Frances McDormand Stops The Show!

I would like to go on record, as actually knowing the playwright personally:  David would have been all for her actions.  She handled it exactly as he would.

Ken, kindly remove the Actors' Equity rulebook that's gotten lodged up your ass. McDormand was responding in the moment to what had clearly disrupted the experience of the performance for everyone in the theater. Far from insulting the writer, director, and her coworkers, sounds to me like she was standing up for their collective work and making sure that the audience who had paid to see and hear that work did so with no distractions. Obviously, the clueless twat in the audience was the only one being disrespectful to the play. Oh, and in case you were asleep during Theatre 101, there's no "reality" on the stage. It's all a collective fiction that the audience and actors CHOOSE to take part in. The idea that it's "not OK to step out of the reality of the story" (an oxyMORONIC statement if ever I've heard one) to address something that's happening in real reality is a bizarrely fascistic idea. If the woman were waving a loading gun around, should the actors have continued playing the scene as if the fourth wall were an actual edifice through which they could neither see nor hear the auditorium and not an imaginary convention that only dates back to the 18th century? If McDormand were routinely changing lines and blocking, showing up drunk to work, or undermining the other actors with diva-ish behavior, THAT would be unprofessional. Get a grip.

Ken - I was there - the story actually got it a little wrong.  There may have been a collective "internal groan" among the audience at the cell phone ringing (trust me - the play would have kept going thru the riniging), but the "action" didn't happen until the woman answered it - THEN came the gasp.  So the audience and the scene was already lost.  Frances McDormand handled it perfectly.  It's just a shame that it had to come to that.

You're tough, Kenny.  Fran was...restrained.  I saw that show.  Very dramatic, lots of audience on the edge of chair, waiting for next word and then...cell phone rings!  And she answers it!?  Ignorant bitch should stick to watching tv.

This seemed more acceptable because the ringing phone and the woman answering had already broken the spell of the play. McDormand didn't yell at anyone, she simply made a remark and waited to defuse the situation, then returned to the play without distraction.LuPone's incident was different because I doubt the camera was disrupting the whole audience the way the cell phone was at Good People. As Musto describes it, the actors froze and the audience gasped.

Well, like Patti says, "People either love me or hate me."  I love her, but.  I love her butt?  I lover butt.  Where was I?  Oh, Patti ain't trash.  She's more...brass.

If that's the case, you'd better be careful. Patti will cut a bitch.

Straight men too.

Ooops!  I said something like this before I read your comment!

As she should. Patti LuPone should not have to wait for some loser on their phone. No one should. Frances McDormand handled the situation incredibly well but if she flipped out, I wouldn't blame her.