Ringing mobile phones have been heard at live performances as well as movies lately. The most recent example is a ringing iPhone at a performance by the New York Philharmonic of Gustav Mahler's 9th Symphony. When the phone rang, maestro Alan Gilbert signaled the owner to turn off the phone; finally he stopped the orchestra in mid-performance until the phone was shut off, which it finally was. The orchestra then resumed playing. This is the first public protest against ringtones in public that I know of!

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For music yes, but about 5 years ago a performance of Macbeth was stopped when a phone rang in the middle of the death scene. The lead actor gave quite an impassioned impromptu speech.It reached the front page of our newspaper. Some locals thought it was funny. I thought it was shaming.

There are other ways of handling phone conversations. This one worked quickly:
What happens if you talk with your phone in a concert?

Richard Griffiths, an actor here, is well known for halting stage plays and having a real go at audience members whose mobile phones ring in the middle of the show. I don't blame him, it's rude, not only to the actors, but also to the rest of the audience.

Or you can ask audiences to switch off. How outrageous is that?

Orange "phone break"

Jack Black as Gulliver

or the best one - the James Bond method!

The orange phone break is a joke, right? Please tell me it's a joke!

Anyone who can't sit through a movie without needing to use their phone is just too pathetic for words. If I paid to see a movie (and admission is not cheap over here), I would be demanding my money back if they subjected me to a phone break every 15 minutes.

I went to the movies last week for the first time in a year and after sitting through 30 minutes of advertisements - one of which was played four times - before the movie started, I remembered why I usually wait for movies to come out on DVD.

We went to a show once and the man sitting next to me took THREE phone calls during the performance. After the third one, I told him in no uncertain terms that I had paid to see the show, not to listen to his phone calls and I advised him where I would place the phone if he dared to take another call on it. My family were embarrassed and moved seats. Other people around me applauded. He switched off the phone without a word.

Over here, it is usually requested before a show or movie that people turn off their mobile phones, but there are always a few arrogant jerks who leave them on because they think they are so important that the rules don't apply to them.

There's a whole series of Orange ads ending with a request to switch off before the performance.

I thought the "Orange Break" one was a delicious dig at people who can't bear to be disconnected from the outside world - two hours is A Long Time... people will think you're dead... snookums gets lonely... although they're all managing to look deadly serious while spouting their ridiculous excuses sorry reasons.

Aren't you pleased, there's a lot more like that on YouTube!

Here's another one - bit of kulcha this time - it's in French.
Potiche
Doesn't Deneuve look wonderful!

I once got a refund from the movie theatre after I complained that someone's phone kept ringing throughout the movie and the person kept talking on it - there wasn't an usher to be seen during the whole movie to complain to...

Got two free tickets when I complained online that evening.

I've stopped going out to movies for those reasons and more. I went to one movie where a high-school age boy talked to himself the whole time, as if he were in his living room.

Being alone, I didn't speak up. He might have been crazy. I hope he was just lonely or uneducated, but I'm a pensioner and can't afford experiments.

"Shushing" I tried but was ignored.

It's hard to believe that somthing as high class and expensive as a live performance has these same problems.

A slightly tangential issue, but still highly irritating, I find is the number of (typically young) people who are listening to their personal music devices with the volume so high that anyone standing near them can hear what they're listening to through their ear/headphones.

I don't think they really understand the concept of headphones.

I don't think they really understand the concept of noise damage either. Perhaps they understand it but not as it applies to them. So they mess their hearing up, and then they have to have the music even louder...

On the same note, I think there are many people who don't understand the concept of phones either. We have people on the Mainland bound train here, who could really be heard there without the use of the phone at all. Shouting isn't word enough to describe it.

I work in an environment where there are a lot of young people (18-30), and see this very often. I simply ask them "Are you deaf?" to which the usual reply is "No". I just say "Won't be long, eh?".

It usually works.

Don't stop the symphony, adapt it! A violinist plays Nokia.

I went to an Andre Rieu performance last year. At the beginning, the audience were asked to switch off their mobile 'phones. One arrogant jerk didn't so Andre stopped the performance and asked them to leave. They were quickly ushered out never to be seen again. Big applause for Andre Rieu.