Because the second half of Henrik Ibsen’s play begins at a raucous town meeting, concerns poisoned water and, in this production, already involves audience participation, many in the theater believed the shouters were a part of the show.
One audience member, Ashley Wolfgang, wrote on X, “You know you’ve seen too much experimental theatre when you immediately assume climate protestors in the middle of ‘Enemy of the People’ is part of it.”
Yeah, I've seen plays where someone sitting in the audience starts talking, seemingly interrupting the actors, and it's part of the show.
You can see video of the disruption, here, at Reddit.
I usually decline to blog about these protests that leverage art to get attention. I'm blogging this because of the way the actors — 2 actors I greatly respect — rose to the occasion and stayed in character and used their own brute strength to oust the asshole. Michael Imperioli (Christopher from "The Sopranos") is 57 years old. Good for him! He took the lead. Jeremy Strong (Kendall from "Succession") is 45. Look how vulnerable they are to random jerks. Where was security?!
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23 comments:
"Small clips of [their] craziness can be too easily dismissed as the background noise of our times."
Where is decorum? What if the protestors block all exits and shout "Fire!"? Where does it end?
What courage… I’ll just come out and say it: What Bravery!!!
Anywho….
Good God these people are tedious.
"Where is decorum? What if the protestors block all exits and shout "Fire!"? Where does it end?"
When I was in college, circa 1970, there was an incident where Black Panthers interrupted some presentation and blocked all the exits from a packed concert hall.
And don't forget the Moscow theater hostage crisis.
I watched the video. I think I missed what the actors did that was so impressive. One of them yelled at the jerk, after awhile; the other went up on the stairs to "help" push him out. That was it? Well, ok...
The zealots used to just hold a "The End Is Near!" sign on the street. Now with phones their fellow travelers film the event (souping artwork, blocking traffic, disrupting plays) for social media consumption. It's one-size fits all logic: "There is no _______ on a dead planet!"
So stop what you are doing and pay attention to me! Then support the poilical outcome I want.
This is why I don’t spend 400 bucks to see a play on broadway when I am in manhattan.
Broadway will not survive on a dead planet!
If the planet is indeed dying, that should be among the least of our worries.
It would have pleased me no end if Christopher Moltisanti had been taken out by the Russian in the Pine Barrens.
"The water is coming for us!"
Maybe he can duke-it-out with the people who have those "WE BELIEVE... WATER IS LIFE SIGNS"?
Good old CHRISTOPHUH.
As an actor, I sympathize with the performers. Acting is a hard business and it takes a special kind of person to open themselves up to the audience. Invading the acting space like this is a major, inappropriate, intrusion of the acting space and disrespectful to the cast, crew and the audience.
Plus, what are the protestors going to gain by this? The actors, crew and audience aren't the real targets of their outrage. All they've done is get bad publicity for their cause and made themselves look like spoiled children.
Another point I'd like to make is that with all the shows I've been involved with, with the exception of theme park shows, we've never has any "security." There is the house manager and the ushers, but they can't be considered "security." Security is expensive and a lot of small theaters can't afford it.
I remember when I was in the movie, Chantal (2007), I played Ray, the security guard. One day we filmed up in Los Angeles at an old 1940s ballroom. Because I was wearing a security guard uniform, everyone thought that I was the security guard for the film shoot...Until it came time to shoot my scenes. They would come to me and tell me that there was a suspicious person outside and could I scare them away. So I'd go outside and the suspicious person would see me and walk away. The funny part was that I only got the part because the original actor dropped out at the last minute and the director asked me to fill in because I could fit into the rented uniform. (The director and I had gone to college together.) I also did a great job of learning all my lines in one day. Unfortunately, the actress I did the scene with hadn't learned any of her lines, so we just ad-libbed the entire scene.
I used to think these people were just lunatics. But now I'm of the impression that they're genuine assholes who have figured out that so long as they're shouting about climate change they can do and say ANYTHING with impunity. At some point one of them will cross the line and get somebody killed, or one of their victims will finally have had enough and make roadkill out some protesters blocking a highway. When that happens the authorities will put an end to the madness and start throwing these POSs into Rikers for a year or three.
Who gets top billing between those 2? Just watched a film on Oscars weekend for Robert Downey Jr called the Lawyer. Strong had strange role as challeged younger brother.
"Look how vulnerable they are to random jerks."
Hardly random. Predictably leftist.
Fake. And Imperioli is a world-class asshole and piece of shit who is one of these Hollywood prog climate change/trans/raaaay-cist hysterics. No doubt he was in on it. That was some shitty political theater right there.
So protesters disrupt the play “Enemy of the People”.
When the protesters were removed, was that the “Enema of the People”?
Loudogblog, you were in a softcore porno movie. There are no small parts, is that what you're telling us?
"“The oceans are rising. It will swallow this city and this entire theater whole. I am putting my career on the line because we are not doing anything about this crisis. The water is coming for us!”"
These self-righteous A-holes are very dangerous. Like creating a worldwide pandemic in order to save it dangerous.
deepelemblues said...
Good old CHRISTOPHUH.
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Who can remember without smiling that intervention scene, where Christopher, his thuggish Mafia friends, his girlfriend, and his mom, tried to get him to confront his drug addiction?
And how it wound up with everyone threatening and cursing each other, with the Italian Christopher giving his mother the finger and telling her to go fuck herself?
Comedy gold!!!
"Acting is a hard business..."
Yeah, right up there with roofing and July.
I am sick to death of these sorts of stunts. I've shared before the point about "shared spaces" and how politicizing everything further divides and fragments our society.
Another consideration is when someone has saved up for a big trip to New York City, asked for time off, has spent hundreds of dollars for this trip (travel, hotel, meals, transportation, tickets) and this experience (which they earned over the course of hundreds of hours working at their job), is enjoying the play and then a bunch of activists intrude and hijack the experience to make it (and everything else) about What They Care About at the Expense of Everything and Everyone Else.
My wife and I are planning a short trip to Dallas in a few weeks. Not a huge expense because we plan to drive but still. If a bunch of activists disrupted our visit to the zoo (or art museum or meal at a nice restaurant) I would be furious.
Do these galaxy brains not consider how much their tactics persuade no one and succeed largely in p*ssing off the public? Which takes us back to "shared spaces" and the execrable notion that everything must be politicized. These activists will not allow any escape from the Revolution.
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