Preparing for our IT (2017) podcast episode, we went as a group Adam, Anouk and I (Yann) to watch the newest adaptation of Stephen King’s IT.

And it ensued.

Transcript:

Adam: It’s standard rules in the cinema, right, they’re called cinema etiquette; if anyone listens to Kermode reviews, they are patrons of the cinema rules of etiquette, which I abide by because they make sense. Phones! I don’t know about you guys, but as time is going on, I remember being a kid when you had to turn off the phone, that was the thing. And now most people just put to airplane mode which I’m totally fine with, but don’t get the phone out in the middle of the movie.

Anouk: I only put it on airplane mode because it takes a shorter time to put it on airplane mode rather than turning it off.

Adam: Yeah because in airplane mode yo automatically don’t get any receiving calls and nobody can message you.

Anouk: Right!

Adam: Like, nobody can get in touch with you, your phone’s not gonna go off so it isn’t gonna disturb the piece. But the thing is, if you bring your phone out and I can see the glare, it takes me out the movie, and I saw… four phones throughout the screening of IT, two of which were in the raw that we were sitting in. I’m talking to you blonde young girl who was probably not 15 and should not have been seeing this movie, right, I swear to God I wanted to pick up your phone and throw it at the screen, I was so annoyed! I don’t care if you’re on Snapchat, right, what is so important in your life that “Oh my god it’s so scary” that you have to tell everyone? What is going on?

Anouk: It’s only 2 hours 15 min

Adam: “Aww let me put a dog filter on so that everyone can see I’m scared” —

Anouk: Hahaha!

Adam: Jesus Christ man! And then there was another person in front, this one I’m ok with because it was like they must have drop something so they had, like, the back lit to see where they were going, like what seat they went to sit —

Anouk: But that is so bright.

Adam: Yeah, at least put night safety mode on, like every phone now has that unless you’re my father and still have a Nokia.

Anouk: Haha!

Adam: Actually, that’s not true, my dad did have a Nokia but they cut off cellular coverage, so apparently Nokia bricks are like, they cut them off so he had to get a flip phone so like he’s now one of the extras in The Wire.

Yann: So, you are not immersed enough in the thing that you noticed? Because I did not notice anything.

Adam: It’s like, I sometimes move about because I am a fidgeter, which is annoying but.. I moved and, it’s like you know if you see something and then you cannot not see it.

Anouk: Hmmm.

Adam: So as soon as I saw one, if I saw the light again, I was like “Oh, for God’s sake” and honestly she was either checking the time or checking her messages and I know that she was on Snapchat before the movie started so I’m, like, not happy. Who’s snap chatting in a movie theatre? What?

Anouk: That’s so ridiculous.

Adam: What? Who are you? Who, Who are you, girl?

Yann: Hehehe!

Adam: I’m not happy at her.

Anouk: Especially because, you know, we are actors and we’ve pretty much, well we want to be in the industry and in these films, and to know that people just kind of watch it like… it’s kind of nothing… also, wait till it’s out on DVD then!

Adam: Yeah, that’s what I said to Anouk.

Anouk: What is your problem?

Adam: If you can’t sit for 2 hours and 15, without getting your phone out, just wait till it’s on streaming or DVD, because then you can do it all you like, I’m not gonna be there.

Yann: Yeah, that’s right.

Anouk: It annoys me as a creative, I think, seeing anything creative and seeing people just like kinda take it for granted.

Adam: Yeah, not being interested.

Anouk: It’s annoying because d’you know how hard these people work; like, I know it’s the cinema and it’s so, kind of, you have how many screenings a day and it’s so easy for you to kinda come in and out but…

Adam: Anouk, do you wanna tell the listeners about our experience at Shawshank Redemption the stage play?

Anouk: So, as you’ve probably noticed, and I’ve probably said a few times, me and Adam are a thing and… I was —

Adam: Sorry ladies.

Anouk: Yes, apologies.

Adam: Sorry girl.

Anouk: I stole him from every —

Adam: Sorry girl who was on Snapchat, I’m actually secretly negging you.

Anouk and Yann: Hahahaha!

Anouk: Yeah, so we went to the stage play of Shawshank Redemption in Glasgow’s… What theatre production was it?

Adam: It was the —

Anouk: Queen —

Adam: No, it was the King’s Theatre.

Anouk: King’s Theatre —

Adam: The one near the Conservatoire, it’s an ATG theatre, I think it’s the King’s.

