Time Out Critic Reminds Starstruck THE RIVER Theatregoers to 'STFU'

Time Out NY theatre critic David Cote just wrote an exasperated column chastising cell-phone-wielding, exclamation-making, question-asking, Hugh-Jackman-oggling audience members at Jez Butterworth's The River. His main message: STFU.

The most egregious sin at the press night Cote attended involved a woman disrupting the final moments of the play with a loud, "Holy shit!"

Despite producer Sonia Friedman's decision to add an onstage reminder to silence all cell phones, plus a note in the program, audience members, at least according to Cote, seem more interested in breathing the same air as Hugh Jackman (and snapping pics as proof on their phones) than "savoring the ambiguities and delicate silences" of the play.

THE RIVER officially opens this Sunday night. So, New York audiences, be on your best behavior...

THE RIVER will run at Circle in the Square (50th Street between Broadway and Eighth Avenue) for a 13-week engagement through Sunday, January 25, 2015. A new play, THE RIVER stars Hugh Jackman, Laura Donnelly and Cush Jumbo and is directed by Ian Rickson.

In the play, set on a moonless evening, a man brings his new girlfriend to a remote cabin for a night of trout-fishing. But before the night is over, it becomes clear that nothing is as it seems... and as memory collides with desire, the truth becomes the most elusive catch of all.

Photo Credit: Richard Termine