{"id":23159,"date":"2013-05-16T15:44:29","date_gmt":"2013-05-16T19:44:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?p=23159"},"modified":"2016-09-30T16:51:37","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T20:51:37","slug":"a-hero-will-rise-theatergoer-smashes-cell-phone-during-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/05\/a-hero-will-rise-theatergoer-smashes-cell-phone-during-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"A Hero Will Rise: Theatergoer Smashes Cell Phone During Performance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

How long until we see something like this in church?<\/p>\n

Details:\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

We can\u2019t count the number of times we\u2019ve wanted to enact vengeance on some inconsiderate audience member\u00a0whose cell phone goes off during a performance<\/a>. But, like most people, we just bottle that fury up deep down inside and take it out on the break room vending machine later. Not\u00a0Kevin Williamson<\/a>. Last night\u00a0the National Review writer<\/a>\u00a0was in attendance at the marvelous new musical\u00a0Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812<\/a><\/em>\u00a0when one theatergoer\u2019s incessant cell phone use finally drove him over the edge\u2026 into vigilantism.<\/p>\n

The stellar production\u2014a swinging cabaret-type musical adaptation loosely adapted from Leo Tolstoy\u2019s\u00a0War and Peace<\/em>\u2014takes place inside a luxuriant carnival tent nestled next to\u00a0the Standard High Line<\/a>. The audience is closely clustered at small tables throughout the room, and while there is food and beverage service before the show and during intermission, the performance itself takes place with zero table service interruptions, and the atmosphere is as quiet and attentive as any other conventional stage play. At least it\u2019s supposed to be.<\/p>\n

Although each table is explicitly told that photography and cell phone use is strictly prohibited during the performance, the people seated around Williamson were, he says, unbearable. \u201cThey were carrying on a steady conversation throughout entire show,\u201d Williamson, who also\u00a0writes a theater column for New Criterion<\/a>, tells us. \u201cThey had been quite loud and obnoxious the entire time. There were two groups, one to the left and one to the right who were being loud and disruptive.\u201d<\/p>\n

During intermission, Williamson\u2019s date complained to the theater\u2019s management, but he says he didn\u2019t personally witness the theater managers admonish the disruptive audience members. And once the performance resumed, the woman sitting to Williamson\u2019s right on his bench would not, he says, stop using her cell phone. \u201cIt looked like she was Googling or something,\u201d Williamson tells us. \u201cSo I leaned over and told her it was distracting and told her to put it away. She responded, \u2018So don\u2019t look.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

Blood boiling, Williamson says he then asked her, sarcastically, \u201cwhether there had been a special exemption for her about not using her phone during the play. She told me to mind my own business, and so I took the phone out of her hands. I meant to throw it out the side door, but it hit some curtains instead. I guess my aim\u2019s not as good as it should be.\u201d Asked if the phone was damaged, Williamson says, \u201cIt had to be; I threw it a pretty good distance.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read what happened next.<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How long until we see something like this in church? Details:\u00a0 We can\u2019t count the number of times we\u2019ve wanted to enact vengeance on some inconsiderate audience member\u00a0whose cell phone goes off during a performance. But, like most people, we just bottle that fury up deep down inside and take it out on the break […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-this-that"],"yoast_head":"\nA Hero Will Rise: Theatergoer Smashes Cell Phone During Performance<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How long until we see something like this in church? 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