Here are some useful links – all the usual disclaimers apply: not responsible for content, not endorsements.
Campaigns | Apps & Tech | Essential Reading | Media, News, Blogs | Theatre Organisations | Theatres
Campaigns –
@Cumberphone Campaign – on Twitter #cumberphone
@Cumberphone Campaign – on Instagram #cumberphone
@Cumberphone Campaign – on Facebook
@Cumberphone on YouTube – playlists galore
@LuPonePhone Campaign – our cousin on Broadway, warming up in the wings.
Broadway community calls for AT&T Boycott
Theatre-Charter – (We share the charter’s sentiments entirely – why do theatre bars sell sweets in noisy wrappers, and put ice in glasses? Why do people chatter as if they’re watching TV? And why don’t they switch off their damn mobile phones?!) – see here for more information on the shared (and differing) aims of the Charter and the Cumberphone Campaign.
Alamo Drafthouse cinemas, USA – hilarious pre-movie short films, that we hope to emulate at our own theatres.
Orange cinema ads – that one where they frisk people and put them through metal detectors and send in the sniffer dogs – seems perfectly reasonable to us, if a little impractical.
West End Bares – not about phones, but just shows you what a wonderfully committed bunch actors can be in the service of a good cause.
Act For Change Project – again, not about phones, but a great campaign that shows how much can be achieved in a relatively short space of time.
Apps & Tech –
NT Backstage – National Theatre enhanced digital programmes
ATG Ordertorium (interval drinks)
Barbican Bars (interval drinks)
ChargeBox – mobile phone charging lockers
GoChargeNow – US sports stadium phone-charge lockers
Zero Dark Thirty-style Blackouts? The Pitfalls of Geo-Fencing and Signal-Jamming
Essential Reading –
Cumberphone Campaign launch PRESS RELEASE – September 2015
Playbill article on Cumberphone Campaign launch – Mark Shenton, Playbill, September 2015
The Stage article on Cumberphone Campaign launch – Matthew Hemley, The Stage, September 2015
Broadway World article on Cumberphone Campaign launch – Tyler Peterson, BroadwayWorld, September 2015
“Are Mobile Phones Ruining Theatre?” – Andrzej Lukowski, Time Out, October 2015
AvenueQ in U.S. produce “turn phones off” film (video) – AvenueQ, October 2015
“Tweet, blog, hashtag the sh*t out of this one” (video) – Benedict Cumberbatch, August 2015
“We need a big public awareness campaign” – Mark Shenton, The Stage, September 2015
“Zero Tolerance policy required” – Mark Shenton, The Stage, July 2015
“Patti LuPone: I Just wish they’d turn their phones off” (video) – ABC News, July 2015
“Broadway community calls for AT&T Boycott” – NBC, September 2015
“ATT is at it again – with adverts “promoting” mobiles at the Theatre” – Playbill, September 2015
“Patti LuPone Putting Battle Gear On” – Playbill, July 2015
“Hold the Phone, it’s Patti LuPone” – New York Times, July 2015
“Theaters Struggle With Phone Use During Shows” – New York Times, July 2015
“Mobile Phones Pests, I’d Wring Their Necks” – Quentin Letts, Daily Mail, April 2013
“Tweet seats deserve to be booed out of the theater” – Curt Hopkins, March 2013
“My role in the Theatre Charter movement” – Terri Paddock, July 2014
“Other than announcements at the start of the show and vigilant theatre staff, we haven’t been given examples of any other measures being taken.” – Society of London Theatre spokeswoman, The Times [£], August 2015
Anthony Biggs, Artistic Director Jermyn Street Theatre – What’s On Stage, July 2014
“Theatre may ban mobiles after nude filming row” – [£] – Jack Malvern, The Times, July 2014
“Distracted Hamlet loses the plot” – [£] – Jack Malvern, The Times, August 2015
“Keep your Mobiles off during Hamlet interval” – [£] – Jack Malvern, The Times, August 2015
“Phones or No Phones, That is the Question” – Bethany Heys, The National Student, October 2015
“Cumberbatch and the Digerati’s Existential Dilemma” – FT, August 2015
“I don’t need to be policed like an unruly schoolchild” – Wendy Bradley, The Guardian, August 2015
“4 reasons why Plug-Socket-Guy is my new theatre hero” – Duncan Gates, July 2015
“Why We Aren’t Signing the Theatre Charter” – Albany Theatre, August 2014
“Some Dude Did a Stupid Thing” – Natasha Tripney, Exeunt Magazine, July 2015
“Stephen Fry backs charter to switch mobile phones off” – The Guardian, August 2014
“The art police, those who call for charters, draconian action, the shaming of offenders, or for people to be frisked for mobile phones” – Lyn Gardner, The Guardian, August 2015
“Emphasis on etiquette seems to go against the spirit of what theatre can be and can do” – Natasha Triply, Exeunt magazine, September 2015
“Backstage in Biscuit Land – review” – Tim Bano, Exeunt magazine, September 2015
“London cinema hires team of ninjas to keep noisy film fans quiet” – Metro, September 2012
TheatreMonkey’s Guide to Audience Behaviour
“West End Kinky Boots to be the first with paperless Ticketing” – Playbill, August 2015
Hashtag, the play – June 2013
State of Play -Ticketmaster survey of Theatre behaviour, September 2013
“Do Smartphones Make Us Stupid?” – i2i Business Solutions, August 2015
“Too many pedestrians injured due to looking at their phones” – Stateline, December 2014
“Distracted Walking laws” – HandFreeInfo, February 2011
“The Dangers of Distracted Pedestrians” – New York Times, January 2011
“New York bans cell phones in Theaters” – CNN, April 2003
“Over Yonder, Where There Are No Phones” – Newsweek, December 2014
“Yondr Locks your Smartphone in a Sock” – Wired, October 2014
Zero Dark Thirty-style Blackouts? The Pitfalls of Geo-Fencing and Signal-Jamming – multiple articles
Government ‘Nudge Unit’ – Telegraph, July 2015
The Behavioural Insights Team – Government ‘Nudge’ Unit
Stoptober – Public Health England anti-smoking campaign
Media, News, Blogs and Reviews –
Theatre Cat – Libby Purves reviews
Interval Drinks – Natasha Tripney
Theatre Organisations –
STAR tickets (Secure Tickets from Authorised Retailers)
Theatres –
The Crucible Theatre Sheffield
This is not an exhaustive list by any means – we’re open to any suggestions or recommendations of other websites, articles and organisations to add to those listed above – please get in touch via our Contact page.
