinary scenes on Thursday night. Eventually the three culprits and an embarrassed teacher was forced to creep away before the play resumed at the Duke of York’s Theatre.”
I’m very torn, though: as I’ve also noted here previously, “I always try to remember on such occasions that it was going to the theatre as part of a school trip when I was about 14 that made me into what I am today, professionally as well as personally.”
So it was entirely wrong of me to pre-judge the audience last night. And here’s the revelation: they behaved impeccably, but also without restraint. They laughed long and loud during the boisterous bits. Then you could hear a pin drop at the key moments of conflict and drama. It was, in fact, the perfect theatre audience: utterly engaged, utterly responsive, utterly responsible. What a way to introduce kids to the theatre! Blood Brothers should clearly be compulsory on the school curriculum.
And it is thrilling to see it still going so strong, now in its 21st year, at the Phoenix Theatre. That’s partly a testament, too, to the incredible care and attention the show is still receiving: producer and co-director Bill Kenwright was in last night, still taking notes (and told me in the interval that he reckons he must have seen it around 1,200 times now in all). He’s also pulled off a major casting coup in getting Spice Girl Melanie C to make her West End debut in it now. Not only does she bring great humanity and humility to the role, but she’s also the first authentically Liverpudlian performer to play it.
Oddly enough I've been to two shows this week (Mixed up North and Our Man in Havana) which had audiences filled with school kids (mid-teens).
In both cases no matter how rowdy (or confused by the notion of numbered seats) they were before the performance, they were engaged while the play was on and very appreciative afterwards.
I too saw Mixed Up North on Tuesday night, and several school groups were completely engaged in the production.
But it's not just young people who can ruin a night out - I watched An Inspector Calls last night, and Nicholas Woodeson, playing Inspector Goole, stopped the show when it became clear that a fellow audience member hadn't turned off their mobile phone. What seemed like the entire audience (it was full) - which included Stephen Daldry, standing at the back - let out a cheer.
Oh I've a list! slurping of drinks. Rustling sweet bags and wrappers. Surreptious use of the mobile when the owner thinks nobody else is looking (I had a repeat offender ejected from the Theatre Royal Brighton)Patrons returning late from the interval, trampling on everyone's feet. Scraping the bottom of the icecream container, whispered comments on the performers/performance. I've paid around £50 to enjoy the Play. Not to be entertained by the audience!
Such a good story to read on your blog. It is one of the great strengths of musical theatre that it can so fully engage and enthrall an audience that rarely, if ever, has visited a theatre. No matter how jaded we get of the marathon runs of Blood Brothers, Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera et al. there is a plus side, when the house lights go down and you see an audience of young people watching the stage engrossed in the story there is also the possibility that in the next two and a half hours lives, emotions and world views can be changed, it happens every week in London and it is so easy for us to forget the unique power of a live theatrical performance.
yes, i was there at the opening night and i saw those loud school girls but amasingly well behaved when the show begun. And i agree in everything you said about how engaging & enjoyable the blood brothers are, and mel c's debut performance was fantastic, highly recommended.
I saw Blood Brothers for the first time when the touring version came to Nottingham (have not been lucky enough to see it in the West End yet) as a school trip for our GCSE Drama exam 4 years ago. Our class was mixed ability and full of a full spectrum of theatre experience from years to none. It even included a few "chavs" who never ever behaved, ever and hated the concept of musical theatre! However, during Blood Brothers I saw a completely different side to these people, totally engagd as they never had been before and, more surprisingly, in floods of tears at the end (even the "hard boys"). I comletely agree that Blood Brothers should be compulsory viewing as part of the school curriculum, it is a powerful, uniting and genuinely fantastic piece if theatre.
I had same experience with 2 old ladies sitting behind me in the theater and chatting all the time .. at the same time the school children were behaving perfectly well... that was quite odd to me
Last week I saw the new production of My Mother's Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding, which was a hit at the Fringe Festival here in Toronto and is now being staged by Mirvish. I had to repeatedly shush the elderly man beside me, who grumbled throughout the production about how lacking he found it. If only people could suffer in silence! It's only a 90-minute play, after all.
For the record, I found the production delightful. A bit rough around the edges, but the show has great heart and had the vast majority of the audience laughing out loud throughout. A really nice success story for a little musical:
http://toronto.broadwayworld.com/article/MY_MOTHERS_LESBIAN_JEWISH_WICCAN_WEDDING_Extended_Two_More_Weeks_Through_1213_At_The_Panasonic_Theatre_20091117