To expect theatres to supply food and drinks that can be eaten quietly?

[OhThisbloodyComputer]

I took my daughter to The Sound of Music once.

I was already in a bad mood because the trains were late. (They sold me my train tickets first, then they said: "There's no trains. THere's been a fire at Waterloo." Apparently, they didn't tell me this crucial news when I was buying a ticket, because I didn't ask)

Anyway, we shuffled in and sat down in front of a chimera who was consuming their own weight in assorted chocolates. She seemed to be eating them in a very specific order. So it was necessary to eat the toffees all at once, then the Hazelnut crunches. So not only did I have to put up with the crackly wrapping paper being rustled, but, to heighten the tension, there was a five minute preliminary search, while they rummaged around the entire bucket of sweets in order to make sure all the toffees had been eaten, before she could start on the Hazelnut clusters.

Don't get me started on the slurping noises. Why does every drink have toe have to be in a giant echo chamber bucket, with rattling ice cubes and slurped through a straw.

Good grief. Why do theatres give people food and drinks in packaging that's customer designed to create audible torture?

It's worse in cinemas. All you can hear is open mouthed crunching of pop corn. I've seen quieter cement mixers.

I tried writing to my local cinema once, but they just said "we understand your concern" but offered no action whatsoever.

Can anyone offer any constructive advice?

People shouldn't eat in the theatre full stop. Its incredible disrespectful to the actors and distracting for everyone.

I hear you. Somebody on here suggested only marshmallows in plastic cups should be allowed, which I agree with

Its pretty sad. We live in an overweight culture but theres seems to be mass denial about it.

People need to be chowing down at all times, unable to sit through a 2 hour film or play, an hour long plane ride, anything really, without "snacking".

Nothing you can do about it.

Just look at our biggest pharmacy chain - Boots. Look at the shed loads of crisps chocolates and fizzy drinks they sell. Tells you everything you need to know about our mindset.

We were at the theatre yesterday with DS. We took a bucket of sweets for him and did get a few dirty looks and judgmental eye rolls. Thing is though, DS is autistic and the bucket of sweets on his lap keeps him in his seat and relatively undisruptive. We did it without once, never again.

They shouldn't supply food at all!

MimpiDreams,

Sorry, I wasn't being horrible about your son, I didn't think of that aspect.

Still, it would be good if they sweets didn't come in crinkly wrappers that sound like unspectacular fireworks

I’ve never heard chimera used as an insult - what does it mean in this context?

Don't worry, I know what you mean. Although DS had a bucket of sweets, we did try to fill it with 'quiet' ones. Even the bucket was picked because I thought it'd be quieter than a bag.

Ice cream in the interval is the rule. It's not a picnic.

I get pissed off at the snooker. In the early rounds it's usual to have two games taking place at the same time (there's a screen between the tables so that the players can concentrate and the audience can choose to sit with a view of both matches or just the one they're interested in). There is always an interval when both matches break and you can go have a wee, buy a pint, take a fag break. Increasingly, members of the audience will get up and do all this at the end of a frame, which disrupts the other game. It drives me mad, it's so disrespectful. And then they want to return to their seats after the table has been re-racked and the next frame is in play. Standards have dropped.

Ive never heard someone eating popcorn in a cinema

@Splendide

From memory, I knew a chimera as a fearsome monster from Greek mythology

To be certain, I just Bing'ed it, and the definition is this:

"a fire-breathing female monster resembling a lion in the forepart, a goat in the middle, and a dragon behind."

I used the word to refer to the person's monstrous appetite.

Uh oh..... I think I know where this one's going.

Agreed. Rustling and munching is awful.

But people talking and using their phones are even worse, as are people who barge in once the film has started. I went to see "the Iron Lady" with a v posh, outspoken friend once, and 3 really tall, loud people came in as it started and milled around on the steps for ages, blithering noisily about their seats. As the film started, our other friend whispered, "oh, Jim broadbent's in it!"

"I wouldn't know," the posh friend said clearly in her cut glass voice. "All I can see is that utter lanky dickhead."

Everyone around us cracked up laughing and as for the 3 giants on the stairs - you've never seen anyone sit down so quickly!

@backboiler

Seriously, you've never heard people eat popcorn.

I went to see The Sixth Sense in Brighton once. There are many silent scenes in that film. But the silence was broken was what sounded like an invasion of giant termites.

The other cinema distraction is that people play spot the supporting actor. You know the type of thing: "Oooh, look, it's him. he was in 'Will and Grace' that one!"

Also, I can never understand the dialogue straight away, as the actors often mumble in American accents. What with the foor crunching and the slurping, it's hard to keep up with the vital plot developments at the start of the film.

Oh thanks! I think of a chimera as a mix of things.

Honestly i havent i could imagine a theatre it being annoying especially if it is quite an intimate performance....i must admit though i probably go and see loud movies at the cinema lately so jot many quiet parts

'Ive never heard someone eating popcorn in a cinema'

Oh, but that's just not possible on MN, Back. The cinema is always full of chomping, slurping, rustling, guzzling, crunching people who are the size of houses. The theatre and the cinema make money from selling the food, so good lucky convincing them to change things for the pearl-clutching, tutting crowd.

And they sold only marshmallows in cups, someone would find a way to complain about the smell and all that sugar single-handedly destroying the entire planet.

'I tried writing to my local cinema once, but they just said "we understand your concern" but offered no action whatsoever. '

But they laughed their arses off.

I've just offered to be the Cinema Monitor on another thread because of this. If it's not the talking, it's the eating. Huge buckets of popcorn - which IS noisy - crisps, drinks and the occasional smelly McDonalds.

At the last film I went to, I almost leant over and said 'If you wanted to talk and eat, why didn't you go to a restaurant?". I DID say, "Could you please stop talking now?". It's a bloody good thing I don't live in a gun-carrying country, or I would have blown away any number of cinema-eaters over the years.

@expatinscotland

I love to clutch my pearls, thank you very much.

If you can't Tut, clutch your pearls and hoick up your skirt, what can you do?

I draw the line at rummaging around in a box of Maltesers though.

I told our local cinema that I would pay extra for food-free showings but they've not taken my brilliant idea on board yet.

'If you can't Tut, clutch your pearls and hoick up your skirt, what can you do?'

What? You mean you can't also start a bitching thread on MN at the same time?! Talentless.

Yanbu. It is very disrespectful to the actors and the people who have also shelled out loads of money to go to the theatre.

I definitely think food should be banned from the theatre.

I can't even handle this at home 😱 If anyone has crisps or snacks they must be in a bowl. Otherwise I am liable to throttle them.

Cinemas are horrific. The drinks, the food, the irritating whispering morons 😱😱

@expatinScotland

Do you think you might be over reacting a bit? I'm sorry if I've unwittingly opened a painful wound. That wasn't my intention.

Most people have managed to take the post in the spirit that was intended but I underestimated the emotional impact it might have on certain sections of the community. Please accept my apologies.

'Do you think you might be over reacting a bit? I'm sorry if I've unwittingly opened a painful wound. That wasn't my intention.'

Nice try, dearie, but erm, I'm not the one who started a thread on an internet forum because I'm one of those people who, like most, just rub along and don't really give a shiny shite about people eating in a public place, except if it smells really yummy and they're not sharing. Cunts. 0/10. Next time, maybe try a smoking topic or better yet, a vaping in public one for more impact. Now there's a dear, back to the drawing board.