Anouk: King’s Theatre and it was good, I mean the first act was a little bit slow and energy was quite low but they picked up in the second half and we were actually really enjoying it but the really famous monologue made by Morgan Freeman in the film was done with one guy on a chair pretty much centre stage and… two phones went off, mid-monologue. And it just ruins the whole aesthetic of it because you’re feeling it, you’re in it, you’re involved and even in film when sometimes, you know, because it’s a screen and there not actually there, there is a bit of a disconnect, you’re still immersed in a film as Yann was saying, like, you usually don’t notice these things but the thing is, is that either way, you’re immersed in something and if you don’t have your phone on silent, at least on silent…

Adam: Just goes to show how dependant people are on phones.

Anouk: But it’s so ridiculous, especially because we’ve been on stage a few times —

Adam: Yeah —

Anouk: And having a phone go off while you’re on stage is the worst thing in the world because, especially if you’re in theatre, you’re there as well, acting your ass off, working so hard; I think a lot of people forget the entertainers work—

Adam: Yeah —

Anouk: We work hard, we’re not just doing it for your… like, this is our job, we do this every day. We work our fucking asses off for you guys so, we want a little bit of respect innit?

Yann: There’s the force of habit also because, you know the fringe audience is well versed in all that because in the full month we did I don’t recall any kind of phone troubles.

Adam: Here’s what happens, because it was the second act of the play, people go out for the interval, check their phones, they don’t turn them off again, people forget because —

Anouk: Yeah —

Adam: They rush back to the seats because it’s like “The show is about to resume please take your seats” —

Anouk: Especially the old part of the audience is because, you know, they’re not on their phones all the time so they forget.

Adam: The other thing is, like, if one phone goes off, you gonna check, I check; if my phone is in my pocket and I hear somebody’s phone go off I’m like “Oh sssh, oh shit, is that mine, no?” And it’s not because I don’t put it on at the interval because I know I’d forget.

Yann: That’s just the first stage because there are some people who actually take the call.

Adam: Ohhh, Jesus…

Anouk: Yeah well, I’m sure I have been in a cinema when someone actually answered the call and it’s kinda have been this “Sorry, aaa, I can’t talk right now” and it’s like… Sorry, what were you, what were you? Like… No! That, that, no. Just no! There’s no reason why you had to pick up that phone.

Yann: Oh, that’s worse than “Yeah, well, the movie is shit anyway so how’s your —

Anouk:Oh God —

Yann:How has your day been” —

Anouk: I am so happy that I haven’t been in that situation before but I can imagine it would send me reeling.

Adam: If I was on stage, that’s the point as an actor, you can. … Could you break the wall for that, I would.

Anouk: I think —

Adam: Well, I say that—

Anouk: I think it depends on the theatre production because actually if you’re at the Fringe like what we were doing last year, this kind of thrust, like, three rows, you know there’s not many people.

Adam: Yeah.

Anouk: And you were doing one monologue, which a few of us were, and it’s only you and the phone goes off, I would definitely just turn around and maybe make a joke or…

Yann: Well it depends on the piece I guess because in improv and comedy it’s actually —

Adam: Yeah.

Yann: It becomes part of the thing but in a theatre play when you are actually a character —

Adam: If you were doing a Shakespeare you could maybe get away with it, maybe, if you —

Yann: An aside —

Adam: If you were that well —

Anouk: Oh, a bird!

Adam: — versed in the Elizabethan Shakespearean language.

Anouk: Yeah.

Adam: I would love to do that, I would love to have the skill of that language, to be able to go I shall take the call, ahhh, a messenger has arrived, young squire please let me inform you of the deeds of this tale. -I’m sorry, it cannot wait my Lord.” Something like that.

Anouk: That would be amazing.

Adam: “My Lord, I’ve just received a message and it seems one of the players has too.”

Anouk: You can’t switch it but I mean there’s a YouTube video of this that me and Adam were watching of someone’s Nokia going off and it was the classic Nokia —

Adam & Anouk: (ringtone)

Anouk: And they were at a, like a recital, it was guy on a —

Adam: Oh yeah!

Anouk: — violin, and so he just stops his piece and plays the Nokia ringtone.

Adam: On his cello.

Anouk: It was beautiful, check it out!

Yann: I’ve seen it.

Adam: We’ll put a link in the podcast.

Anouk: Oh, and it’s so well timed because it’s just… and you could see the anger in his face, like “You have just ruined the most beautiful music and I’ve put so much effort into this, you know, I’m not just here, you know, I’ve done this for 5 seconds of my life, like…” Musicians work their fucking asses off and you can’t even turn your phone off ohh it’s just…

Adam: And that concludes the public address part of —

Yann: Yes so —

Adam: — The Good, The Bad and The Just Plain Standard. People answering their phones or checking their phones in the cinemas are just plain standard.

Anouk: Leave it at home!