to loathe shows that involve audience participation.

[swallowmehole]

When I watch a show, I want to do that - Watch it.
They are the performers. I'm in the audience.
I don't want to be in the goddamn show.

AIBU in wishing they would leave the audience alone, or at least only pick on the ones in the two front rows (who are fair game)
It seems that most shows now involve some degree of audience participation.

When did this become a thing?

I hate it too, but must be better at picking shows - it's years since I was inflicted with it.

Thanks for the reminder, I need to book tickets for the Panto for Dd's birthday.
We love it.

Panto is great. Most people love panto.
As I said, it's a different, less intense type of audience participation, more of the

''he's behind you''
''Oh no he isn't''.

variety of involvement.

This isn't about Panto.

I agree but I think entertainers can tell who is up for inclusion. Went to see Lee Nelson with a friend (front row) and it was obvious who was gagging to be picked on - we just avoided eye contact and didn't really give off that kind of vibe. Tbh there are enough people keen for their five minutes that it's only the performers keen to humiliate who'd pick you against your will.

we just avoided eye contact and didn't really give off that kind of vibe.

How does spending most of the show trying hard to avoiding eye contact make for a pleasurable theater experience?

It shouldn't have to be like that.

YANBU
It's grim.

Tbh there are enough people keen for their five minutes that it's only the performers keen to humiliate who'd pick you against your will.

So right.
Some get a sadistic pleasure out of making the audience member squirm

Well most of the time He was just on stage doing his act; obviously we were watching. But when it came to bits where he was clearly fishing for someone to pick on, we didn't join in the general leaning forward and calling out, and avoided catching his eye. It wasn't hard.

Thanks for the warning about Punchdrunk. I have had people trying to get me to go with them but being vague about why it was so fantastic when they went.
I will tell them to get fucked now! That sounds horrendous.

Forcing audience to participate when they don't want to is not on.

IME certain genres are more likely to have audience participation than others. Plays and musicals for adults less so than pantomimes and productions specifically aimed at children. Magic shows, concerts etc may vary but I'm not so acquainted with them.

We saw the Punchdrunk doctor who one off show a couple of years ago aimed at families, have to say it was amazing and I would normally rather chew off my own arm than do audience participation

YANBU. Fair enough if it's the front couple of rows, as you kind of expect that might happen at a pantomime or comedy type show.

But shows where performers wander through the audience picking random people to do things in public are awful. A lot of people are genuinely shy or panicky about being singled out in public, and they shouldn't have to sit there terrified that they're going to be next.
Even if they know the kind of person to pick, I don't want to spend two hours avoiding eye contact and praying they don't come near me.

shows where performers wander through the audience picking random people to do things in public are awful. A lot of people are genuinely shy or panicky about being singled out in public, and they shouldn't have to sit there terrified that they're going to be next.
Even if they know the kind of person to pick, I don't want to spend two hours avoiding eye contact and praying they don't come near me.

Daisybear,
You would think that getting bums on seats (making money) would be the main priority.
This trend for most shows having some form of audience participation is going to put a lot of people off going.
Why would you want to alienate your audience?
It should be an unwritten rule that if you sit in the first two rows, you're fair game, anywhere else should be safe.
And they shouldn't be wandering round the audience.

I honestly don't think you would find Punchdrunk awful on those grounds, ethel. I absolutely loathe panto and anything from baby music groups upward that require joining in and doing actions - it makes me want to die, as do those Jeremy Beadle-style televised 'pranks'.

But the two Punchdrunk productions I've seen aren't asking anyone to do anything 'in public' - for a start, there's no stage, and no audience sitting down staring at some poor idiot being made a fool of by Widow Twankey or whoever under the spotlight. You are let in to a building in groups, given a mask, and you just wander off by yourself through a series of rooms that are decorated in incredible detail to suit the production - you can open doors, ransack drawers, read notes left on desks, get into wardrobes etc. The actors are moving around the building too, so sometimes you are in empty rooms, and sometimes you encounter some action with or without other masked audience members around, but no one is going to grab you and make you join in - I think the only time an actor did something to me was in Masque of the Red Death when a woman mimed washing my face in an eerie little room by ourselves, and pushed me firmly back out the door afterwards. And if you hate the whole thing, or are tired, there's a designated bar space where you can have a drink/listen to some music/arrange to meet your friends (the one in Masque of the Red Death was done up like a Victorian music hall with acts, where you could have absinthe) before heading back out again.

We go to see a lot of comedians, and never book tickets in the first few rows for exactly this reason!

Punchdrunk sounds like a lot of fun. I would go and be part of that and be happy doing it.