Before you scroll past, this isn’t going to be some typical fangirl post about meeting Ronan at Stage Door.
This is a post about Stage Door etiquette and how NOT to behave. I would really appreciate you taking the time to read this as I believe some severe issues I am going to raise here should be noted by people. Especially if you act in a similar way at Stage Door.
This post isn’t so much just to educate people, but to apologise to Ronan, too.
Last night I Stage Doored at Once the Musical at the Phoenix Theatre, London. I was back down to London for the second time within 3 weeks to see it as I had fallen in love with the show when I saw it on 18/02/15. I missed out on the opportunity to Stage Door the previous time, so I saw an opportunity to try and meet some of the cast this time.
The show was incredible as always, it’s genuinely one of the best shows out there! I’m truly gutted that it’s finishing, hence why I was seeing it again before it closes on March 21st.
However, this post isn’t about the show itself, this post is about what happened at Stage Door. So, here we go….
After the show finished, I proceeded to go to the back of theatre towards stage door. Just general Stage Door procedure. I was surprised to find that there were already quite a considerable amount of people there, considering the show had only just finished. There was a car there waiting for Ronan and people were crowding they way to the car. These people were of the ages of late 20’s to approximately 40 years of age (This is relevant to the story). I stood towards the back of the crowd and waited quietly for him to come out.
As he came out, people went mental. Mental is actually an understatement. They swarmed him. They were pushing forward at him and crushing him. Truthfully, I have never seen anything that horrendous at any Stage Door. I stood back as I was severely overwhelmed and shocked by how these women were acting.
They were taking photos of him, again, taking photos of the actor/actress is a normal Stage Door procedure, but not when you have the flash on and are forcing the camera in their face. Absolutely disgusting behaviour. You could see by his face he was totally disorientated by it.
They were continuing to push things at him for him to sign, whilst closing in on him even more, crushing him further. People were totally blocking his way to the car, baring in mind, the path to his car was only something like 2 meters long. Appalling. This one women was forcing herself at Ronan trying to have photos and as he tried to get in the car away from the hell that had broken loose, I thought she was going to get in the car in front of him as she was hanging onto him. She was a grown woman. They were all GROWN WOMEN. Where are their senses? Their Stage Door etiquette? Their respect? Their manners in general? I’m a 14 year old girl and I know how to act at Stage Door. I know what I shouldn’t do and how I shouldn’t act. After all, Ronan and any other actor/actress are only human beings, too. I’m not denying them of being incredible people, but seriously, how would you like it if people acted like that towards you? You’d hate it. So do they.
Acting like animals at Stage Door isn’t going to impress the person you are there to see. It will make them dislike you. They are people too, not some kind of toy! What really angers me is the fact that a teenage girl knows how to act but grown women don’t. It got to the point that I ended up shouting “FOR CHRIST’S SAKE, JUST LET HIM GET IN THE CAR, IDIOTS” at them. Not something I wanted to do, but I wanted to help him get away and that’s the only thing I could do at the time, was to try and get the people to see how shameful and vulgar they were acting. Ronan hasn’t been too well lately, either.
As for blocking his way to the car, obnoxious behaviour. Think about it for a minute, after you had crushed him and forced flashing cameras in his face, he isn’t going to want to stay and chat to you, is he? If you had been respectful, waited your turn and acted decently, he would have stayed to speak to you. Ronan is a lovely guy and wouldn’t have jumped in the car and sped away if you had been courteous to him (Unless he had to be somewhere, which is understandable).
After he got away, I waited to see Jill (Winternitz) who plays ‘Girl’ in the show. I spoke to Jill for a bit and asked her if she would apologise to Ronan for me, on behalf of the idiots that caused the commotion. Jill is a very lovely woman and she is an incredible actress and has a terrific voice. I also chatted to Fiona (Bruce), who plays Baruska, for a while and she was really nice too.
Here is my advice if you are planning on visiting any Stage Door anytime soon:
1) Respect the actor/actress - Treat them as you would wish to be treated, don’t act like hooligans. No shoving things at them to sign/ forcing cameras in their faces. (Especially with the flash on - That is a definite no!)
2) Remember your manners - Simple courtesy is needed everywhere, not just Stage Door.
3) They are humans too! - No grabbing/pushing/pulling, that is horrific behaviour and they could get hurt.
4) Other fans are just as worthy as you are - You deserve no more time with that actor/actress than anyone else does. Do not interrupt them if they are speaking with/signing something for/having a photo with another fan. What gives you the right to cut their time short with that actor/actress. They are just a big as fan as you.
5) Take a step back - Don’t crowd the actor/actress. Stand back and allow them to either come to you or for you to say a quiet “Hello” and then walk to them. Crowding leads to crushing, which can lead to serious injuries for both the actor/actress in question and the fans, too.
6) They have busy lives - If they have to rush off somewhere, then so be it. They have jam-packed lives and may need to be somewhere. You have to understand that going to Stage Door isn’t a guarantee of meeting them. Unfortunately, its a game of chance/luck. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t. It’s okay to be disappointed if they have to rush off, but don’t block their way. It’s childish and won’t make them stay. It will make them want to get out of there even quicker than usual.
Apologies if this advice seems harsh, but, it’s reality. They are humans, not toys. Behaviour needs to be addressed and people need to sort out the way they act. Simple as that. I would really appreciate it if you could reblog and share this post. Thank you for reading.
And if Ronan ever does see this, all I can say is sorry. I am eternally sorry for the way you were treated. I hope you weren’t hurt in anyway and that you were okay. I’m truly appalled by the behaviour of those women. I wish I could have helped you in someway. I want you to know, not all of your supporters are of that level of idiocy. All my love to you and I hope that you are okay after it. xxx
(I posted this on my Tumblr a while back before I had this blog and got a lot of feedback about this post. I had some incredible things said to me about it and it turns out that even Ronan himself read this post.)
See you soon, Jazz xxx
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