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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:
jamimmi · 09/04/2021 12:27

I'm one of the smaller people normally I try to book an aisle seat so I can peer round a taller person . In.my case that's anyone over 4ft 11. I also ( please don't laugh) take a firm cushion to sit on! You can't help being tall. It's the big hair styles I object too.

PurpleWh1teGreen · 09/04/2021 14:09

The woman was unreasonable to mutter. Clearly.

But as a short arse I have paid for many a show I've not been able to see so I get her frustration.

People with bouffant hair also be bannedWink

likeamillpond · 09/04/2021 14:16

I'm tall although not very tall and out of courtesy to other theatre goers I always try and slump down in my seat a bit.
Were you and your OH sitting up ramrod straight?
If so that IS annoying.

likeamillpond · 09/04/2021 14:16

@PurpleWh1teGreen

The woman was unreasonable to mutter. Clearly.

But as a short arse I have paid for many a show I've not been able to see so I get her frustration.

People with bouffant hair also be bannedWink

The worst is a person who bobs their head a lot.
MixedUpFiles · 09/04/2021 14:18

Dd is really short so whenever we go to a show I try really hard to get seats in the first row of a section, even if they cost more or are further back.

I love the craftsmanship that went into the old theaters, but they knew nothing about optimizing viewing. There have been a few times I’ve even been border-line on wanting to see a show or not and the theater itself is what makes the final decision for me. Some are just so awful I don’t want to deal with them except for something I’m desperate to see.

likeamillpond · 09/04/2021 14:21

Was she very very short? As a tall person I’m quite wary of very tiny people, in the way some people are intimidated by small yappy dogs 😂 I think tallness can make some shorter folk angry like you’ve done it on purpose to annoy them.
🤣

MrsKoala · 09/04/2021 14:23

@likeamillpond

I'm tall although not very tall and out of courtesy to other theatre goers I always try and slump down in my seat a bit. Were you and your OH sitting up ramrod straight? If so that IS annoying.
If you have long legs (and tall people often do) slumping down/sliding forward is impossible as there is no room for your legs. I often have to sit sideways/diagonally o the seats to fit my legs in. But that is twisted and painful on my back after a while so I end up having to fidget and readjust my position.
LadyCatStark · 09/04/2021 14:27

YANBU it’s not your fault and is never make a fuss like that, but it is shit being short when you go to the cinema, a concert or the theatre! The worst was when I went to Anfield to watch Liverpool. I’m not interested in football anyway so most of it was boring, but as soon as they get anywhere near the goal, every bloody person in front of you (mostly men and much taller than me) stands up!

likeamillpond · 09/04/2021 14:28

You are right.
I usually end up with an aching back from slumping down so much..
Hope the vertically challenged people appreciate it.

chickadeeee · 09/04/2021 14:29

I feel your pain, had this my whole life Wink
My Dad is tall too and has big hair, think afro, it is just how it grows Sad
It is not your problem!
I have lost count of how many flights I have been scrunched up as person of smaller height has got extra leg room seats
C'est la vie Grin

CounsellorTroi · 09/04/2021 14:32

@likeamillpond

You are right. I usually end up with an aching back from slumping down so much.. Hope the vertically challenged people appreciate it.
I often get a stiff painful neck from craning round tall people trying to see, so it evens out.
Diamondnights · 09/04/2021 14:40

It's a tricky one OP. You ruined the evening for the people behind you, they spoiled your evening complaining. At least you got to see the musical, they probably didn't.

LST · 09/04/2021 14:44

@Diamondnights

It's a tricky one OP. You ruined the evening for the people behind you, they spoiled your evening complaining. At least you got to see the musical, they probably didn't.
🤣
YippieKayakOtherBuckets · 09/04/2021 14:44

There have been lots of posts about the myriad issues in West End theatres so just checking that everyone is aware of Theatre Monkey? Really detailed seating plans and reviews of individual seats, inc. sight lines and leg room, for pretty much every theatre in London.

