to think that able bodied, neurotypical adults should be able to behave appropriately in a theatre?

[DrSeuss]

I don't often get to the theatre as tickets are very expensive. Therefore, when I do go, I don't want it spoiled.

Based on today's trip, someone needs to tell some members of the audience the following-
Find your seat in advance of the show, not ten minutes in.
Buy your snacks and drinks in advance, not at intervals through the show so that half your row has to stand to let you out.
Buy appropriate snacks, i.e., ones that can be eaten without a lot of noise, not ones that crunch loudly or have wrappers that make a lot of noise.
If the show is different to the film, I don't need to know nor do I need your extended opinion on this mid show.
Similarly, I do not want to hear your loud predictions on what will happen next.

All of the above were behaviours from adults who appeared to be neurotypical. I fully accept that some of them may not have been but surely not all of them? My nine year old daughter was better behaved than many adults, having been told from her first trip to the theatre as a much smaller child that it was necessary to sit still and be quiet.

I will probably told that I sound judgemental. Mostly, I resent spending my limited resources on a treat which I have been looking forward to for ages then having it spoiled. Would they like it if I came and jumped around in front of their much anticipated TV programme making a lot of noise?

I told two women who were sitting behind us and talking through the entire play to shut up or get out. They left. People sitting nearby thanked me at the interval!

YABU

I took my DS to see a children's book production yesterday. The two rows in front of us were all adults and children with severe learning difficulties with their carers. They were all impeccably quiet and well behaved.
The people behind us were typical chavs unable to be respectful - shouting and swearing. It wasn't even a quiet show but they were still heard above the rest of the audience!

Sorry, YANBU

Oh god, YANBU OP. We go to the theatre, ballet etc a lot and behaviour appears to be getting worse.

Arriving late, talking, getting phones out etc, all really really fucking irritating. But the worst has to be our recent trip to see Matthew Bourne's Romeo & Juliet at Sadler's Wells. We were in the back row so there wasn't anyone behind us, just a board behind us and a drop to the floor behind that.

The couple next to us did all the usual, arrived late, talked, scrolled through insta throughout etc. So far, so tediously antisocial.

However, the bloke also got out a can of deodorant and liberally sprayed his armpits as soon as he sat down next to me. I wish I was joking.

And, after the interval, they both came back (late) with full pints of lager. They had finished them by the final scene - you know, the incredibly moving scene where Juliet kills herself (I don't think that counts as a spoiler, does it? [grin})

So, in a hushed and emotional moment, with the audience on the edge of their seats, the woman finishes off her pint... and chucks it over the back of the seats where it clatters to the floor below.

I wish I had said something. But I was so utterly gobsmacked I couldn't speak.

It is shockingly entitled behaviour.

YADNBU, Hell is other people when it comes to the theatre and cinema. I find it odd when you see the prices for shows how anyone can feel the need to chat. Can no one go without speaking for a couple of hours? Same with snacks , can’t they eat before hand, or afterwards?

Bloody hell Maude that is outrageous, some people are just uncouth and selfish, and as pp have said entitlement seems to be on the rise.

YANBU. I would ban all eating and drinking in the theatre- even water bottles crackle infuriatingly.

Maud Matthew Bourne productions always seem to attract the worst behaviour. Couple in the row in front of us once practically had sex during the second act

And another thing. There is no need to clap changes of scenery or the entrance of any actor whom one recognises from the telly

I mean, it's not Friday night at the local multiplex watching Fast and Furious 78 (not that that behaviour would be acceptable anyway but ykwim).

It's the bloody ballet, at Sadler's Wells fgs. There is barely anything more prissy and middle-class

Matthew Bourne productions always seem to attract the worst behaviour.

Ha, well, we were in the cheap seats I guess...

But genuinely, my gast is still flabbered. Why do people do this?

