A chara, – I am astounded, if not slightly confused, by the sheer arrogance and snobbery displayed by Grainne Gormley’s letter (May 10th) as she rails against the “soundtrack of coughing and sniffing” she so bravely endured at a recent performance of Krapp’s Last Tape at the Gate Theatre. It appears Ms Gormley lacks either a rudimentary understanding of the human body, or even an ounce of common courtesy. That she would equate an uncontrollable, irrepressible cough with a total disrespect for both actor and author is astounding.
As an audience member one can always expect a small amount of disturbance; this is an inevitable consequence of filling a room with 600 people. However, rather than becoming annoyed (or indeed infuriated, in Ms Gormley’s case) by these disturbances, one may exercise a little maturity and composure by choosing simply to ignore them.
These disturbances cannot be helped. If audience members are of less-than-perfect health they deserve sympathy, not disgust. To even suggest their appreciation of theatre is somehow lessened by their poor health is both ignorant and insulting.
Having attended the show last Monday week, I found the occasional disturbance to be entirely tolerable, even in the context of the extended silences Beckett often employs.
Finally, the fact that the occasional cough or sniffle of an unfortunate audience member had to compete with the work of Samuel Beckett for Ms Gormley’s attention is an insult to the man and his work. – Is mise,