Not sure if I was unreasonable to get annoyed at the theatre

[Chocywockydodahhhhhh]

Went to the theatre last night to see a musical, been looking forward to it for ages. Say in the middle of the row in the stalls about half way down.

Musical starts and about five minutes later the lady in front gets up to I presume go to the toilet, so everyone to her left gets up to let her out and then let her back in two minutes later- ok thinking at this point why didn’t you go before but no big deal.
The women gets up seven more times in the first half. So the rows behind kept having their view blocked when everyone had to keep getting up. By the third time there were lots of tuts and murmurs that got louder every time she then got up.
Just before the second half starts a member of the theatre staff came to have a word with her, DH heard her say there was no problem and she was happy we’re she was sat.
Second half starts and five minutes in she gets up again, a bloke actually says FFS in a loud voice and her man she was with turned to glare at him. The theatre staff were actually looking out for this as one came and and gestered to the husband to get up and follow. He did with some grumbling and I am guessing they were moved to some seats at the end of the row as we saw them at the end.

No sure what the think really, it was getting really annoying but I am thinking she maybe had some bladder or IBS going on.

Could've been worse. We once had a woman throw up in the row in front of us. Repeatedly. And she stayed. And came back after the interval. The smell was disgusting.

As a Christmas treat, we all went to see a West End musical with my brother's family and my parents. The children and my parents were very very excited about it.

The family sitting behind us SANG ALONG with every song. Three kids and two adults, and they all bloody SANG ALONG.
To. Every. Song.

No amount of glaring or tutting stopped them. Finally one brave soul asked them to stop. They didn't! The usher did nothing to reprimand them either.

It was just the most gobsmackingly rude entitled behaviour I have ever witnessed in the theatre!

that's awful Liv I'm surprised the staff didn't ask her to leave. Surely it's a huge health and safety issue.

I'd actually be more concerned that she had something contagious tbh, but I'd expect theatre staff to be more on the ball with someone causing repeated disruption for whatever reason.

We went to a play once at Stratford in the small theatre - someone got up twice making an entire row stand up, and the second time he was stopped from going back to his seat and given a chair near the door. He wasn't impressed but the staff were super vigilant there and picked up on any potential issues. You could see it was distracting the actors let alone the audience. If you have medical issues, you phone the ticket office and explain so you can get an appropriate seat.

I have a family member with chrohns. We always book aisle seats for this reason, and try to sit close to the back if possible for minimal disruption.

If she was having a flare up of something then she should have stood near the back after the second or third time or left. Utterly rude, especially considering how expensive it is to see a musical.

If you're late, I thought they didn't let you in until the interval? I'm suprised they let her back in after the first time.

Read my post again DHRossetti - I commented on medical condition un-anticipated as well.

I go to the theatre all the time, multiple different theatres, different towns/cities. By hook or by crook I choose my own seats (not ill, just picky ), so it's entirely possible 99.9% of the time.

Re: the singing along family. This happens All. The Fucking. Time. I'm sure someone has stuck 'Sing-a-long' before 'Les Miserables' on the poster without my noticing. That seems to be the worst for it. Wicked is another one that draws the singers. Infuriating. My biggest rage was during Sweeney Todd. I picked up my phone to switch it off as the lights went down. A nanosecond later, after seeing the light from my screen, the snotty man behind me hissed, 'Switch it off now please!' I gave him the eye and told him that's what I was doing. He then proceeded to sing through the whole thing. Sondheim. When it was Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton on the stage. Fucker.

The only time I didn't mind it was when I went to see Me and My Girl when I was a teenager. It was a matinee so the audience was full of OAPs who warbled gently along to all the songs, which were obviously the big hits of their youth. Since it's effectively music hall anyway it was rather lovely and the cast/leads would occasionally stop singing to let the audience take over, rock concert style. It was very sweet

I can’t believe people sing along!! I would be so totally frustrated, as if you pay all that money to hear them sing?! I would be complaining to the theatre staff as soon as that started.

As for the theatre staff in this case, I think they did move her and they wanted to move her in the interval but it’s difficult to say whether they should have forced her to move earlier.

Seems eminently reasonable to move them to end of row seats. Not sure what you expected theatre staff to do?

To do it before the eight time, I would have thought?

Yes, this. What took them so effing long? I'd be asking for a partial refund.

YNBU to be annoyed no, I get annoyed at myself when my IBS is playing up!

But then I purposely pick end of row seats if possible because I also have the bladder of a gnat and don't want to piss off the rest of the audience.
DNiece was once in a theatre show and I was getting mightily pissed off with everyone around me. If the adults weren't opening rustly sweets ten minutes after scoffing crisps drink and ice cream another adult was fucking about with his phone throughout the whole thing.

Bloody hell. I’d murder someone who started singing along. No jury would convict me.

I once had a massive group behind me at the theatre who brought a translator along. Whenever there was a talking bit he’d yell the translation into Hebrew, loud enough for the entire stalls to hear. I wish I hadn’t been so young and polite.

DH and I saw Les Mis a few years ago and were sat in front of two ladies who gave each other a running commentary the whole way through... "who's she now?" "Is this set in France then?" "Ooh look he's going under the stage" "oh they're dead, how sad". I was RAGING

OP YANBU - tbh I'm surprised the ushers allowed her in and out so many times, most theatres don't let people back into the auditorium until an appropriate break in the performance (if the loos are outside) and if the loos are in the main auditorium then they usually have ushers around the place who should have noticed her after the first few times and stopped her from returning to her seat.

