Booze in theatres

Probably just part of the general increase in people not giving a shot about how their behaviour affects others. I haven't noticed heavy drinking in the theatre although we did go to the Lion King recently and I was surprised at the amount of general noise the audience were making, and I mean adults not kids. A couple behind us chatting all the way through. Another couple in front checking their phones every 10 minutes. A general hum of audience voices and munching throughout. It's expensive so why pay all that money to not focus on the show.

I think you might be cursed OP!!

I go to the theatre regularly in my city or in London, probably 12-15 times a year.

I have never experienced this. And no, it’s not because I am the problem, I don’t drink alcohol!!

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Some of these experiences are shocking. At this rate theatres will need to be policed like football matches.

That's shocking. They should have chucked those people out immediately and, failing that, called the police when you got punched. Trying to minimise it is unacceptable. I would honestly take it to social media and make sure people know how little this theatre cares about audience safety.

I think, again, the increase in versions of existing material is largely down to the need to get bums on seats/keep theatres viable.
While I've no problem with 'mainstream' or 'popular' theatre, whatever you want to call it, I do think it's sad if those are the only kind of productions that can be viable.

Honestly I was just so stunned by the whole thing I didn't know how to react in the moment as I've never been in that situation before in my life. I've encountered rowdy people in a theatre but never to that level and never targeted at me.

I emailed the theatre a few days later once I'd had time to process it asking what their policy is for this type of behaviour, explaining what had happened to me and asked what steps would be taken to ensure this didn't happen to anyone again. I got a pretty standard email back ignoring most of my points except to say they were sorry I hadn't enjoyed the performance and had a bad experience and that they will take on board my feedback.

It's safe to say I won't ever consider going to that theatre again and will travel further afield in future.

For stand up comedy I would kind of expect a lot of people to be tiddly. For, I dunno, a Harold Pinter play, not so much.

I do think that the qaulity of theatre has gone down, there seem to be fewer original productions and more stage versions of well known movies or TV shows. So maybe that partly accounts for it.

I also think that two years of lockdown has led to a slippage in societal standards/mores of how people should behave around each other in a public place

And of course you could have reported them to the police for assault.

That's appalling. I hope you went after the theatre for an apology/compensation/assurances about how they were going to manage their audiences in future?

Same experience as you OP and have unfortunately been the victim of an assault due to it. I took my 8 year old DD to a matinee performance of a musical in Edinburgh. The two ladies behind us were very drunk before the performance began and from curtains up, kept shouting out the lines before the actors and sang very loudly.

I politely asked if she wouldn't mind singing a little bit lower as we were struggling to hear the actors and not only did I get a whole load of verbal abuse but they spent the entire first half kicking the back of both mine and DD chairs whilst singing even louder. I did my best to ignore it whilst trying to reassure DD who was confused as to what was going on and becoming upset. At the interval as I stood to go to bathroom I was sworn at and subject to more abuse. I spoke to a steward who came and spoke to them and informed them of several complaints and he was also given much abuse but they were allowed to remain with a warning of being removed if they carried on and reminded that it was not a sing along performance.

They were quiet for all of 10 minutes then it started up again, only this time shouting out abuse and swearing about me, a steward stood at the end of their row but did nothing (I was middle of the row and really didn't want to cause a scene by getting up mid performance silly I know) just before the end I was given a load more abuse and then punched in the back of the head at which point they were finally removed whilst I was dealing with the shock of being hit and a sobbing DD. It ruined the whole experience for us and the whole performance and left me an anxious wreck that they would be waiting outside to continue their behaviour towards me.

The whole experience was horrendous, DD and I loved going to the theatre before this but now it's made DD fearful of going again.

Alcohol has always been available in theatres but I agree people drink too much and behave like yobs no matter where they are.

Yes, but it was measured. You may have had one pre-threatre drink and one in the interval. No drinks were allowed to be taken into the auditorium. Likewise with food. Ice cream in the interval not a backpack full of goodies from poundland!

I had one insufferable performance where a woman ate her way through a tube of Pringles, interspersed with offering her family whole a picnic. It was a ballet FFS! You don't open Pringles during a pas de deux!

I’ve never seen it at plays but I have seen it at musicals and similar. I have no idea why people feel the need to get utterly plastered. I have a few, don’t get me wrong, but I know my limits.

Rolling my eyes at all the condescending "well what theatre do you go to?" "This wouldn't happen at hedda gabler" type posts. Maybe it's more likely at musicals (because audiences get confused between the overlap with other live music events?) but it's absolutely an issue everywhere. The "intelligentsia" can be as arrogant as anyone else.

