Rude people in the theatre

In days of yore at Liverpool Playhouse if anyone arrived late or moved from their seat during a performance they had to stand at the back and wait until the interval. Food and drink were restricted to the bar/ restaurant areas.
Nowadays theatre companies encourage consumption in the auditorium to swell profits. It’s such a shame as it’s needless and can detract from the enjoyment of others.
As for phones, don’t get me started!
Anything involving music or singing I now actively avoid as I want to hear the artist/s, not the drunken wannabes.

I’m just surprised that people are prepared to pay such high prices for tickets and then talk or eat or drink all the way through it (plus then the inevitable getting up for toilet breaks). I went to a rock concert a few years ago - more than £100 per ticket and the main act was only on for 2 hours. Loads of people got up (and therefore got the rest of the row up) to get more drinks! When there was a break after the warm up act - surely that’s the time to leave the auditorium!

My son works in a theatre and some of the stuff he sees is quite frankly astonishing. Not sure what the answer is other than zero tolerance but venues are always worried about people kicking off.

Ive had quite a few things happen recently. 1 in the theatre and 1 in the cinema. Other things were as you say annoying low level.
The theatre there was a lady sitting beside me. She kept laughing at everything. It was Hamilton so not that funny. But she was laughing in random places that I kept missing what they were saying. She had no social awareness.

The cinema one was worse. Me and DS watching a film cant remember what it was. Half way through 2 young boys start running up and down the stair right next to us. Talking etc. I then see their mum walk up the stairs and they all change seats and sit at the back behind us. I could hear the boys talking so I peered behind and the boys were on a phone and so was the mum! I shushed them. The mum said "what" and I said shush. At the end of the film she came up to me and said " don't you dare tell my children to shush" I told her i could hear them talking and it was very distracting. She said well one of them is 5! I said to her well don't bring them to the cinema then. She then proceeded to start swearing at me and saying ill bring them if I want to. She walked down the stairs still swearing loudly in a cinema full of other children!!!
So she thought we all had to endure them and their behaviour because one of her children were 5!

The complete ignorance of people in public places now is so awful.

I went to see Abba Voyage with a few friends and there was a group near us who stood in a small circle and chatted and laughed among themselves for the whole performance. They also hopped out to get drinks a few times. It was like they were at the local pub with a random band playing.
They were not disruptive, the performance was loud and immersive (and absolutely brilliant!) and we could easily move away but I did wonder why they were there.

I am lucky enough to have avoided large scale disruption but the small scale stuff is annoying as well. I try to sit as far away from people as I can, so an aisle seat or the front row - it seems to be the middle/back parts of the theatre with the most problems.

I went to see Roxy Music a couple of years ago and the woman in front of me spent the whole night playing solitaire on her phone. It was really distracting and annoying. I get that maybe she wasn’t a fan and gone with her partner who probably bought two tickets but why bother going at all?

This really, there's zero respect for anyone in any kind of customer service position, so when they intervene it leads to more aggravation because the person is now slighted at being requested to behave appropriately in a shared space by someone who is being paid to serve them.
Unfortunately this type of behaviour is the down side to the "Customer is always right" culture, because it's not based on if the person is actually being reasonable, but that they are a customer therefore must be right, no matter the circumstances.

I went to a very expensive music concert last week. Could not believe how many people had to get up to buy more drinks more than once throughout the event. Very disrupting for those of us who wanted to see the band. I don’t understand why having another drink is so important when you have spent so much money to see a group who don’t tour that often.

I agree that it’s got worse. I don’t hesitate to ask someone to be quiet. I also report any disruptive behaviour to the staff at the next interval. I’ve witnessed talking, phones etc in places which charge a lot such as The Palladium, Royal Albert Hall and Royal Opera House. Staff are usually quite good at dealing with it, but it doesn’t stop passive aggressive behaviour from the perpetrators once challenged. I think they should be able asked to leave.

I do not understand why you would take a baby to the theatre!

We went to see ofah at the haymaker a few years ago

Two ladies behind me had a chat (loudly) about how much they hated ofah on the tv

So why bloody go?

They carried on their chat all the way through the second half

I'd been looking forward to seeing it for months and was totally ruined by these two

Yes We had trouble at Stratford with a school group being noisy and on phones. The parents accompanying told us they didn't want to tell their darlings to cease as it would make things worse. Theatre staff admitted afterwards they should have asked them to leave.

At that time (2008) the guidance was that under fives weren't admitted.

YANBU but, unfortunately, there's no way to enforce that rule. Stewards can politely ask people to leave, but can't physically restrain them or escort them out. If they're the sort of people that ignore publicised rules, they're not going to listen to a steward either.

The worst one I had was someone vaping during a show.

