From theater and concert halls there are more and more reports of visitors who cannot support themselves there. “AK Week” asked cultural workers how they see the situation and whether inappropriate behavior is becoming the norm.
Theater etiquette itself is simple: filming the show is not allowed, absolutely no phones and other flashing objects are allowed to be used, eating or drinking is not allowed in the hall, and the audience is asked not to talk. However, there are those for whom such rules are beyond their control. The main root of the evil is viewers’ phone addiction, which can become so disturbing that it interrupts the show.
“We stopped the show for a moment because there were some young people in the room and every now and then the phone rang. We endured it twice, it ended quite quickly, but when it happened again, we stopped and one of the actors went to that person. Already from the room you can clearly understand where he comes from and you can feel this energy very well on stage”, said the actor and director of VAT Teatr Tanel Saar.
While the problem is particularly acute recently, cultural experts recall similar stories both recently and from years ago. The Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, or ERSO, has so far been very happy with its audiences at home, but the orchestra’s concertmaster, Triin Ruubel, said the situation is much worse in other parts of the world.
“Our worst experiences are somewhere in England or China. In England people were eating ice cream at the same time, taking pictures, everything was completely different from here,” Ruubel said.
The phones flashing here and there go mostly unnoticed by the orchestra members. But it’s hard not to notice the crunchiness of the candy wrappers.
“It’s one of the most disturbing things. But I’ve basically never had it… maybe once in the last eight years in Estonia. But it really happens very rarely in Estonia,” Ruubel said.
Rather, rude behavior is the exception rather than the rule, but the cases of not knowing how to behave are accumulating more and more. Although the chair mats are sticky from chewing gum, the foam has been removed from the seat.
A similar problem exists in art galleries and museums. For example, the armchair at the Museum of Applied Arts and Design (ETDM) is so soft that it invites you to touch it and sit on it.
“I think we’ve trained visitors to kind of put their hands or try to be brave and relate to the material and relate to certain parts of the exhibition. People have been invited to try and so it’s not (necessary) to make them surprised that a sometimes things go wrong, what is allowed or not;” said ETDM director Kai Lobjakas.
Although a museum is a paradise for thieves, the exhibits on display were not lost en masse. Small details mostly evaporate. For example, small pieces of the model of the Rotermann salt warehouse in the architecture museum are often taken away.
Eino Baskin’s sketch “In the Art Room” from the seventies is therefore still relevant today. Museum workers confirm that the character created by Baskin fortunately does not meet in real life as a joke.
2024-01-21 19:30:00
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