The Theatre and its Snack Debate
By Luca Cavallo (Arts & Lit Editor)
As Shakespeare wrote in The Comedy of Errors, “Unquiet meals make ill digestions.” It is fun to imagine the bard writing this line while reminiscing about an audience member chomping on the Elizabethan equivalent of crisps during a serious moment in one of his tragedies. The strictness of theatre etiquette probably dates back to even Shakespeare’s time, and it has become a tricky topic in modern theatre. But the point where the standards of etiquette meet a crossroads is, unsurprisingly, food.
Can you eat in the theatre? Actors and audiences are completely divided on this question. A rather intolerant response from actor Imelda Staunton was that she understood neither why some people “can’t engage in just one thing”, nor the “obsession with having to eat or drink something at every moment of the day.” Unfortunately, it is quite difficult to imagine her saying this without her also wearing the full costume of Dolores Umbridge, and so it’s my endeavour to shift the blame away from the individual audience member and advise you on how you can enjoy yourself at a play or show without going hungry.
The problem with munching comes to a head in a one-man play about Tom Crean. Crean is an often-unsung Irish hero. This may be because he was not involved in the struggle for Irish independence in the early 20th century. It could also be because he wasn’t in Ireland at all when he accomplished any of his remarkable feats. While the volunteers were fighting in the Easter Rising, Tom Crean was stuck in Antarctica, keeping every one of his crewmates alive in the brutal cold.
The story of Crean’s adventures is known best through the spoken word, and no one tells it better than actor, writer, and director Aidan Dooley. Aidan has performed as Crean in his one-man show, Tom Crean: Antarctic Explorer, for 20 years now. In short, Tom Crean is Aidan’s Roman Empire.
I personally attended a September performance of Tom Crean at the Everyman. However, willingly or not, the audience constantly interrupted Aidan’s otherwise stellar performance. Many audience members had purchased loud snacks from stalls within the Everyman theatre. Like most professional stage actors, Aidan did not use a microphone during his performance. But no matter how well he could project his voice, he was met with incessant crinkling and chewing.
One audience member, in the front row, had to be asked as politely as possible to stop eating. It was Aidan himself who had to ask them.
On a handful of occasions, the Antarctic Explorer was thrown off his train of thought and had to retrace steps in his monologue, which left him disappointed by the end. When I asked Aidan about the performance, he assured me of his unwavering respect for his audiences. He was, however, dissatisfied with the Everyman’s approach to giving advice on theatre etiquette, if any. He said:
“I appreciate that many of the audience members may be first-timers to the theatre and so are unaware of the etiquette in relation to an intimate performance and bring perhaps a ‘cinema’ approach to their evening entertainment, but it is not always helpful that a venue sells products that inevitably allow that lack of awareness to flourish on occasions, having a considerable impact on mine and other people’s concentration”.
The cinema, where snacks are essential, could certainly be on the modern audience’s mind as they enter the theatre. Of course, the cinema is an equally important and enjoyable side of culture, and it is not an individual’s fault for mistaking it for drama; it is the fault of the venue. Imelda Staunton and others who are opposed entirely to theatre snacks blame TV and streaming series. But to assume that anyone would fail to differentiate between a night in with a show and a takeaway, and a night at the theatre, is nothing short of snooty.
Of course you can eat at the theatre. There is no reason why there should be any action taken towards the general audience member about the cause of their munching. I recommend you judge the noise level of your snack by the size of the production. An ice cream is always ideal. Just don’t forget you have a Twister in your coat pocket until the third act.
