The theatre police have endless grievances about audience behaviour. I’m just thrilled you’ve made the effort to be here
Why Read This
What Makes This Article Worth Your Time
Summary
What This Article Is About
Playwright Melanie Tait challenges the obsession with theatre etiquette that dominates discussions about audience behavior, from condemning phone use to criticizing casual clothing. She argues that in an era when theatres struggle with declining attendance following pandemic lockdowns and face rising production costs, the industry should prioritize welcoming audiences rather than policing minor infractions like unwrapping candy or wearing jeans.
The article centers on a transformative moment when Tait watched a visibly ill woman in seat A43—notorious for putting occupants to sleep—who had made enormous physical effort to attend a matinee performance despite her condition. Witnessing this woman’s determination to be present, even as she dozed intermittently, fundamentally shifted Tait’s perspective: the effort people make to leave their homes and experience live theatre matters far more than adherence to rigid behavioral codes. In a world where most people stay home scrolling phones, anyone who shows up deserves celebration, not condemnation.
Key Points
Main Takeaways
Etiquette Policing Is Universal
Everyone has opinions about theatre etiquette regardless of attendance frequency, with grievances ranging from phone use to clothing choices to candy unwrapping.
Pandemic Changed Theatre Economics
Theatres haven’t recovered pre-pandemic audience levels while production costs and ticket prices have risen, making attendance recovery the real crisis.
Home Viewing Changed Expectations
Pandemic lockdowns normalized consuming entertainment at home in comfortable clothes without behavioral constraints, making theatre attendance feel more effortful and expensive.
Seat A43’s Transformative Lesson
Watching a visibly ill woman who made tremendous effort to attend despite falling asleep repeatedly fundamentally changed the playwright’s priorities from etiquette to appreciation.
Economic Survival Requires Attendance
For playwrights earning percentages of ticket sales, filled seats directly determine financial survival, making welcoming audiences an economic imperative beyond philosophical principle.
Effort Deserves Celebration
In a world where most people stay home scrolling phones, anyone who makes the physical, financial, and logistical effort to attend live theatre deserves appreciation.
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Article Analysis
Breaking Down the Elements
Main Idea
Attendance Trumps Etiquette
The central thesis argues that theatre’s survival depends on prioritizing audience attendance over enforcing behavioral codes, especially given post-pandemic attendance declines and rising costs. Tait contends that minor etiquette violations—phones ringing, candy unwrapping, casual dress—pale in significance compared to the effort required to attend live performance in an era when home entertainment offers comfort and convenience. This matters because the theatre industry faces an existential crisis of relevance and economic viability, making welcoming attitudes toward audiences not just philosophically generous but economically essential for playwrights whose livelihoods depend on ticket sales.
Purpose
To Reframe Professional Discourse
Tait writes to persuade fellow theatre professionals and etiquette enforcers to reconsider their priorities by sharing a transformative personal experience. The purpose is advocacy for a more welcoming, less judgmental theatre culture that recognizes structural barriers to attendance rather than fixating on minor behavioral infractions. By grounding her argument in both economic reality—her mortgage depends on ticket sales—and emotional impact—the ill woman’s determination—she aims to shift professional conversation from policing audiences toward celebrating their presence. The piece functions as both confession of changed perspective and call to action for cultural transformation.
Structure
Cultural Context → Economic Reality → Transformative Anecdote
The article opens by establishing the universality of etiquette policing through cultural references—Patti LuPone confronting phone users, TikTok debates about singing during Wicked. It transitions to economic context, explaining how pandemic lockdowns and rising costs create attendance challenges while home viewing normalized behavioral freedom. The core emotional turn arrives with the A43 anecdote, building suspense about the seat’s reputation before revealing the ill woman whose effort eclipsed any etiquette concerns. The piece concludes with direct application—specific violations Tait now welcomes—grounded in the recognition that most people choose scrolling over attending, making anyone who shows up worthy of celebration.
Tone
Conversational, Self-Aware & Compassionate
Tait adopts a conversational tone using direct address—”You won’t meet someone”—and casual language like “bums on seats” that creates intimacy with readers. The tone is self-aware, acknowledging her own evolution from less relaxed theatre-maker and confessing economic motivations alongside altruistic ones. There’s compassionate recognition of human frailty—the woman’s illness, forgetting to silence phones—balanced with gentle humor about “the theatre police” and the “dark magic” of A43. The warmth extends even to hypothetical infractions, imagining “Janet’s husband calling her to find where his glasses are” with bemused tolerance rather than condemnation, modeling the welcoming attitude she advocates.
Key Terms
Vocabulary from the Article
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Tough Words
Challenging Vocabulary
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A customer or client who regularly uses the services or frequents a particular establishment; someone who supports or sponsors an artist or cultural institution.
“When Patti LuPone told off a patron for using their phone in the theatre, the news reverberated around the world.”
Wealthy or affluent; having substantial financial resources; used to describe people or areas characterized by prosperity.
“Ensemble Theatre is a small artistic enclave within a pretty well-heeled part of Sydney.”
