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CadwellNOT Caldwell
Bird
[3 minute read ]
Bird
Apparently, the Love Islander, Amber Davies, who is currently playing Elle Woods in 'Legally Blonde' in a musical in Dublin, called out someone in the front row for filming the whole of Act 1 on their phone. 'We don't need to film everything.' she said on her Instagram video between Acts. (BBC 14 July 2026 online [13 July 2026]) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c14y35erdg2o
While, I am not one of those types of people who would ever film anything on a SmartPhone, I can sympathise with the audience member who is just doing what is normal for them. That is the 'spirit of the age', the zeitgeist. Personally, I think it is great that the types of people that think they should record everything in their life that they find interesting or amusing and don't fully live the experience without a SmartPhone, actually go somewhere like a play or musical. After all, when the general public first got their hands on cameras, in the early 20th Century they never stopped recording their children's growth and achievements, weddings, funerals, and holidays; nothing has really changed. If people have video cameras that fit in their pockets or bags then they should be expected to use them, right? It is not their fault that they were sold a soul-destroying lifestyle by marketers and have been influenced by peer-pressure.
On the other hand, I can fully understand that players on stage are frustrated by videographers at their performances. If you have never been to a play you might not realise just how intense and intimate the environment is. One really should go in there excited and come out moved, not pleased that they can watch a video of a performance they only saw through the lens of a camera on their phone.
I take umbrage at Rosamund Pike's outrageous call from the stage last month during her performance in the West End play 'Inter Alia', '"You know who you are and I'm not going to single you out," (BBC 1 June 2026 online). Pike told one section of the stalls in which she hoped that someone texting during the show was a doctor and that their message had been 'very important' (BBC 14 July 2026 online [13 July 2026]. Many texts are crucial to a continuance of life and procedure, and my retort, if it was me texting that night, might have been somewhat sarcastic. 'Actually, I am a counselor and someone is in such a mental condition that they feel they have nothing left to live for. I texted to say I am busy because I am watching a play and they should just suck it up until the play ends.' Rosamund Pike that night made the audience gasp and then cheer because someone silently communicated. I suspect the audience is allowed to whisper their praise of her though.
That texter might have even been a play critic; someone Rosamund Pike might find to be influential in her life. I wonder if the notion of digital devices being used by the audience is quite such a sticking point for her in that case. I suspect it might still be so. Actors are devoted to their work and performances, and rightly so.
I have a general negative approach to texting and filming on phones on the basis that they are forms of entertainment providing dopamine hits for the participants when fun should be had in other ways. Texts, for me, are to convey important information only and only then when a letter is too slow to get to someone. I realise hardly anyone agrees with me that a phone should just be a phone that is scarcely used. But, the world has embraced technology as a need and not a want and it is here for the foreseeable future.
I think if players are irritated by audience members using devices to record their performances they also have to refuse to perform wherever there are cameras, microphones, electric lights and sound mixing desks. If they promulgate an idea of purity in experiences, they, for me, really have to mean it. But, of course, electric light is so common these days that we don't really see it any more, do we?
Bird
Players who Play
All my posts: https://learn1.open.ac.uk/mod/oublog/view.php?u=zw219551
or search for 'martin cadwell -caldwell' Take note of the position of the minus sign to eliminate caldwell returns or search for 'martin cadwell blog' in your browser.
I am not on YouTube or social media
Cadwell NOT Caldwell
[3 minute read ]
Bird
Apparently, the Love Islander, Amber Davies, who is currently playing Elle Woods in 'Legally Blonde' in a musical in Dublin, called out someone in the front row for filming the whole of Act 1 on their phone. 'We don't need to film everything.' she said on her Instagram video between Acts. (BBC 14 July 2026 online [13 July 2026]) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c14y35erdg2o
While, I am not one of those types of people who would ever film anything on a SmartPhone, I can sympathise with the audience member who is just doing what is normal for them. That is the 'spirit of the age', the zeitgeist. Personally, I think it is great that the types of people that think they should record everything in their life that they find interesting or amusing and don't fully live the experience without a SmartPhone, actually go somewhere like a play or musical. After all, when the general public first got their hands on cameras, in the early 20th Century they never stopped recording their children's growth and achievements, weddings, funerals, and holidays; nothing has really changed. If people have video cameras that fit in their pockets or bags then they should be expected to use them, right? It is not their fault that they were sold a soul-destroying lifestyle by marketers and have been influenced by peer-pressure.
On the other hand, I can fully understand that players on stage are frustrated by videographers at their performances. If you have never been to a play you might not realise just how intense and intimate the environment is. One really should go in there excited and come out moved, not pleased that they can watch a video of a performance they only saw through the lens of a camera on their phone.
I take umbrage at Rosamund Pike's outrageous call from the stage last month during her performance in the West End play 'Inter Alia', '"You know who you are and I'm not going to single you out," (BBC 1 June 2026 online). Pike told one section of the stalls in which she hoped that someone texting during the show was a doctor and that their message had been 'very important' (BBC 14 July 2026 online [13 July 2026]. Many texts are crucial to a continuance of life and procedure, and my retort, if it was me texting that night, might have been somewhat sarcastic. 'Actually, I am a counselor and someone is in such a mental condition that they feel they have nothing left to live for. I texted to say I am busy because I am watching a play and they should just suck it up until the play ends.' Rosamund Pike that night made the audience gasp and then cheer because someone silently communicated. I suspect the audience is allowed to whisper their praise of her though.
That texter might have even been a play critic; someone Rosamund Pike might find to be influential in her life. I wonder if the notion of digital devices being used by the audience is quite such a sticking point for her in that case. I suspect it might still be so. Actors are devoted to their work and performances, and rightly so.
I have a general negative approach to texting and filming on phones on the basis that they are forms of entertainment providing dopamine hits for the participants when fun should be had in other ways. Texts, for me, are to convey important information only and only then when a letter is too slow to get to someone. I realise hardly anyone agrees with me that a phone should just be a phone that is scarcely used. But, the world has embraced technology as a need and not a want and it is here for the foreseeable future.
I think if players are irritated by audience members using devices to record their performances they also have to refuse to perform wherever there are cameras, microphones, electric lights and sound mixing desks. If they promulgate an idea of purity in experiences, they, for me, really have to mean it. But, of course, electric light is so common these days that we don't really see it any more, do we?