Clap-happy audiences are ruining theatre ...Middle East

There is a new trend lurking on the theatrical horizon – and it is not one whose arrival fills me with any joy. Like so much in our entertainment culture – such as standing ovations almost as a matter of course at the end of every big show, no matter the quality – it is an American import and one which I would dearly have liked to stay safely on the other side of the Atlantic.

This disturbing fresh craze is the phenomenon of audiences applauding wildly when a big-name actor makes his or her first appearance onstage, thus derailing the gathering momentum of the piece and tearing a fatal hole in the delicate fabric of the suspension of disbelief.

Those with a ticket to see Gary Oldman in Krapp’s Last Tape at the Theatre Royal York are confronted with an imposing sign in the foyer, stating: “In order to enhance the audience experience, we kindly ask if you can refrain from applauding upon Gary’s entrance. Please hold all applause until the end of the performance.” Presumably the earliest shows in the run had seen Slow Horses fans getting overexcited at the prospect of witnessing ramshackle hero Jackson Lamb (the character played by Oldman in the Apple TV hit series) in the flesh and thus clapping enthusiastically at the start. Yet such an outbreak of excitement is the very last thing that Samuel Beckett’s austere meditation on time and mortality requires.

No such signs pleading for restraint were in evidence at Wyndham’s Theatre this weekend when I saw My Master Builder, which features Ewan McGregor’s return to the London stage after years of absence. Warm whoops and applause greeted him when he came on and all the cast had to work hard to reconstitute the play’s atmosphere of nervy anticipation.

I was uncomfortably reminded of the time I saw Sigourney Weaver in a play on Broadway, when her arrival was greeted so positively that the action was stalled for several minutes. The actual drama ended up being deeply mediocre, but the mood of deference-cum-reverence had already been established. British theatre has in the past seen occasional isolated outbreaks of first entrance clapping, but these two current situations with Oldman and McGregor point to a worrying move towards its normalisation.

I can already hear the objections to this argument. People will ask, “does it really matter?” Paying punters are not required to have the cool detachment of theatre critics, so if they want to clap their heroes, what is the problem? Yet I see this latest development as another example of sometimes unsettling behaviour by audiences, who too often seem to feel that if they shell out ever more astronomical prices for tickets, they are entitled to do whatever they want once they are inside a theatre.

We are now drearily accustomed to reports of rowdy spectators singing along to hit songs at musicals, oblivious to how they might be spoiling the enjoyment of fellow fans. As was reported recently, there has been a worrying increase in intrusive behaviour towards stars at stage doors after the show; again, the sense of unrestrained audience entitlement when it comes to celebrities is concerning. Paying an inflated price for a ticket buys a seat at a show, not an access-all-areas pass.

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All of this is part of a much wider cultural trend, one that was accelerated dizzyingly by the isolation of lockdowns during the pandemic. Watching stars on screens in the privacy of our own homes whenever and however we wanted turned into the norm overnight. This meant that spectators became unshackled from the concept of “decent” audience behaviour, the tacit understanding that the experience of the collective, rather than any individual, took precedence. When at last theatres re-opened, the legacy of such self-centred – in every sense of the phrase – behaviour made the move from the private space to the public and the repercussions of this continue to be felt today.

Now, I fear that where the incidents of Oldman and McGregor lead, many others will follow.

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