matinee idols
Jan 16th, 2010 by lesley
In this weekend’s SMH there was a lovely piece about “the peculiar audience interactions that seem to happen only at matinees.” I’ve attended many matinee performances over the years - not that I’m anywhere near the matinee demographic - and while I’ve never seen or experienced the types of audience interactions this article speaks of, I can appreciate what it says about the matinee set. And it has this great quote: “One of them [an actor] who had done 11 o’clock matinees for Queensland Theatre Company said to them: ‘I’m telling you now, they’re the best audience you’ll ever get. They’re people who’ve gone to the theatre all their lives and they are so responsive and so warm towards you, you’ll love it. And you want to know something else? Of course they’re old. And some of them are really old. And for somebody out there, this could be the very last play they ever see. So let’s give them a good one.’ (From The funny stage of life, SMH website, 16 Jan 2010.)