NightCzar · 09/04/2021 14:47

@JamesMiddletonsMarshmallows

Aw I hope you enjoyed the show OP! Hamilton is amazing.

Theatre seating is shit and a lot of it was made when people were shorter. However I like to think most people can comprehend a tall person can't help being tall.

I did tut and mutter when I went to see Book of Mormon in the West End and a girl of average height but a MASSIVE top know obscured my view. The top knot itself was about half a foot tall

I sat behind a tall family of four at the same show and couldn't see a thing. Because it was such a small theatre, there wasn't space to see between them. It did ruin it for me, I have to say, but I can't see what anyone could have done to improve things.
Butwasitherdriveway · 09/04/2021 15:49

@Diamondnights

It's a tricky one OP. You ruined the evening for the people behind you, they spoiled your evening complaining. At least you got to see the musical, they probably didn't.
Will you catch yourself on. She did not ruin the evening!
GlutenFreeGingerCake · 09/04/2021 16:06

I'm short and have considered a keeping a periscope in my bag for such situations along with one of those grabber sticks for getting things from high shelves or the bottom of the chest freezer. To be honest I am very annoying in theatres myself, as I get uncomfortable sitting for long periods due to a back problem and squirm about like anything.

CounsellorTroi · 09/04/2021 16:19

High shelves in supermarkets are a pain - not the height really, but when the goods are right at the back and out of reach of a shortarse. There should be some sort of mechanism that pushes the goods forward as the shelf empties.

Tooshytoshine · 09/04/2021 16:21

You should have directed her towards the children's booster seats.

EmpressWitchDoesntBurn · 09/04/2021 17:11

@CounsellorTroi

High shelves in supermarkets are a pain - not the height really, but when the goods are right at the back and out of reach of a shortarse. There should be some sort of mechanism that pushes the goods forward as the shelf empties.
I’ve been known to climb shelves in the past.
Fembot123 · 09/04/2021 17:12

@Tooshytoshine

You should have directed her towards the children's booster seats.
That’s novel, only been a said 95 thousand times so far 😅
RampantIvy · 09/04/2021 17:27

I’ve been known to climb shelves in the past.

Me too. I am 5'7" so medium tall, and I often offer to get stuff of high shelves for people who can't reach them.

Thisisnotreallymyname · 09/04/2021 17:33

We went to tgeatre years ago and my poor daughter sat next to a guy who must have weighed 30 stone, and he literally overflowed onto her seat and over her. At the interval she went to the management and they moved my daughter to another seat in the disabled section. All this was done without fuss.
I am quite short and it is a pain if I’m behind someone very tall.
Consequently I always book myself an aisle seat, the. I can at least lean out a bit.
But it is “ one of those “ as they say. Ask to be moved if you can’t see, or book a seat where you know you can see,

Lachimolala · 09/04/2021 17:37

I don’t think it’s necessary to liken tall people to giants or short people to yappy dogs, why are people so weirdly rude all the time?

@MangoSeason I’m 5ft1 so this happens to me on the regular, I do try to book seats that I think will ensure I can see. I’ve had success with balconies or right up at the back of the stalls especially if they are raised up on the platforms. And like a PP said aisle seats so I can lean (this is very painful after a while though!).

This might be controversial to some, but I do think very tall people should think along similar lines and maybe view seating online and see if there’s somewhere you can sit that’s going to mitigate people behind you not being see? That being said tall/short people don’t have to do so, it’s decent to try though. Especially with the theatre because it’s very expensive and usually a treat! I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve spent the entire time staring at a tall persons fidgeting shoulders, it’s very disappointing when you’ve looked forward to seeing something.

Either way the woman behind shouldn’t have been rude to you, that wasn’t okay.

Symposium123 · 09/04/2021 17:40

It’s as much her fault for being short as it is yours for being tall: not at all.

What did she expect you to do about it? Spontaneously shrink? She should have spontaneously grown! 😂