Man on WhatsApp next to me in Theatre?

Speak to an Usher

Seriously. We will try and stop people where we can see it, maybe give them 30 seconds to quickly check a message but not repeatedly

And we don't always notice

To a PP - many shows do have "please turn phones off" type messages and we have signs to hold up too.

There are a lot of excuses for the inconsiderate people on here. It's never acceptable. If there is some dire emergency then why are you at the theatre?

If anything so serious was going on that he had to constantly be checking his phone, perhaps he shouldn’t have been there.
Also, it’s the light from the phone that is so distracting.

I don't understand why the people doing this don't think, "I paid way too much for these tickets to spend the time on my phone instead of concentrating on the play."

I’ve never seen that before. Perhaps they are needing to do it more now.

Of course it's annoying and I can see why it bothered you but I guess you don't know why he's checking the phone, perhaps someone is ill or in crisis or similar. Or maybe he's never been in that type of environment before and doesn't know the etiquette. Many people think its obvious but I've worked with lots of people who genuinely wouldn't know this was an issue. Of course he may also have been bored/reliant on it but I think it would have been fair to say to him nicely that the light was bothering you and would he mind turning it off, or you could have said to a member of staff and let them deal with it.

I have been to the theatre quite a bit lately (DD gets cheap tickets to lots of shows bc of her age) and they always either announce “please turn off your phone” or hold up a sign saying "no phones" – sometimes both.

Yes @PassingStranger I agree this is so annoying.

I don't accept that it doesn't disturb anyone – the lit-up screen will attract your attention. People shouldn’t go to the theatre if they can't manage for an hour without checking messages.

Before Christmas DD and I saw an amazing show at the National, we utterly loved it. But in the middle of it the chap behind me had a phone call - ffs why was his phone not on silent? - and when we all looked round and glared at him he made out he didn't know why. YOUR PHONE IS RINGING. I was fumming.

At the interval I said something to him (quite sharply tbh; the tickets were not cheap and we were had been very excited about it) and he said he couldn't hear the phone. FGS. He was oldish (older than me haha and I am 60+) and very posh. Which somehow made it even worse. Maybe he can afford £75 to sit at the back of the stalls multiple times a month but we can't.

<rant over> We still LOVED the show which was the wonderful Ncuti Gatwa btw

Theatres, cinemas etc really need to come down hard on this asap to avoid going out of business - I am not bothering to book anymore because even though I am not averse to telling people to stop messing with their phones, it causes the evening to be stressful and it is too expensive to have to take the risk. That, and ending up with feral people who don't know not to talk/sing/eat/sniff throughout performances.

I’ve never heard of that rule in a theatre.

They may say turn it on silent or no photography but I’ve never heard them say to turn your phone off/not go on it.

I was at a performance last week where two women sitting next to me were sitting side by side on their phones and one even took a call too. Oh my gosh, it was so frustrating. I wanted to say something but I couldn’t be arsed with the stress.

I sympathise. This drives me mad in theatres and cinemas. Makes me want to grab their poxy phone and shove it where the sun don't shine.

THIS IS WHY STEVE & REECE NEED TO GET THAT SKIT MADE INTO LAW!!!

ffs. Yes i am shouting. Yes OF COURSE HE IS DISTURBING PEOPLE. THAT'S LITERALLY THE PROBLEM.

Last time I was at the theatre the woman in front was scrolling Facebook. The show was crap and she was obviously as bored as me, but still...

Bet he was a tourist

Sorry that happened. But I bet next time he thinks before he leaves his phone on just in case that crazy MN woman is sitting behind him ready to pounce 😬

It would be funny if OP was still at the theatre now updating her MN thread.

Thankfully I've never seen it in the theatre. See it all the time in the cinema. It's like some adults are addicted to their phone, it's always adult women, never teenagers. They keep refreshing, checking sm etc until the last second possible and sometimes during the film. It keeps lighting up and is really distracting. I always think that it's sad they can't seem to switch off for a couple of hours or fully immerse themselves in a film. A woman kept doing it last week and I told the usher who approached her. She did stop then but looked a bit affronted.

It is a big deal, it’s hugely distracting and disrespectful to the audience and cast. Watch TV or NT Live at home if you can’t be bothered to get off your phone.

I don’t care what people’s excuses are - get out of the theatre if you can’t be in there without being on your phone. Although I told a man next to me to put his away after he repeatedly got it out to scroll and got a mouthful of abuse for my trouble so that was nice.

YANBU. Bright phone screen is very distracting in a darkened theatre. I hadn't realised just how bright they can be until a recent theatre visit.
Even if it's a few rows in front you can still see it, in my experience.

Unless he’s disturbing you I wouldn’t worry about it. Maybe he didn’t want to go, plenty of people are just obligated to through work or relationships. Or maybe he did want to go but didn’t think it was very good

checking your phone and typing a text in the context of a theatre full of people isn’t a big deal really.

At the RFH recently the announcer told us all firmly to switch off our phones 'because the light will be distracting to other members of the audience.' It worked.

Then he shouldn’t be at the theatre. It’s a simple rule - phones off.

And while they are at it, can they ban drunk, out of tune singing along. I had a concert totally ruined by someone behind me singing along very badly and very loudly to EVERY song. Out of tune, wrong words. Wrong song at one point 🤣😱.