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I WAS at the National Cultural Centre two Saturdays ago for the performance by the National Dance Company.
And to my horror, that public service announcement was played before the National Anthem. When is it going to stop!
Why is it that every time I go to the NCC I have to be hit over the head about how I must not dress and how I must not behave.No short pants, no singlet shirts, no jeans, for the ladies no tanks, no mid-riff and all the rest. I object to being told time and again how to dress for an evening show.
But the worst is yet to come. Next I am told, by that very recognisable and very cultured voice, how to behave during the performance. She relates to me that heckling and booing and making loud remarks is simply not done. It disturbs the performers. And of course it does.
But I feel insulted at being told, ad nauseam, about how not to behave. I feel as if I am being spoken down to. And of course I am.
I admit that perhaps too many theatre-goers do not know how to dress appropriately. And the problem of misbehaving at a show is growing.
But there must be a better way to deal with this problem.
Why not use the media to educate persons who dress outlandishly for evening shows, and who behave unseemly when they are displeased about some aspect of the performance. What about bits in the newspapers, and on radio and on television. Why wait until I am seated in the theatre and then lecture me on matters about which I am fully aware.
QUOTE: Why is it that every time I go to the NCC I have to be hit over the head about how I must not dress and how I must not behave. No short pants, no singlet shirts, no jeans, for the ladies no tanks, no mid-riff and all the rest. I object to being told time and again how to dress for an evening show.
And what about visitors from overseas who go to the NCC. Good grief, they perhaps say to themselves. This must be a nation of hooligans, they’re not accustomed to going to the theatre, they probably say.
I implore whoever is responsible for this to rethink the process and remove that announcement.
Please. One buys one’s ticket and takes a seat and anticipates having an enjoyable evening, only to be told not to behave like a hooligan.
It’s really a discourtesy.
At this stage, I really believe that the next time I go to the NCC and I hear that announcement, I will get up and leave.
But there’s a problem there. I usually go to the theatre with my wife, and she doesn’t feel as strongly as I do about this matter. She’s a teacher, you see, and so the advisory I find offensive does not upset her as it does me.
And of course I am too much of a gentleman to leave my wife and go home.
Oh, well. How much longer must I endure this imposition.
