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'I can hear them three floors away!' The theatres where you don't have to behave

You’re meant to shut up, keep still and pay attention at the theatre – but what if that’s a problem? We examine the rise of ‘relaxed’ spaces where anything goes

It started with the toes. Someone slipped off their shoes at a West End show, propping up their bare feet; their neighbour tweeted a photo in disgust. Joe Douglas, artistic director of Live theatre in Newcastle, popped up to say that he wasn’t bothered. “Our theatre IS your house,” he tweeted. “If your feet smell or the actors are pissed off with your feet being on the stage, we might have words. Otherwise, crack on. #makeyourselfathome”

What does make a theatre feel like home? Negotiating mobile phones, sweet wrappers and chatty Kathys is a well-documented headache for theatre staff and spectators alike. The academic Kirsty Sedgman, in her book The Reasonable Audience, notes: “We may say we want audiences to feel at home in the theatre, but we are still not willing to go so far as to let them act like they are at home.” So can you make everyone feel at home?

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from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/3cesX5R
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