Stranger than fiction: why people cough at public performances

Ever had your enjoyment at a live performance spoilt by collective coughing fits from the audience? The theatre critic James Agate once reflected: 'Long experience has taught me that in England nobody goes to the theatre unless he or she has bronchitis.'

I once played Albert the Horse in Alan Bennett's lovely adaptation of The Wind in the Willows and during every matinee I was forced to neigh disapprovingly at children whooping loudly every time my wise old talking horse was about to save Toad from another disaster. Rumour has it that the cast of The Sound of Music referred to the show as The Sound of Mucus, so deafening were the coughs and sneezes coming from the auditorium during every performance. The concert hall too is notorious for audience participation, sometimes of the wrong kind. Alfred Brendel, the pianist, once chastised his audience: 'either you stop coughing or I stop playing.'

Now we might know why people cough in auditoriums. In a new report entitled Why do people (not) cough in concerts? The economics of concert etiquette, (see story here) Professor Andreas Wagner of the University of Hannover claims that coughing is 'excessive and non random'. Coughing is seen as an acceptable form of audience participation by many participants. Coughing is a 'wilful action'.

The research revealed that the average concertgoer coughs at 0.025 times a minute, a rate double the normal average of 18 coughs a day.

I am sure we all have sympathy with Downton Abbey author and screenwriter Julian Fellowes who famously, last year, explosively rebuked a fellow audience member who was coughing persistently in the next row at the Royal Court in London. 'You must stop coughing', he barked. After the outburst you could not hear a pin drop, only the actors on the stage.
Dick Skellington 22 March 2013

The views expressed in this post, as in all posts on Society Matters, are the views of the author, not The Open University.

Cartoon by Gary Edwards

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About Society Matters

Provocative, relevant, current: for the last decade Society Matters magazine has been informing, engaging and annoying social sciences students in equal measure. Now, its move online has given us the chance to bring its lively mix of analysis and opinion to a wider audience.

Society Matters online started in October 2010 and has, so far, covered a wide range of issues and topics ranging from inequality and the big society to arms sales and foreign policy. All can be seen by scrolling down from the top of the Society Matters front page.

We have also illustrated many of these posts with the work of our two illustrators (see below). Serious analyses have been interspersed with posts on a less weighty issues which show both human folly and innovation.

Society Matters continues to be edited by its original creator, Dick Skellington. Dick, pictured above, was previously a programme manager in the social sciences faculty, walks the talk through an active involvement in the affairs of his home town of Stony Stratford, Bucks, and finds light relief through writing poetry and the occasional stage appearance in local productions.

Since many years at the coalface of journalism have taught us all that sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words Dick is aided and abetted by resident illustrators, Gary Edwards and Catherine Pain – both former OU students.

Catherine has drawn and painted all her life, and when she is not pillorying public figures for Society Matters paints animal portraits, works in stained glass and produces alphabet teaching posters for children. Her work is in several galleries in and around her current home in Cambridgeshire and her publications include an illustrated cookbook sold on behalf of the National Trust, a colouring book for small children, Alphabet for Colouring, and The Lost Children, a story for older children. Her website is at catherinepain.co.uk

Gary has written two best-selling books about his travels all over the world watching Leeds United FC, Paint it White and Leeds United - The Second Coat. His third title No Glossing Over will be published by Mainstream in September 2011. He has not missed a Leeds game anywhere in the world since February 1968 and married his wife Lesley at Elland Road.

Specialising in wall murals, Gary also holds diplomas from the London Art College, The Morris College of Journalism, has a Diploma in Freelance Cartooning and Illustration and is a contributing cartoonist for Speakeasy, an English-speaking magazine in Paris. During the 1970's and 1980's he collected hearses and is a long time member of the Official Flat Earth Society as well as the Clay Pigeon Preservation Society.

Please note: The opinions expressed in Society Matters posts are those of the individual authors, and do not represent the views of The Open University.