If I have a need to get up during a show I will book outside aisle seats and if that wasn't possible due to the booking platform or it's a short term thing that wasn't present at the time of booking I have always just found one of the front of house staff when I've arrived and explained the situation and they have asked patrons if they minded switching from their aisle seat to my more central seats and if that wasn't possible or nobody wanted to move then they have found other seats either in a box or another part of the theatre. Once I broke my ankle and wore a Beckham boot and whilst I could get into my seat, because of the ridgidity of the boot, my long legs and the limited seat pitch it was very uncomfortable for me to sit there for the entire show ... the staff were more than happy to move me to empty box seats to allow me more room and they admitted they almost always have a few seats held back, even for "sold out" shows, in order to accommodate any issues of that nature.

I came very close to totally loosing it at the theatre a couple of years ago.

It was my first ever opera (and a 40th birthday present to myself) and I'd scrimped and saved for the ticket out of my ESA. Two women in front of me chatted as if they were in a bus queue. I very, very and carefully quietly asked them to be quiet, 'Really sorry, but could you just keep it down a little - your voices are really carrying, probs because of the acoustics. Ever so sorry to disturb you, thank you so much'. They stopped for all of 10 minutes, then continued as the soloist paused and stared daggers at them.

The lovely people in the box behind me basically had a parish council meeting. I know one of them was the vicar and the other was the treasuer because the were so fucking loud about it. To the point that the conductor reprimanded them when he returned to the podium after a break.

The staff did nothing, even though they were approached by several others. I felt like crying as Aida sang because all I could hear were these twats in my periphery.

Increasingly theatres and concert halls are banning people from re-entering if they leave during the show. There is a screen in the foyer that they can watch the show from until the interval or whatever.

Weezol: Sorry your opera was ruined . You should have asked for refund or a complimentary ticket for another night.

Lizard Yeah, I should have ask for a refund, but I was home before it occurred to me. I was that angry I just wanted to get out of there so as not to shout at some braying pseudo-posh wankers and disgrace myself in public.

Most operas here are one night stands from touring companies. I've just seen that the same Russian company is coming back here to different theatre, so I will try again. The theatre they are using this time is the nice old one that does have the lobby screens and staff who give a damn, so hopefully it will be second time lucky.

If you like opera, try one of the cinema screenings. It doesn't sound like it'll be much fun, but I went to a few of the ballet ones and it was great! Great view, great sound, and there's a nice atmosphere that makes it feel a bit like being in the theatre. Plus it was a tenner, versus the £50 or so for a normal ballet ticket, and you got a glass of wine included at the interval. My disabled MIL loves it as it means no trekking to London.

Increasingly theatres and concert halls are banning people from re-entering if they leave during the show

It's more latecomers that annoy me ...we'd saw a stand-up (Dylan Moran) at a larger venue, and for the entire first half there were flashes of light as the ushers had to open the doors to the upper levels to let people in. It was like having flashbulbs go off every few seconds.

Most theatres have signs up saying that if you leave the auditorium during the first half (or arrive late) you may not get back in until the interval. If she was going out to the loo, I'm surprised they let her back in each time.

I go to the theatre a lot though, and general behaviour has got much worse in recent years. Phones, talking, eating sweets, general disruption...

Dingdong Thank you for that tip. I'm afraid I kind of assumed that if people couldn't behave decently in a £55 seat it would be the same in a the cinema. Glad to hear my assumption is wrong!

The carry on at that opera really threw me. I've been to everything from stand up to panto to weird experimental monologues and I've never, ever seen such disrespect from an audience. I guess I just expected that if the several hundred teenagers from about six different schools knew how to conduct themselves properly when I was at Julius Caesar, adults at an opera would too.

I keep forgetting that sometimes, some people are wankers.

We went to the theatre in London recently to see a show my son adores. He’s ten, has asd and raging anxiety. We’ve had to leave stuff before when he can’t keep hold of himself so I booked seats at the back near an aisle.

It’s not bloody difficult.

This would have infuriated me. I'm an regular cinema goer and I don't understand why people can't go a couple of hours without going to the toilet!!
The sing along thing I wouldn't have thought would bother me - and worrying that I have perhaps been that person (although I've only been to panto and sing along things in theatre so might be safe there) However, went to see Three Billboards at cinema last week and the woman along from me sang along to every little snippet of every song grrrrrrr very annoying!!

The Barbican used to close the doors on each aisle and if someone left they weren’t allowed back until the interval but could watch from a room that had a tv showing the stage. But last time I went someone did come back in. I mentally tutted.

You still get annoying people at the cinema screenings, but it's not too bad! Generally it's a pensioner crowd, so they're usually pretty well behaved apart from a few rustly sweets.

You still get annoying people at the cinema screenings, but it's not too bad!

We saw "The Commuter" a couple of weeks ago. Thursday afternoon, the only two people in the auditorium (which is odd, as when I booked the seats, a couple at the back were taken)

The whole experience was a bit surreal - the only staff were on the food stalls, and after the film, cleaning up.