I've been to several productions of "normal" theatre with issues, including king Lear where the actor stopped mid monologue to tell someone off for using their phone.
A cursory Google refers to fights during the crucible, police called to death of a salesman, etc - all in west end/Broadway not amateur/regional productions

I don't think it's an issue unique to theatres unfortunately, although I adore the theatre. I tend avoid the hit musicals and similar as I can't abide the behaviour some show such as the singing, shouting, booing etc. not every performance is a pantomime!

There has been a steady decline in "acceptable" public behaviour for many decades, although I feel the decline is gaining pace in the last 5-10 years. People do not seem to have the same standards anymore.

People are becoming increasingly brash, self centred and arrogant. A few decades ago it would have been unseemly to be rip roaring drunk in public, to have loud private conversations in public, to shout and swear, to be rude and inconsiderate, to let small children run loose in unsuitable environments such as restaurants. All these things are normal everyday occurrences now. Everyone is too self involved to care how they are impacting on others. It's all about a persons right to have fun, to do what I like etc.

Of course society had other issues many decades ago and it wasn't all roses, but I do think it's a shame that the sense of decorum in this country has gone so far downhill.

Having said that, yeah, openly drunk people in these places are really annoying.

I mainly go to matinees - no drinking issues there but don't get me started on people checking their phones through the performance!

Been to a couple of evening events this year - one NT (all good) and one comedian - we were at the after work performance and people were enjoying one or two drinks. The later performance I heard was a v drunken affair and someone was thrown out by security - just spoils it for everyone else.

They probably got drunk before the theatre rather than during. You'd have to take a bank loan out to get drunk at a theatre bar.

I think it's a combination of post-Covid changes to how people think it's acceptable to behave at public performances – we all got used to sitting at home watching stuff live-streamed or recorded, drinking, eating, chatting, getting up and down etc – and theatres needing to make money in he face of ever more vicious funding cuts. Food and drink is a good way to make better profits, and a lot of places now market shows as a 'night out' and either actively or tacitly encourage singing along/participation.
It's OK at things like Magic Mike or Mamma Mia (I imagine, anyway; I haven't been to either – maybe it's just as annoying at a show like that?)
but it's not OK at things like Blood Brothers, which yes is funny and involving but is not a jukebox musical or a comedy routine.

TBH unless or until theatre funding improves, I can't 100% blame them for doing what they can to keep afloat. But it does somewhat put me off going.

I'm lucky enough to have been to have 4 London shows this year and have not experienced anything like this! Not when I've been to shows at our local theatre either.

I've never seen that happen at musicals or plays ever.

Comedians are completely different though, many good ones ENCOURAGE audience participation... in fact I only go to see comedians who do, its bloody boring otherwise watching people read pre-written jokes, I prefer the on their feet wit of actual funny people.

Jason Byrne is the best, every single show is unique because its all just bantering with the audience... people yelling out is literally what MAKES the show and there wouldn't be anything without it. I have joined in many times and even been pulled on stage with him whilst stone cold sober.

"I'm with the OP. I think it's sad people think they can't enjoy anything without alcohol. And the point is their enjoyment of drinking is quite often to the detriment of the enjoyment of the event for other people. When people are drinking they often are unaware or actually don't care about how it affects other people."

@Everythingiscalmfornow I 100% agree with you on this. It seems to me that, for many people, consuming alcohol (and, all too often, it's large amounts of it) is seen as an essential part of an evening out.

Obviously the behaviour you describe is obnoxious, but the theatres encourage it for the alcohol sales. Also, the acts like audiences to be a little bit sozzled.

I've recently been part of a sober socials thing. There's a regular quarterly "dry" night at a comedy club near here. It's really hard to book acts. They know they need to be funnier to make a sober crowd laugh.

I think it was at a performance of The Bodyguard at Manchester Palace that behaviour got so out of hand that the police had to be called.

I am not a prude where alcohol is concerned but I think the behaviour you hear about from some people these days is just appalling.

Part of the problem is that the theatres see alcohol sales as a much needed way of making a profit, hence they allow people to drink during the show itself and let in people who are clearly drunk. I think the only solution would be to go back to pre-show and interval drinks only and have draconian security measures to bar access to and throw out anyone who is clearly drunk or behaving badly.

I've had recent trips to the theatre, cinema, football games and gigs ruined by people who appear not to be able to get through 90-120 mins of entertainment without a drink, even when they apparently are already pissed.
The constant getting up and down to go to the bar, talking over the performance and general disruptive behaviour annoys me because I'm there for the show/ game. If I want to drink and chat to my friends I go to the pub. These days people appear to be more focused on having a good time than being mindful of impacting on the enjoyment of others. It is possible to do both, as demonstrated by the lovely people sat in the same block as me at a recent Pet Shop Boys gig.