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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

My DH and I are tall and dared to go to the theatre.

411 replies

MangoSeason · 08/04/2021 08:48

I’m 6 ft 1. My DH is 6 ft 4 and very broad. We went to see Hamilton at the Sydney Lyric Theatre yesterday and were subjected to a tirade of passive aggressive invective by the lady sitting behind us, for the whole show. The Lyric Theatre has very roomy seating, but a very low incline. This is beyond our control. We were not trying to thwart the woman! We were very close to the stage and everyone has to look up here anyway. I don’t think she missed as much as she wanted to make everyone around you believe. The lady behind me offered to swap with her but she loudly announced that “she is just as bad”. Sorry for my tall self exiting in your world.

I mean I do get it. It would be frustrating to be seated behind a couple like us. However, I’ve been at shows that I have looked forward to for years and have dealt with unexpected issues- the man with the very loud vocal tics two seats down, the lady who had to go to the toilet 6 times in a show. It is frustrating but I don’t carry on like a pork chop and I certainly don’t direct any invective towards the person for issues beyond their control. I may privately sigh or have a whinge afterwards but that’s it. DH and I can’t shrink!

We are both used to the under breath FFSs when we sit at shows. We really try to avoid sitting in front of people if we can. But at a sold out show with allocated seating, we are not doing it to upset you. We weren’t wearing hats, wearing scarves or big collars or high hair styles. We were simply existing, sitting quietly within our allocated seats. It was a matinee show with dozens of pre-teen kids around us. They would have had the same issue as the woman and none of them were carrying on at all. They were just enthralled, like everyone else.

Fully prepared to be massacred by the shorter people now!

OP posts:
fizbosshoes · 08/04/2021 19:03

I would say there are equal negative comments about short people as there are about tall.

Strange how it seems more socially acceptable to comment on a persons height (which they cant help) than weight (which potentially they might have some control over)

raincamepouringdown · 08/04/2021 19:16

@Fembot123

Yes *@raincamepouringdown* of course it is their right to be thoughtless 🙄
My husband is 6'3. We always book an aisle seat for his long legs/back issues. If we show up to our seats and there's already a family seated behind us and a child sitting on the aisle, that doesn't make him still needing to sit in that seat 'thoughtless'. The child can relocate if it's a problem.
SpicyTomatos · 08/04/2021 19:17

I try to sit at the back to avoid this kind of problem. That's fine if I'm alone, but works less well with company.

How do pantomimes work? I haven't been for more than 30 years and would like to go with my kids, but don't want to block some kid's view.

Fembot123 · 08/04/2021 19:19

That only works if the other adult doesn’t chose to sit next to their partner which rarely happens.

Fembot123 · 08/04/2021 19:20

@SpicyTomatos

I try to sit at the back to avoid this kind of problem. That's fine if I'm alone, but works less well with company.

How do pantomimes work? I haven't been for more than 30 years and would like to go with my kids, but don't want to block some kid's view.

I despise panto but go and fake it for my kids, I’d be happy for you to come and obstruct my view 😂
NeverDropYourMoonCup · 08/04/2021 19:29

@Sceptre86

You can get blow up booster seats that she could keep in her handbag. When we go to the theatre dh will sit at the end of the row if possible as he is 6ft 2 and we also know at least one of our kids will need to pee at some point. I am short so just end up craning my neck to see but we tend to sit towards the front so I need to do that anyway and less of an issue if someone tall is sat in front of me. You can't change your height, she can stop being an ignorant arsewipe. Yanbu.
Is there one that would increase my equivalent seated height by over 15 inches, though? That's what it would take to be able to see over the top rather than directly at the back of my ex's head, for example.
RandomDent · 08/04/2021 20:07

@SpicyTomatos

I try to sit at the back to avoid this kind of problem. That's fine if I'm alone, but works less well with company.

How do pantomimes work? I haven't been for more than 30 years and would like to go with my kids, but don't want to block some kid's view.

