"Silence Please" (short story): The ultimate silencer

Imagine you could cancel ambient noise using a device like an ordinary audio system. Not a noise-canceling headphone. We want to make an entire hall or theater silent.

Now imagine the kind of pranks you can play.

Story summary (spoiler).
This is a comedy where a college theater show is wrecked by such a device. One moment, the actors are saying something. Next moment, it's only silence!

I wish he had chosen one of numerous & noisy political rallies or slogan-shouting protest marches in India as example! Would be so much fun.

Good story.

Fact sheet.
Silence Please, short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
Genre: Science fiction
First published: 1954
Rating: A

The story appears in the following collections.

1. "Tales from the White Hart"
2. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"
3. "Across the Sea of Stars"