theatreVOICE

I have finally become used to mobile phones going off at critical moments in plays.  For the most part, I am more amused at the reactions of others than irritated by the idiots who have still not found the off button on their mobile phone.
One day, somebody will explain to me why the masses are happy to mute a phone but have a phobia about turning it off.  Do they think that relatives will die or their lover find someone new in the hour before the interval?
The good news is that most of these issues are now behind me thanks to weary familiarity.
What is now making my blood boil is the expanding use of Blackberrys and mobile phones for texting.  It is amazing how many people can be distracted by one of those little glowing screens in a theatre, let alone the person frantically typing into the machine.  As soon as one of these communication freaks starts up, I find myself absolutely mesmerised and quite unable to look at the stage.
The sooner that Richard Griffiths or someone of equal stature starts railing against this pernicious and absolutely unnecessary behaviour the better.  Otherwise, there is a real risk that the next time some business(wo)man or their dumb companion feels the need to answer a text or write a message, I will succumb to gadget rage and stamp an expensive toy into little bits of glass and plastic.
It would be great news to discover that I’m not alone in this antediluvian prejudice.  If anyone else wishes to become a founder member of the Blow Raspberries at Blackberrys vigilante please write in.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 31st, 2008 at 7:29 pm, by Philip Fisher and is filed under Audio 2008. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.