Some of your students might be visiting a theatre for the first time. Generally, young people have few entertainment experiences in which they are expected to remain relatively quiet and closely attentive.
So it's important to provide students with information about their role as audience members - the final collaborators in live performance.
Please go through the following points with your students before arriving at the theatre. Actors are people too and will be working really hard to perform for you. Their performance and everyone's experience of it will be even better if you follow the points below.
Getting there on time
It's really distracting for actors and other audience members when you walk in late. And, if you are running late, there's usually a lock-out period, so you won't be let into the theatre until a suitable break in the performance, which means you'll miss the beginning of the production.
Entering the theatre
Patrons should enter in an orderly and safe manner being mindful of the set and props that are on stage. General Public may be admitted into the auditorium before large school groups. Teachers must sit with their group.
Mobile phones
Students should turn off their mobile phones and leave them in their bags in the rehearsal room. Mobile phones ringing during a performance is distracting for both the performers and audience members. Mobile phones that are left on 'vibrate' and used to SMS give off a glow that the actors can see from the stage and so can other audience members.
Taking photographs or making recordings
All La Boite shows are protected by copyright laws, so taking unauthorised still photos, video and audio recordings is not permitted.
Food and Drink
No food or drink is allowed in the theatre. They make a mess and the noise is distracting to both the actors and other people in the audience.
Talking during a performance
The acoustics of our theatre means that talking or whispering during a performance is likely to be heard on stage, so it's best not to talk during the performance. It will distract the actors and other audience members. Leave talking about the show until interval or on the way home.
Responding to the performance
Theatre is a communication between audience and actor. Actors love to hear the audiences respond authentically. Laughing, crying, applauding and even cheering is all part of the experience. For those new to theatre, audiences applaud at the end of the act before the interval and also at the end of the show, when actors take their bows. Also, it's good to stay in your seat at the end of a show until the applause has died down and the house lights go up.
Taking Notes
If students need to take notes during the performance they should position themselves towards the back of the seating banks and refrain from using a light.
We reserve the right to expel patrons from the theatre if behaviour is deemed by theatre staff to be injurious to performers or patrons or detrimental to the comfort and experience of other theatre patrons.
