Shut up and watch - Shawn's Sense

On Monday, I read an article in The Guardian whose headline began with the quote, “Y’all are pissin’ me off”. My first reaction was to be a little pissed off myself, pardon the language, as whoever had uttered this quote had, perhaps unknowingly, stolen the working title of my autobiography. Second, I decided to read the article through.

 

The quote came from actor Isa Briones, posted to her Instagram page, in reference to a recurring phenomenon during the run of Just in Time on Broadway. In it, Briones plays Connie Francis opposite Bobby Darin, but much of the world knows her from the hit HBO show The Pitt, in which she plays Dr. Trinity Santos. This is important, as what is happening at the Circle in the Square Theatre is people yelling references to The Pitt at her when she appears on stage. A running bit on the show was her neverending quest to finish her patient charting and in that same Instagram post, she said someone had shouted, “When are you going to finish your charts?” at her just before she launched into “Who’s Sorry Now?”

 

She went on to say that it was “[expletive deleted] disrespectful,” reminding folks that, “You are occupying shared spaces and watching art,” and Broadway is not a circus.

 

I have never been to a Broadway show. Now, I have been on Broadway (I saw a taping of The Late Show with David Letterman at the Ed Sullivan Theater many years ago) and I have been tempted by a few productions over the years (Glengarry Glen Ross with Kieran Culkin and Bob Odenkirk and Hedwig and the Angry Inch when John Cameron Mitchell returned to the titular role in 2015), but I’ve never gotten there, despite my best efforts. I have always held up Broadway as the absolute pantheon of theatre (with all apologies to the West End in London, etc.). I couldn’t imagine someone shouting at one of the performers in the midst of a Broadway production. It sounds like something that wouldn’t happen in a million years in a Broadway theatre.

 

There have been some thinkpieces about this kind of thing with the emerging theory being that after the pandemic, when we spent so much time on our own, that we have forgotten how to be together. Essentially, that concerts, movies, restaurants and theatres are more raucous experiences because people now see themselves as the centre of their own universes and no longer consider how their behaviour impacts those around them. 

 

This is the kind of thing that could be traced all over the place if you dig deep enough and dissected how people behave now that we all have smartphones and don’t care about each other nearly as much as we used to, but the point made by Briones is one that stuck with this liberal-leaning, art-loving columnist. We occupy shared spaces with one another and we watch people create art for our enjoyment. Whether it’s a painting to be admired, a song to be moved by or, yes, a performance to wash over you, a professional is plying their trade for a paying, attentive audience. Stay out of it.

 

Here in Huron County, as someone who has been attending Blyth Festival shows for the better part of two decades, there are always interruptions, but they’re often unintended or mistakes, like a phone ringing or a too-loud conversation among patrons. Don’t love those, but they’re still a far cry from intentionally and coarsely injecting yourself into the action on stage, essentially acting as the class clown, shouting at a teacher in the middle of a lesson.

 

The erosion of decorum is disappointing to say the least. All we can do is be part of the solution, rather than part of the problem.