We turned around to tell a man to please stop talking during a comedy show once. He proceeded to make passive aggressive comments towards us throughout the whole show and then followed us afterwards to have a go at us. Apparently we were rude to tell him to be quiet because his girlfriend was pregnant. 🤨 When I pointed out that was irrelevant, he threatened to slap me.

Unfortunately it’s not true that this won’t happen if you are going to see Shakespeare.
some friends bought expensive tickets in Stratford a few weeks ago, an evening performance. A family with a new born baby sat behind them. Unsurprisingly the baby cried through a large part of the first half. No member of staff intervened.
The family left of their own accord at the interval.
Whole experience was ruined, when my friend emailed the theatre the next day she received an abrupt, unapologetic response indicating that the theatre had an all inclusive, family friendly policy and the family would not have been asked to leave.

There was a heated exchange behind us when we went to see Tina in the Summer.
The audience gave a gentle applause when the ushers removed them!

I think it is all part and parcel of the erosion of standards. A little like people listening to audio without headphones on trains etc. As a society we have become so focussed on our own needs and wants that we just don’t care if we inconvenience or irritate others.

YANBU. It drives me mad.

The theatre is bad enough but I was shocked at the behaviour of people at a cathedral carol service two years running. This is an Anglican service of carols and lessons on Christmas Eve. One year I sat near the back and groups of people chatted and laughed throughout the service, including prayers. One woman was on her phone all through. Last year I sat next to a family of grandparents, parents and two children who looked around 9-10. One of the children was playing a noisy game on his phone and the parents looked on fondly. They were up and down going to the toilet during the 45 minute service. They acted like it was a concert. It was so disrespectful.

Yes, it's rude and makes no sense. Why pay all that for an expensive live performance and ruin it for yourself and everyone around you?

I saw Motown when it was on in the West end. About 10 mins after it started the usher showed a late couple to the seats behind us. They were talking loudly, clattering around with their bags and the woman in particular seemed very drunk. They talked or sang along loudly during the show. Someone shushed them and was told to F off. In the second half the woman fell asleep and missed the rest. Her husband had to shake her awake at the end as she was slumped across the end of the row and no one could get out. She staggered off and we then noticed she'd left her phone on the floor and handed it in.

Similar story a few years later seeing Tina. Loud drunk couple for told off by the usher. The man then fell asleep and snored loudly. We were in the bar during the interval - yes they were having more to drink - and a member of staff came over to remonstrate with them. The man stormed off in a huff. The woman stayed and watched the second half without him (and quietly thank god).

We saw the Producers last week. Yes it’s funny. But the woman in front was shrieking in laughter so loudly and constantly. And then telling her husband why it was so funny. It really was a distraction. She was almost collapsing. I guess you couldn’t police that as it’s ’audience enjoyment’. People’s behaviour is def worse in the big shows. Much better in our local theatre.

I remember someone saying (probably on here) that when someone made a disturbance during Cabaret, the MC gave them a thorough bollocking.

Its low-level disruption that’s the worst as it rarely results in then being asked to leave the theatre and yet its bloody annoying for the audience members immediately surrounding them.
Low level chatter, loud rustles of sweets and wrappers JUST as the show is starting, etc etc.
I think middle aged people have become too used to watching tv and chatting throughout the entire show, that they carry on during a play as if it’s an episode of gogglebox.
I am always surprised in the interval that they look like well to do middle class middle aged people. Why can’t they behave? 🤷🏻‍♀️
I’ll often ask them to be quiet, but frequently they’ll argue back. I will always challenge photo taking though. I tapped the lady in front of me who started videoing Evita in the summer and she had a real go at me in the interval. I told her to try arguing why she should video illegally to an usher.
The only places with zero tolerance are (as mentioned, Shakespeare, the royal ballet and opera, and Cabaret.

Re: Shakespeare (and behaviour being worse now than it used to be) - I went with my gcse class to watch King Lear and the actor stopped halfway through a scene to tell people in the audience off, and that was more than 20 years ago!

I’m so with you on this I love musical theatre and in recent years all shows have a message at the beginning reminding people not to sing along as it’s distracting for the performers and audience yet I always seem to be sat in front of the person who has had to much to drink loudly singing along with every number it’s infuriating.

I used to completely switch my phone off but, for accessibility reasons, I now need to connect to the theatre's access app that links my hearing aids to the mics on stage. I do have the 'do not disturb' function on so calls shouldn't come through and the screen brightness is turned right back. Sometimes I need to discreetly adjust the sound via the app but I put the phone under my coat to do so.

No excuse for what that woman did though.

I agree and I can't understand also why people can't manage to go to the theatre or the cinema and watch something without having vast amounts of very loud crisps popcorn sweets on hand. it's so distracting to have someone chomping next to you and I actually hate hearing people eat so it's really spoils the experience for me if I've got somebody next to me doing that.