You can get booster seats, and play tall-person-avoid tag like we did last time, everyone switching around!
JamesMiddletonsMarshmallows · 08/04/2021 20:30

Does anyone remember a little while ago a woman whose mum sang all the way through Tina: The Musical and got upset because someone told her to stop 😂 she couldn't understand the problem

Butwasitherdriveway · 08/04/2021 20:38

Like a pork chop 🤣

Butwasitherdriveway · 08/04/2021 20:38

@JamesMiddletonsMarshmallows

Does anyone remember a little while ago a woman whose mum sang all the way through Tina: The Musical and got upset because someone told her to stop 😂 she couldn't understand the problem
Oh I'd love to read that again. Up there for me with the woman who got stuck on the kitchen cupboard
MiloAndEddie · 08/04/2021 21:11

Ugh I’m only 5ft 9 but the amount of ‘oh you’re tall’ comments I’ve had is silly.

And no I won’t stand or sit at the back, I’d like a good view or experience too.

I was tapped on the shoulder at a standing gig once by a woman who informed me her friend (who was stood behind me) couldn’t see. I wasn’t really sure what she wanted me to do Confused

FireflyRainbow · 08/04/2021 21:17

Yanbu! Some people are so rude. What does she want you to do, shrink?! She obviously has a sad life.

shivawn · 08/04/2021 21:18

How rediculously rude, that lady was only making herself look bad! You're lucky to be so tall OP, bet ye make a striking couple!

FireflyRainbow · 08/04/2021 21:20

I love our local theatre and the Seats are slanted well and spaced so you are looking through the gap in between people. Well it's always seemed that way when I've been.

Oblomov21 · 08/04/2021 21:22

I am short and hate being sat behind tall people so that I can't see a thing.

dementedma · 08/04/2021 21:22

It is very frustrating when your view is blocked but people cant help their height. Far worse is being near sniffers, sweet munchers, those who keep going in and out and bloody kids banging or kicking the back of your seat!

Lalliella · 08/04/2021 21:23

We were once sat at a panto a few rows behind a woman with a large bun on her head and a Chinese hat perched on top of it leaning forward in her seat. Oh yes we were! We had a word at the interval and she genuinely hadn’t realised. That though she could do something about at least. It’s not your fault that you cannot.

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 08/04/2021 21:24

I don’t carry on like a pork chop this is fantastic

I’ve got every sympathy as it isn’t your fault you’re tall. But then I guess it’s not the fault of those behind you either! She shouldn’t have moaned all the way through, but I can see why she was fed up. It’s down to theatre design I guess.

Rege · 08/04/2021 22:04

@MangoSeason Love the pork chop comparison, thanks for explaining. Definitely now added to my go to vocabulary, ready for when the family come round and there are a few ‘pork chops’ amongst them. Brilliant!

PanamaPattie · 08/04/2021 22:06

I used to walk out of shows if a tall person sat in front of me. I couldn't see the show so what's the point in staying. Now I buy the seat in front of me when I purchase tickets.

VaggieMight · 08/04/2021 22:10

You can't help your height but it is really disappointing to be sat behind someone blocking your view. I wouldn't say anything though, she was probably disturbing more people by going on about it.

SpringtimeSummertime · 08/04/2021 22:16

My DH is very tall and we book side (far left or right) end seats for this very reason.

  1. so he can spread out
  2. because the people behind will be looking at the stage diagonally rather than over his head. Also with staggered rows, often there is nobody behind him.
SpringtimeSummertime · 08/04/2021 22:18

Just to add... We honestly wouldn’t dream of reserving seats in the middle of a row mainly because it would be too uncomfortable but also because he’d be blocking the person behind him.

dancinfeet · 08/04/2021 22:19

We went to see Hamilton in london, and I wish (as fairly tall people, myself 5 foot 8 and 5 foot 10 dd) that they advertised our seats as only suitable for people with small legs. The seats in front were so close that I had bruises on my knees for a week after where they had been pressed against the wooden seat back in front. Couldn't move them sideways as the man in the seat to my left was sat legs apart to make his legs fit, and my dd was sat kind of crossed legged on her seat as her long legs wouldn't fit in the space. It was the one thing about the show, how sore my legs were afterwards. Again we were limited to choice of seats when booking becuase it had been almost fully sold out.

I think the person behind was rude, providing you weren't constantly moving about in front of them. Hope that you still enjoyed the show!

SpringtimeSummertime · 08/04/2021 22:23

dancinfeet

Same for us with Harry Potter and the cursed child. We were in agony even at the side. Considered not returning for the second part.

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