Word more, word less, the request reads this: "Dear audience, the show is about to begin. We remind you that it is not allowed to take pictures or record videos with or without flash. Thank you very much." Anyone who has occupied a seat before a play has come across that indication.
Buenos Aires November 13, 2020 theaters openings the Broadwuy Theater with its protocol open the doors to the public photo Rolando Andrade Stracuzzi law 11723 - FTP CLARIN RAS_0888.jpg Z Guest
In some theaters, the message comes in the velvety voice of a professional announcer, who even repeats the request in English. In other rooms, it is a woman who recorded the audio. And sometimes, when the play waits for the audience, it is the actors who explain the issue.
In the minutes before the start of Imprenteros, the brilliant biodrama by Lorena Vega – on the bill since 2018 and a true cultural phenomenon with a book, exhibition and ad hoc documentary – it is the actress and playwright who reminds viewers to turn off their cell phones.
In Failed Writer, an adaptation of a text by Roberto Arlt in the hands of Marilú Marini in the direction and Diego Velázquez in the interpretation, it is the actor – who is already on stage when the audience enters the room – who invites us to turn off our cell phones and (in tune with the record of the work) does not shy away from hurling strident (and funny) threats at anyone who forgets to silence their device.
Four flashes of light
Decades ago, what was forbidden was the use of cameras, especially domestic ones. It so happens that that technology included as an accessory afour-flash flah, which from the stalls could distract the performers with the burst of light. Anyone who has posed in front of the Kodak instamatic bucket on a birthday will remember the intensity of that lightning bolt.
Now, it's not clear that today's cell phones generate the same effect, but when lit from the living room they generate unwelcome glare. And it should not be forgotten that their presence violates the copyright of the works, which end up on YouTube with impunity.
Standing audience. The Babasónicos show at the Teatro Colón.
Because it has to be said, amateur photographers and videographers record everything they want, ignoring the requests no matter how many velvety voices enunciate it. Photos from here and there. Videos of this scene and the other.
Not only that, then, they shamelessly upload the forbidden material to their social networks linking to the theater itself and its artists... who happily reproduce on their accounts the images that they forbade to register! What are we left with?