Why do theatres hate their audiences?

War has broken out in theatreland. Managements are increasingly at odds with the audiences who fund their livelihoods. A recent stand-off involved James Norton’s new show, A Little Life, which contains a couple of scenes in which the actor removes his clothes. A punter at a preview in Richmond secretly photographed the moments of nudity and posted the images online. This sparked a furore in the newspapers and the majority of commentators took the producers’ side against the theatre-goers. Dr Kirsty Sedgman, a media studies lecturer, spoke piously to the Independent about ‘an absolute violation of the unwritten contract between audiences and performers’. The Mirror reported that ‘drastic measures’ might be needed to ensure that similar ‘privacy breaches’ don’t occur. No one considered that the backers of the show were secretly thrilled by all the free advertising. And it seems bizarre to invoke the ‘privacy’ of an actor who chose to appear naked in public and who spoke to the press about his on-stage striptease. Richmond Theatre itself handed out leaflets reminding punters that photography was forbidden and this almost certainly encouraged the illicit snapper to get to work.

Theatres are now being urged to crack down on playgoers carrying smartphones. A well-known publicist suggested that every device must be covered in duct tape before its owner can enter the venue. Alistair Smith, editor of the Stage, predicts that smartphones will have to be deposited in lock-boxes at the start of each performance. But what if the punters refuse to surrender their devices? We may end up with a stop-and-search policy in every foyer. That may sound unthinkable but the Covid crisis taught the public to act meekly in the face of intrusive regulations.

The fundamental problem here is that theatre administrators don’t much like the audience.