Mark Shenton asks whether it's every justified to grab some shut-eye in the theatre.
"To die, to sleep; to sleep, perchance to dream", declares Hamlet, in anticipation of the prospect of death, in probably the single most famous speech in all of theatrical literature: To be, or not to be.
But for many regular theatregoers, the speech could be rewritten as "to sleep, or not to sleep, that is the question." As my former critical colleague Matt Trueman (who has now hung up his pen to become a creative associate at Sonia Friedman Productions instead) once wrote in the Guardian, "Go on, admit it. You've fallen asleep in the theatre, haven't you? We've all done it. What with the comfy velvet seats and the darkened auditorium, its all too easy to sleep (perchance to dream?) in the theatre, especially after a long day or a pre-show meal. When faced with an unengaging production, just maintaining consciousness can be a trial in itself." And he admitted, "I've resorted to digging fingernails into my palms and contorting toes inside my shoes to stave off slumber."...Keep reading on London Theatre
"To die, to sleep; to sleep, perchance to dream", declares Hamlet, in anticipation of the prospect of death, in probably the single most famous speech in all of theatrical literature: To be, or not to be.
But for many regular theatregoers, the speech could be rewritten as "to sleep, or not to sleep, that is the question." As my former critical colleague Matt Trueman (who has now hung up his pen to become a creative associate at Sonia Friedman Productions instead) once wrote in the Guardian, "Go on, admit it. You've fallen asleep in the theatre, haven't you? We've all done it. What with the comfy velvet seats and the darkened auditorium, its all too easy to sleep (perchance to dream?) in the theatre, especially after a long day or a pre-show meal. When faced with an unengaging production, just maintaining consciousness can be a trial in itself." And he admitted, "I've resorted to digging fingernails into my palms and contorting toes inside my shoes to stave off slumber."...Keep reading on London Theatre