LiliumJay

Ohh boyyy you've touched on the toughest part of the job.

I've worked on many shows that run for at least a year (Book of Mormon, Matilda, Lion King, Harry Potter...) and watching the same show over and over gets super tiresome and boring.

What I do is, if I'm positioned inside the auditorium (it's a slightly different story if you're positioned out in the foyer), I either zone out completely or just watch the show over and over and try to notice new details. That can be fun for shows with big ensemble casts. We do have to keep an eye on patrons but for the most part they don't do a lot.

I used to be a total snob about this but I've chilled out a bit now - I go to the theatre all the time outside of work (massive theatre geek here) so it does feel more casual to me now.

However I do like it when people dress up and treat it like a special occasion!

And even though I have chilled out a bit, I still cringe at the dad-of-two wearing a singlet undershirt, board shorts, and thongs (flip-flops to non-Australians) in this old, beautiful, historic building.

But there's no need to feel self-conscious about what you wear - most people keep it pretty casual (jeans and T-shirt vibe) and no one bats an eye.

I've seen actors forget lines here and there, usually swing who have to remember multiple roles so that's very forgiveable, and it's usually covered up in a way that no-one who doesn't know the show as intimately as we do would notice.

And I have seen many performers go into auto-pilot mode and give the exact same performance and intonation every night and, as an actor who is struggling to even get professional auditions, I find that very frustating.

BUT! My favourite mistake has more to do with the backstage operations. It was during Cats, and at the end (spoilers, sort of?) when Grizabella is meant to be ascending to heaven (or something, the plot is unclear), the elevator contraption stopped halfway up and she was stuck there. The show kept going until they cut off the performer's mics and made an announcement to stop the show due to technical difficulties, they slowly and agonisingly got her down (while the audience cheered it was hilarious). So instead of this epic, bombastic climax, she kind of just tip-toed off stage. It was amazing.

I'd say Come From Away.

Literally everybody who came to see it loved it, all of the ushers loved it, and it's such a beautiful story flawlessly performed. It was a treasure.

Plus it was short so we got to go home early lol.

The two weeks of it's season actually just got cancelled because of COVID and we were devastated!

Ooh laser pointers would be much better!
We have torches/flashlights that we basically flash in their face to get their attention, then we just make a gesture to get them to stop. If it's in the middle of the row and they don't look up, I literally have to shine the light in the face of the person next to them to tell them to stop.
If they're on the aisle, I usually just tap them on the shoulder and say 'no recording'.
95% of the time they stop.