Half of your time in this course is spent watching. That is not the rest period between the real work — a performer can feel the difference between a room that is with them and a room that is elsewhere, and so can you, the moment you are the one standing up there.
In this classroom
- Settle before they start. When a group takes their opening positions, the room goes quiet without being asked. Their first three seconds are the hardest of the piece.
- Watch the whole thing. No phones out, no side conversation, no rehearsing your own piece in your lap while somebody performs theirs.
- Laugh when it is funny. Silence is not respect; attention is. A comedy played to a room determined to be polite is an unkind experiment.
- Do not rescue. When somebody blanks, the whole room wants to help. Do not — no whispered lines, no laughing to break the tension. Let them find it. Almost always they do, and it belongs to them.
- Applaud at the end, every time, for everybody.
- Then say something true. Giving and Receiving Notes is the method: what worked, then one honest wish.
In a theatre
Most of the above, plus the things a building adds:
- Arrive before the house lights go down; if you are late, you wait for the usher, not for a convenient moment of your own choosing.
- Phones off — not silent, off. The screen is visible from the stage, and so is your face lit up by it.
- No photographs or recording. It is distracting, and usually it is also not permitted.
- Food and drink by the house’s rules, not yours.
- Applaud at the curtain call; stay for it. Leaving during the bows is the one thing performers reliably notice.
The unwritten rule that matters most
Whatever you would want from an audience while you are exposed on a stage, give exactly that. Every performer in this room is going to be in that position within the fortnight, including you.
When you are the one performing
Audience etiquette runs both ways. Be ready in the wings, not arriving at your entrance. Do not comment on your own piece before it starts — “this is going to be terrible” steals the room’s attention and is usually not even true. Take the applause, and thank the crew, whose names appear in Production Roles Interview for a reason.
Curriculum connection
C3.3
demonstrate an understanding of theatre and audience etiquette, in both classroom and formal performance contexts (e.g., listen attentively during school performances and assemblies)
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