Crisps shouldn’t be allowed in the theatre

I honestly don't understand how people can't manage an hour without eating!

Drinks are fine but open them before the performance or during the interval.

I usually take a couple of mints loose in my pocket to suck on if I get a tickly throat, but that's to stop me from coughing so that I don't disturb other people.

So many people are so entitled these days and don't give a fuck about anyone else.

A couple of years ago, I was stuck behind 2 men at our local theatre (major city) who talked and checked their phones all the way through the first half of a play. DD wouldn't let me say anything to them so I bit my tongue.

They went to the bar (in the venue) at the interval and brought back slushies. What idiot thought that was good product to sell in a theatre???

I didn't hear much of the second half purely because of the rattle of their drinks. It was so distracting.

I did contact the venue after the performance.
They fortunately now no longer have the slush machine!

I don’t think it’s just the eating though , we went to the theatre this week and we were pretty disgusted that so many of the audience just left all their food rubbish on the floor for staff to clear up after them . Rubbish bins were at the entrance to the stalls , so no need to even take it home with you . This was an adult based late evening show , so no kids to blame either . We were amongst the last to get out due to our seats , and staff already had numerous full black sacks collected .

I agree. We were at the theatre last week and I was shocked at the constant munching (my 5 year old and 7 year old managed perfectly fine without any snacks at all). The bloke behind me loudly ate the worlds most strong smelling cheesy crisps, the scent left me feeling sick for the entire second half. Firstly it's disrespectful to the cast, secondly it's distracting and unpleasant for the rest of the audience. And thirdly, no wonder everyone is obese! The show started at 2pm so surely everyone had just eaten lunch, yet seemed to need to shovel food in throughout the show! Madness!

They sell popcorn and crisps in most theatres.

and frankly the desire for abject silence when watching a performance needs to leave. It’s so dull.

anyway for a lot of theatres the only places they make pure profit is through food and drink sales. So they won’t be going anywhere

Wow, I’ve not experienced crisp eating in the theatre, thats really unpleasant. We always take sweets and unwrap them and put them in a little plastic
box to avoid rustling, so crisps is a big no no for me. I’m surprised they sell them at the venue but the again, cinemas sell whole meals these days, which is pretty gross.

Eating in the cinema is bad enough, but in the theatre it's unforgivable. Why can't people go an hour without food? I would personally ban it completely but, sadly, cash-strapped theatres make money from selling snacks, so we are stuck with it

And these are the same yobbos who don't put their phones away!

I have never witnessed this. How disrepectful to the actors and the audience. I hate it at cinema but wouldn't tolerate it at the theatre.

She sounds fucking irritating.

Completely agree OP. It does make me think twice about attending productions at some theatres/ some shows that I think will be particularly bad for it. So I hope that the money the theatres make from the £5 bag of crisps compensates for the lost sales of £100+ tickets.

Theatres themselves make a lot of money from crisps, the one near me does the ones in a tin at £5 a pop.

i went to the theatre twice in a week not so long ago which is unusual.
first was a musical so a lot of families there. the behaviour of children and adults were appalling. one family in front, not one person sat in the same seat for more than 15 minutes. another, the dad was checking the footy scores on his phone (matinee performance), another parent let their 8/9 year old stand up to watch because they 'wanted to'. and the amount of noise from sweets, crisps and drinks was off the scale.
the next visit was a classic play based on a text often studied at GCSE. lots of teenagers there with parents. no interval and just 1 hr 45 mins long.
there were sweet bags rattling, cans being opened and very loud crunching with various sharing of packets along the groups. in the main it was the adults over the teenagers. i found it so disrespectful to the actors on stage. there were a lot of tense and quiet moments and then 'psst' someone chooses to open their can of rola cola at that moment.
my 13 year old could not get why can no one manage two hours without stuffing their faces anymore. i agree with her!
i'd love to know what the actors think of it.
doubt ill be off to the theatre any time soon.

The key word is “public”. Which means it’s not just your space and some consideration of others is required. Are you the sort of person who uses their mobile to watch videos without headphones on public transport? Or do you accept that’s not ok in public? Because it amounts to the same thing: being an inconsiderate idiot in public.

I couldn’t agree more. It’s so inconsiderate. Eat directly before or after the play if you’re hungry. Not during.

Well of course not, shouldn't be eating anything harder than a soft bread roll. Life would be soooo much better if all cinemas and theatres adopted the Wittertainment code of conduct!

Agree 1000%!!!

went to a production last week. Two tickets for £300 and they were by no means the most expensive. People next to me had a tub of crisps. Deafening! I did ask them to stop

the person saying hire a private box is both dumb (they barely exist) and unreasonable

the girl beside me had a large bag of sweets that were individually wrapped and she was constantly unwrapping sweets and offering them to her friends.

She's be getting a strong look and a "shhhh" from me if she were doing that sitting next to me. Or a word at the interval.

Some people just don't know how to behave.

Popcorn is the worst! Cannot believe theatres are stupid enough to sell it 🤬. Cinemas are different as the sound is so loud you can’t usually hear the constant noise but in a quiet theatre you can hear everything. So lacking in awareness and consideration for others but tis the way of the world nowadays sadly 😢

I agree I can't stand that crunching sound by multiple people

Agree completely, some people are so inconsiderate. I thought most places didn't allow this anymore.

I wonder if people eat nuts in the theatre/cinema?
Never seen any announcement asking patrons not to, in fact nuts are often sold in such places.

I agree OP but a bit of common sense is needed by the venue if they are selling food. Obviously they make a lot of money from it but some items are much quieter than others. I was at a musical recently and they had a particular type of jellies but whatever way the bags were they were unbelievably noisy. I could hear them being rustled throughout the audience all through the show.

No.. thank God ! My children grew up with plenty of common sense and also a lot of kindness and consideration to others. No way would they or I munch and rustle our way through a live performance. It’s hugely disrespectful to the performers and immensely annoying to fellow watchers.

someone who believes ‘it’s in public’ is a reason to behave rudely ,is teaching their children that selfish behaviour is fine because doing what you want without considering others is all that matters. Very sad.