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| Screaming woman at Friday night's Inheritance, anyone know what happened? | |
| Posted by: fm_15 12:07 am EST 02/23/20 | |
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| Friday night, when the lights went up on the second intermission, a woman towards the front of the orchestra section got up, turned around and unleashed an enraged, expletive-ridden tirade at a man in the row behind her. From what I could piece together: apparently she was using her phone during the performance and he confronted her -- an act that apparently involved him "touching" her. She got louder and angrier as she continued, repeating that oft-used defensive phrase that has become a pet peeve of mine: "You don't know me!!" (She seemed to be implying that she had a reason to be using her phone). What began as a heated expression of nuisance at his audacity to tell her to shut off the phone, turned into a full blown accusation of bodily violation. She continued the tirade as she walked down the aisle and those of us who stayed in the main theatre could even hear her in the box office area outside the entrance continuing her screaming. Needless to say, ushers and security were involved and I believe I even saw a police officer come later. As the show was starting again, the man in question was among a group of ushers and the police officer, apparently in limbo about where to sit. I couldn't tell what happened after that. Did he sit somewhere else? Was he escorted out? Unless there are other parts to the story that I don't know, it sounds to me what happened was the man probably tapped the woman to tell her to shut off the phone because he didn't want to make a sound to disturb the performance and the woman reacted badly to this challenge. What disappointed me about the situation was that out of the entire audience, no one came to the man's defense. Yes of course I know this includes me but I was nearly in the last row and I didn't know how speaking up from back there would help the situation since I wasn't a witness to the crime. Why didn't anyone in their vicinity verify his or her side? I know people here are divided about punishing audience members but I'm solidly on Team Patti when she stopped Rose's Turn to kick out someone for taking photos. Some have said that kind of behavior is unprofessional and disruptive but I don't care, it irks me so much to see audience members these days get away with murder. No I'm all for shaming bad behavior like cell phone usage during the show. |
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| re: Screaming woman at Friday night's Inheritance, anyone know what happened? | |
| Posted by: AC126748 07:53 am EST 02/23/20 | |
| In reply to: Screaming woman at Friday night's Inheritance, anyone know what happened? - fm_15 12:07 am EST 02/23/20 | |
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| We have reached the point where tapping someone on the should to gain their attention is equated with physical abuse. That's ridiculous and it devalues the experience of people who have actually been victims of violence. I hope the man in question is issued a full refund and an apology. | |
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| re: Screaming woman at Friday night's Inheritance, anyone know what happened? | |
| Posted by: showtunetrivia 05:03 pm EST 02/23/20 | |
| In reply to: re: Screaming woman at Friday night's Inheritance, anyone know what happened? - AC126748 07:53 am EST 02/23/20 | |
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| Years ago (1993), at a conference with my kids, I left them at a table in McDonald’s while I went to stand in line for food. (They were within my sight the whole time and the eldest was nine, so it’s not like I’d abandoned them.). The four year old fell off her chair and bumped her head. I immediately made my way across the crowded restaurant. She was fine, just upset. An elderly man at the next table said, “I would have helped her up, but I was afraid you’d be upset I touched her.” What a world. Laura |
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| re: Screaming woman at Friday night's Inheritance, anyone know what happened? | |
| Posted by: schauspieler 02:23 pm EST 02/23/20 | |
| In reply to: re: Screaming woman at Friday night's Inheritance, anyone know what happened? - AC126748 07:53 am EST 02/23/20 | |
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| Happened to me. Trying to get through a jammed and very noisy lobby during intermission, I tapped a guy on the shoulder when he didn't hear me say excuse me. A scene ensued. Lesson learned. | |
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| re: Screaming woman at Friday night's Inheritance, anyone know what happened? | |
| Posted by: ryhog 03:09 pm EST 02/23/20 | |
| In reply to: re: Screaming woman at Friday night's Inheritance, anyone know what happened? - schauspieler 02:23 pm EST 02/23/20 | |
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| Probably not in your situation, but a compounding problem nowadays is folks wearing very good headphones that are cancelling out your request, no matter how loudly screamed. | |
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| I’m with you | |
| Posted by: Pashacar 12:40 am EST 02/23/20 | |
| In reply to: Screaming woman at Friday night's Inheritance, anyone know what happened? - fm_15 12:07 am EST 02/23/20 | |
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| Cell phone (and smart watch — ugh!) users clearly think they’re more important than the other attendees, so it’s no surprise I’ve seen more than a few flip out about being politely tapped. That’s why I’ve made sure to not make physical contact when asking offenders to stop using phones. Disappointing that nobody defended him, but also you weren't close enough to know what happened, and perhaps there was more to the story? |
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| re: I’m with you | |
| Posted by: blue70 09:05 pm EST 02/23/20 | |
| In reply to: I’m with you - Pashacar 12:40 am EST 02/23/20 | |
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| I asked a woman to stop checking her phone during a performance. She snidely corrected me that it wasn't her phone. It was her watch--as if that were somehow less distracting. | |
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| re: I’m with you | |
| Posted by: mikem 01:07 am EST 02/23/20 | |
| In reply to: I’m with you - Pashacar 12:40 am EST 02/23/20 | |
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| It's possible that no one, including either of their seat neighbors, knows what happened. I told the story here of when I was at Moulin Rouge, I asked the woman in front of me nicely to stop using her phone. She kept using it, I asked her again, she put it away but then went on a tirade at intermission that I was an "assh---" for "invading her personal space" during the show by leaning forward to ask her to put it away. I did not touch her, so all she could claim was the invasion of her personal space. What I found surprising was that her friend, who was sitting next to her on the same side where I whispered to her, did not know the whole thing had happened and did not notice my leaning forward and whispering either time. I also had an experience at In the Heights, where a woman in the 2nd row of the center orchestra ANSWERED her phone and had a conversation ("I'm at the theater, what are you up to?"). I had won the lottery and was in the front row with a friend. My friend said something to her about it at intermission and got an earful about what a horrible human being he was to have questioned her behavior. It sounds like the woman at The Inheritance might have had a similar reaction. There is a certain type of person who uses their phone in the middle of a show. And a subset of those people have issues and an unhealthy response to any implication that they are being rude, and they start lashing out at other people. I'm not sure directly confronting those people or trying to make them see that they are being unreasonable will make the situation better. The guy was probably in shock, but he was also probably wise in not escalating things and turning it into a shouting match. Without knowing any details, I would say that if the woman at The Inheritance needed to be on her phone, she should have left the theater and used it in the lobby. If all he did was tap her on the shoulder, I would hope he wasn't escorted out. But they probably gave him a different seat, for both of their sakes. |
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