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Original poster

Would you complain to theatre?

18 replies

DarkSecretDoggie · 15/07/2019 13:26

At the weekend a friend and I went to London to see a show. A rare celebratory girlie weekend to celebrate a special milestone. We had been looking forward to it for months and what with train fares, theatre tickets, hotel and food etc it wasn’t a cheap weekend.

The couple in front of us at the theatre we’re clearly having a bit of a moment as they spent most of the second half chatting / laughing / one of them was crying / snogging / then the crier got hiccups. A couple of people in the crowd were getting seriously annoyed and were saying “go outside” but they didn’t move, apart from continue to chat / hug/ cry / snog. I didn’t say anything as emotions were clearly running high and I didn’t want any hassle. I was also trying to enjoy the show! I was in the middle of the row so there was no way I could sneak out to find a member of staff.

I just put it down to experience and bad luck, but I’m back at work today and my colleague has suggested complaining to the theatre.

What would you do?

OP posts:

Nicknacky · 15/07/2019 13:28

No, I wouldn’t complain. You didn’t let the staff know at the time and give them an opportunity to rectify the situation.

EyeDrops · 15/07/2019 13:29

It does sound frustrating, and I'm sorry it spoiled your experience. However, I don't see the point of complaining to the theatre - what would it achieve? If it was that bothersome, you could have made your way out of the row to find a member of staff. It wasn't the theatres fault, so what good would complaining do?

AppleKatie · 15/07/2019 13:29

I think I would have complained after the show before I left the theatre. You could try today you might get a sympathetic FOH manager to offer you something but equally they might just shrug it off at this point.

It’s super annoying though theatre tickets are so expensive and this kind of behaviour is so selfish in that context.

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Theatre

peachgreen · 15/07/2019 13:29

Complain about what? They can't fix something they weren't made aware of. Such a shame it spoiled your experience though, that sucks.

LillithsFamiliar · 15/07/2019 13:30

I think the time to complain was whilst it was happening. If they were so distracting then you going out of the row couldn't have made it any worse.

Soola · 15/07/2019 13:30

You should have got staff immediately and had them damn fools ejected.

bringthethunder · 15/07/2019 13:31

Not sure what you seek to gain by complaining after the fact as they can't turn the clock back and ask the annoying couple to leave?
if it spoiled your evening enough for you to warrant some sort of compensation (which I assume is what you want to gain by complaining) then I would question why it wasn't a big enough issue to complain about at the time? Getting out of a middle seat is not impossible and sounds like it would have been less of a distraction for everyone around you if it rectified the main problem.

In answer to your question WWYD - my answer is: Nothing - other than be annoyed at myself for not dealing with the issue at the time, when I could have salvaged the evening.

RosaWaiting · 15/07/2019 13:58

I see your point that you didn't want to disrupt people but in that case, if the staff didn't know, there's no point complaining.

it's not fair to the theatre unless you think there was an usher in view who would have been aware of it.

Bananajam · 15/07/2019 20:44

I complained to our local theatre when I had attended a performance which ended (after the final curtain call) with the main actress calling out several people in the audience for talking and distracting the actors throughout the entire show. My friend and I were at the back of the theatre and had to put up with several people arriving late, in the first half and the second half - in the first half, three couples were escorted to their seats at least 15 minutes after the show had started, one couple were walking and talking and carrying large shopping bags which they then took ages to store under the seats.

I sent in a complaint, I'd booked months in advance, was really looking forward to the show but left at the end feeling thoroughly disappointed and quite unhappy about the whole night. I was told that people are allowed to enter once the show has started. The couple at the front who had been disruptive had been told to keep quiet and several others had been moved.

I don't understand why people go if they're not interested, why they don't leave if they're bored and why they feel the need to disrupt everyone else in the theatre/cinema etc. I also don't understand why theatre staff don't stick to fair rules, if you're late then you miss out, if you're disruptive then you will be asked to leave and dont sell more alcohol to people who've clearly had enough! I love the theatre but would think twice about booking a Friday or Saturday for concerns about this happening again. I did mention my annoyance to several ushers who shrugged and said there was nothing they could do. Definitely complain and I hope you get a better response than me!

BeachComber1 · 15/07/2019 20:49

I don’t think you should complain about something if it didn’t bother you enough to merit getting out of your seat to find an usher.

Surely a theatre would be slow to compensate someone who complained retrospectively, or there’d be a stream of people chancing their arm?

Medievalist · 15/07/2019 20:53

What would you do?

I absolutely would have said something at the time. What's the worst that could happen?

If they'd carried on or refused to leave I would have got up and found a member of staff.

I definitely wouldn't complain now - what on earth would be the point?

lioness87 · 15/07/2019 20:59

This happened to me at The Lion King with the woman sat behind me. I got fed up and asked her to be quiet as she was ruining the show for others around her and she did. Why didn't you ask them to keep it down? There's really not a lot you can do about it now.

VenusClapTrap · 15/07/2019 21:02

Too late now.

Comefromaway · 15/07/2019 21:06

I’d have complained to an usher at the time.

Swishswish26 · 15/07/2019 21:17

You definitely should have complained at the time.
Similar happened to me at the cinema (cheaper I know) there were only two families in the whole cinema so no usher present but two girls ran up and down the aisle throughout the whole film.
Complained at the end of the film and got a full refund. They admitted an usher should have been present but wasn’t.
Maybe try and complain to the theatre, nothing ventured nothing gained.

PeoniesarePink · 15/07/2019 21:23

Thing is, the theatre could only have dealt with the situation at the time but you didn't give them that chance.

I've called security over once at a concert in the RAH. The couple in front were absolutely ruining it for us, and security were great in dealing with it.

AppleKatie · 15/07/2019 21:55

This happened to me at The Lion King with the woman sat behind me

the price of lion king tickets (most inflated in the west end imho) I would have felt murderous if this happened.

BlueSkiesLies · 15/07/2019 22:53

It’s especially worse in London theatres when there is a TV/film popular culture star (Tom hardy looking at you) and you get really awful audiences who don’t know how to shut the fuck up, sit still and put their phone away.

I would think twice before seeing something with another tv big name in again as have had this happen a few times recently.

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