Popular musicals will be told to avoid phrases such as “best party in town” and “dancing in the aisles” after growing reports of rowdy and abusive behaviour from audiences.
Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG), the largest theatre operator in the UK, is working with producers to temper any ad campaigns that could encourage bad behaviour, the Stage reported.
On Tuesday, Colin Marr, director of the Edinburgh Playhouse theatre, told the Stage that audience behaviour was the worst he had known in his five years in charge. “One of the main things we are trying to do is around messaging and working closely with producers,” he said. “We are talking to them about marketing. So, when we market shows let’s not have phrases such as ‘best party in town’ or ‘dancing in the aisles’ – the show has something much stronger than that to sell.”
He said some marketing sends the message it is acceptable to sing along, “but actually, if you are in the row behind you don’t want that”.
Marr said producers were being “very positive”, adding that some make their own announcements before shows to remind audiences to behave.
An ATG spokesperson confirmed the company was working with producers on marketing. “We’re taking a multidisciplinary approach to tackling challenging audience behaviour, covering all points of the customer journey, including how we market shows. We want everyone to fully enjoy the experience of a show and we work closely with producers to create appropriate marketing material,” they said.
Edinburgh Playhouse issued a statement last week about poor audience behaviour, after a recent performance of Jersey Boys had to be stopped because a fight had erupted, resulting in the police being called. Marr said he was “disgusted and angry with the unacceptable audience behaviour” his team had endured.
He added: “They have been verbally and physically assaulted by a small number of audience members while trying to do their job. Two weeks ago, one of my staff was punched. This week one of them was pushed and spat on.
Enough is enough!
— Edinburgh Playhouse (@edinplayhouse) February 8, 2023
I am disgusted and angry with the unacceptable audience behaviour that my team has had to endure in recent weeks.
“This is becoming far too regular an occurrence – not just in our theatre but in venues across the UK. There is a very small minority of people who come to our theatre and choose to sing, dance and talk throughout the show in a manner that disturbs others. They either don’t know, or don’t care, how much this spoils their fellow audience members’ experience.
“When one of my team asks them politely to stop they become verbally abusive and, in some cases, physical. This is not acceptable.”
The Society of London Theatre and UK Theatre put forward the idea of a joint “respect campaign” with other sectors, including those in retail, to tackle poor and abusive behaviour.
