Another Type of Standing Ovation

In this post over here, I mention the "I Can't See" ovation, whereby the audience ends up giving a standing ovation just by virtue of everyone trying to see around the one dork standing up in front (sort of a reverse domino effect).

Today, I saw a new kind of unintentional standing ovation.  This was at Hamlet.  Here's how bows generally work at productions of Hamlet:  The whole cast comes out, you applaud.  They drop the curtain (you keep applauding) and then they lift the curtain again and the lead actor is standing there alone.  You applaud some more, the lead actor magnanimously waves in the rest of the cast from the wings, and you applaud them all once more.  The curtain falls; the house lights go up; everyone goes home.

OK, here's what happened at tonight's performance.  The whole cast comes out, we applaud.  A few people stand up.  The curtain comes down.  It's still dark, but at least half the audience stands up and starts putting on their coats in the dark.  The curtain comes up again, with Jude Law standing there, and a good deal of these folks are still facing their chairs, putting on their scarves.  They have to turn around to applaud for Law (and company) before the curtain comes down, the lights come up, and they can leave.  

Apparently, after sitting through 3 hours and change of Shakespeare, these folks just couldn't wait to get out of there.  And ended up giving a "Putting on Our Coats" standing ovation.