Australian term for a comforter or duvet; a thick, soft, flat bag filled with down, feathers, or synthetic material used as a bed covering.
“Lying under a doona, you could wear a tracksuit and open the loudest lolly bag there is and no one turned around and shushed you.”
Having or showing a belief in supernatural causality—that one event causes another without any natural process linking the events; prone to irrational beliefs.
“Curse the dark magic that puts people to sleep in A43 (we’re a superstitious lot, we theatre people).”
To show approval or praise by clapping hands together; to express enthusiastic support or commendation for someone or something.
“When the show ended, she woke up and applauded with all she had.”
Informal term meaning extremely pleased, excited, or enthusiastic about something; thrilled or delighted.
“I’m absolutely stoked they’ve made the effort to be there.”
Reading Comprehension
Test Your Understanding
5 questions covering different RC question types
1According to the article, theatres have not recovered their pre-pandemic audience levels while production costs and ticket prices have both increased.
2What specifically changed Tait’s perspective on theatre etiquette?
3Which sentence best captures why Tait believes theatre etiquette concerns are misplaced priorities?
4Based on the article, determine whether each statement is true or false:
The pandemic lockdowns normalized consuming entertainment at home without behavioral restrictions, making theatre attendance feel more effortful.
Tait has always been a relaxed theatre-maker who never cared about audience behavior or etiquette violations.
Seat A43 at Ensemble Theatre has a reputation for causing occupants to fall asleep during performances.
Select True or False for all three statements, then click “Check Answers”
5What can be inferred about Tait’s view on the relationship between theatre survival and audience attitudes?
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
The article mentions a wide range of etiquette complaints that theatre-goers police, from phone usage—exemplified by Patti LuPone’s confrontation with a patron—to singing along during movie adaptations of musicals like Wicked. Within Tait’s own networks, grievances extend to seemingly minor infractions like opening candy or wearing jeans to performances. These complaints represent a spectrum from genuinely disruptive behaviors to entirely subjective preferences about dress codes and consumption, illustrating how etiquette policing often focuses on trivialities rather than substance. The breadth of complaints demonstrates that almost any audience behavior can become a target of criticism.
The pandemic created what Tait calls a before-and-after dividing line for theatre. Lockdowns forced people to consume entertainment at home on phones and laptops, normalizing behaviors like wearing tracksuits and eating loudly without social judgment. Simultaneously, theatres haven’t recovered their pre-pandemic audience levels while facing increased production costs and higher ticket prices. This perfect storm—diminished audiences, rising expenses, and cost-of-living pressures—means leaving the house for theatre now requires overcoming significant financial barriers including tickets, dinner, babysitting, and parking. The pandemic fundamentally altered both audience expectations and theatre economics, making attendance itself an achievement worth celebrating.
Seat A43 at Sydney’s Ensemble Theatre held superstitious significance for Tait—she believed it had some magical quality that caused every occupant to fall asleep during performances. This running pattern became transformative when she watched a visibly ill woman limp into A43 during a summer matinee. Despite appearing pale and moving very slowly, suggesting serious illness, this woman had made enormous effort to shower, dress nicely, and travel to the theatre on a 35-degree day. Even though she repeatedly fell asleep—fulfilling A43’s reputation—she applauded enthusiastically at the show’s end. This moment crystallized for Tait that the effort people make to attend matters infinitely more than perfect behavior, fundamentally changing her priorities from etiquette enforcement to gratitude.
Readlite provides curated articles with comprehensive analysis including summaries, key points, vocabulary building, and practice questions across 9 different RC question types. Our Ultimate Reading Course offers 365 articles with 2,400+ questions to systematically improve your reading comprehension skills.
This article is rated Intermediate because it uses conversational language and a personal narrative structure accessible to general readers, while requiring understanding of cultural context about theatre norms, pandemic impacts on entertainment consumption, and the economic realities of arts professions. The vocabulary includes some Australian colloquialisms (doona, stoked) and theatre-specific terms (matinee, patron, enclave) but remains largely straightforward. Readers must grasp the implicit argument structure—how the A43 anecdote functions as evidence for broader claims about priorities—and understand economic pressures without explicit financial data. The piece rewards attention to tone and the author’s perspective evolution without demanding specialized knowledge.
This observation serves as the article’s concluding contrast that crystallizes Tait’s entire argument. By noting that most people choose the easy default of staying home on devices, she emphasizes how remarkable it is that anyone makes the effort to physically attend theatre—especially given the financial costs, logistical challenges, and behavioral expectations involved. This contrast reframes etiquette violations as trivial compared to the significant achievement of leaving one’s home to engage with live performance. The phone-scrolling reference also circles back to the irony that people complain about phone use in theatres while the real threat to theatre is people never leaving their phones at all to attend in the first place.
The Ultimate Reading Course covers 9 RC question types: Multiple Choice, True/False, Multi-Statement T/F, Text Highlight, Fill in the Blanks, Matching, Sequencing, Error Spotting, and Short Answer. This comprehensive coverage prepares you for any reading comprehension format you might encounter.