I went to a British Film Festival premier recently; at the end there was a Q&A session with the producer and some of the cast.
There was a group of women behind me who not only talked, fidgeted, rootled in their handbags during the film, but continued to do so throughout the discussion afterwards.
So rude and disrespectful.
Why bother getting tickets if you aren't interested.
It was a deeply moving film too.

I went to see Ben Elton at the Tyne Theatre on Friday. It was all very respectful. Ushers come round with signs prior to the start that tell you to switch off your phones before the act comes out.

Two tribes. Those who understand and respect etiquette, and entitled ignoramuses. Unfortunately we all have to share the same oxygen.

I'm with you, the exception is going out in the interval. It's the break so that's the time to get your drinks and go to the loo. It's a bit odd to have decided people shouldn't have a break in the break.

YANBU. I teach Drama and regularly take pupils to the theatre and some of the behaviour Ive seen is shocking. My pupils are always well behaved- we do lots on etiquette, which is undermined by ignorant arses who behave rudely. The worst offence is going to a musical and loudly singing along!

Too many people assume the theatre is the same as the cinema where the 19.30 showing actually means the adverts start then, we normally turn up 15 minutes "late" so we only have to sit through half the adverts.

19.30 in the theatre means bums on seats at 19.25
But I nearly got caught out when I went to see the live transmission of Fleabag at my local cinema, at least I double checked and the start time listed at the cinema was the theatre start time

I don't think this is about 'etiquette' (which to me implies that there is some special way that you should behave at the theatre). It's about common sense and not being selfish.

I won tickets to see Anton Du Beke and Erin Boag in a dance show a few years ago and took my sister with me. The theatre was full of people from dance schools and their teachers including the row behind us. The pompous bloke behind us spent much time during the first half explaining the different dance moves to his class. This inbetween slurping on a large glass of wine. In the interval he told my sister off for some imagined misdemeanour, think it was shifting in her seat to see the dancing better. I was sitting next to her so know she was doing nothing untoward and certainly not ‘jiggling around’ as he put it. At the end as we left I told him in front of his class he was a ghastly old drunk who should be ashamed of himself. There were quite a few titters and mutters of agreement from nearby.

I went to Wicked in London, the whole two rows in front of us were full of school children, must admit my heart sank. Those children did not move or make a sound through the whole show, totally engaged to the whole show. A real credit to themselves, and their school. I have told people to shut up before, so rude.

Wheat2Harvest Those flashing swords and windmills at pantomimes are my worst nightmare. I have epilepsy, and although I've never had a seizure triggered by flashing lights, I'm always wary of them and try to avoid them as much as I can (why take the chance?)
When they're directly in front of you for two hours, that's a bit difficult - and strangely, I don't want to share my medical history with complete strangers in the middle of a crowded theatre...!
It completely ruined a trip to the theatre with my DGC, as I was on edge the whole time - and I couldn't look away as they were everywhere..!

It's not a totally new thing...
35 years ago I went to a Wednesday matinee of Whose Life is it Anyway starring the marvellous Bill Paterson.
Near empty theatre, we were told we could sit anywhere we wanted.

Two ladies sat RIGHT behind us and when the lead character who is paralysed from the neck down insists he wants to leave hospital and go home on his own, the doctor character waits a long time to reply.
At which point Elsie explains in a very loud voice to Ada "That means he wants to die, dear"
Thanks Elsie.
We got that.

I go to concerts and the cinema a lot , and to the theatre and ballet occasionally. It is now the exception when I am able to enjoy the performance without someone spoiling it by coughing, talking, phone ringing, taking off a ridiculously loud coat at the quietest moment and so on. It's almost always adults who are the worst offenders.
It might sound a bit petty but I just don't understand why people bother attending if they're not going to sit still and pay attention!

I'm a regular attender at the more "poncey" theatres of London (Royal Court, Almeida, National) which don't seem to be so bad as others. When people do start to talk I think the best tactic is to say straight away, calmly, politely and fairly audibly "excuse me, could you not talk please, it's very distracting, thanks". Sometimes people seem bizarrely shocked that their chattering is audible to everyone else!