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

[MangoSeason]

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!

This is one of the reasona I very rarely go to the theatre. Tickets are so expensive and if you get sat behind the "wrong" person you hardly see what you've paid for. I actually find it quite stressful as everyone's taking their seats, to see who I'll get! Not their fault and I certainly wouldn't do anything to spoil their evening but it is really annoying.

I don't understand why modern theatres aren't better designed. They old ones are stuck with what they have, but lots of newer ones have the slight slope OP describes.

I do hate sitting behind tall people because I can’t see but I wouldn’t dare bitch about it. It isn’t their fault!

@Fembot123

I’m short but the only time I get frustrated is at the cinema where tall adults and children have booked the row in front and put themselves in front of my kids instead of their kids in front of you see what I mean, other than that it can’t be helped. I’d be internally frustrated not to be able to see but I wouldn’t say anything, what it there to say 🤷‍♀️

Then you move your own children around; they have just as much right to arrange their family how it works for them as you do.

I'm short and it's pretty much guaranteed that a tall person will sit in front of me at the theatre or cinema. I try and book tickets with no seats in front of me if I can, or make DH swap with me. I would never complain though.

However, if I'm at a concert where it's free standing, and I've been stood in place for a while, I do get pissed off when a tall person comes and stands right in front of me. It's usually a man.

I’ve had the same experience twice in two different theatres in two cities 100miles apart. Both are modern theatres where all seats have a great stage view. In both the second theatre stage is on the floor and the seating is tiered up from there - so front row is on the floor at same level as the actors and all other rows tier steeply behind. So a great view no matter where you sit.

Until that is, the plays were sold out and the theatres decided to add two more rows on the floor in front of the “front row” we had booked - which was shown clearly on the plan as front row at the time of booking! We had children at both plays who could literally see nothing as the family in front of us were so tall - tbh the adults in our group could see almost nothing too. But nothing at all to do with the tall people - it was down to the theatre adding non tiered rows.

I pointed it out to staff at the beginning so they couldn’t say afterwards that they could have moved us - they couldn’t as it was sold out. Both theatres gave us a credit for the price of the tickets to use for a future show. But they were still up a considerable amount of profit as a result of adding the two extra rows when the play was sold out.

Haha I knew you were Australian as soon as I read the pork chop comment.

The woman behind you was extremely rude and out of line. I mean seriously what did she expect you to do? Most tall people I've come across are already painfully aware and do their best to crouch down or sit to the side so you can see past. But you shouldn't have to be uncomfortable or have your enjoyment of the show ruined by catty comments. It's a fact of life that if you leave your home, you will have to deal with other people's habits, noises, chatter, height, body odour etc. Perhaps that women would have been better off staying home.

The last time we went as a family, we moved the kids so they were behind the children of the tall family in front, then they all switched round in front of us so the tall people were in front of the kids!

Poor you, that sounds horrid and she sounds like a prick. When we were at Disneyland Paris there was a man in front of us who must have been about 7 foot and the abuse he got was horrendous. I felt so sorry for him. We were watching the fireworks fgs, you know...the ones in the sky!!

Still not as bad as another time, when some people in our row decided to go to the toilet during Les Mis, then tried to squash their way back in during Bring Him Home...

@RandomDent

The last time we went as a family, we moved the kids so they were behind the children of the tall family in front, then they all switched round in front of us so the tall people were in front of the kids!

The buggers!

I hope you continued to play "theatre-seat tag" all the way through.

My husband is very tall and broad, once had someone complain to him at cinema. He just explained he can't help being tall as much as they can't help being short, but said he would write a letter of complaint to his parents on behalf of them if they liked!

I'm 4ft 11 and dh is 6ft 4.
If seats are allocated obviously we'll be concious of who dh has behind him and swop seats if possible. But it isn't always possible.
At school events I'll sit near the front and dh at the back unless ticketed allocated seats.
All you can do is be aware, you can't chop your body in half and it's not your fault you are tall.

not noticed we are tall - no shit sherlock - can not imagine how we have not noticed.

Another Australian here amused that ‘carry on like a pork chop’ generating so many comments. I use it all the time, it’s a fab saying. I figured it had come from the UK.

Glad you enjoyed Hamilton, I’m going in a few months.

The last few times I've been to the theatre I've gone for box seats because a) I feel like it's a bit fancy and b) no one in front of you. I'm 5"2, for me the worst is gigs when you've spend an age waiting properly for a good spot then one song in and some tall person suddenly barges their way through the crowd and inevitably plonks themselves in front of me.

Didn't go for box seats to Hamilton but the incline was so steep seating wise I had a good view.

Going to see Back To The Future in September, got some good seats with no one in front (no boxes option ) then they decided to shift everyone's dates when they changed the opening night to 3 months later, managed to get my original date back but they've put us in different seats, and allocated my lovely seats elsewhere, gah! Will just have to cope with what we've got.

@PurpleFlower1983

I saw Hamilton in London and sat behind a really tall broke. The rake is terrible in the stalls and at £200 premium seating I was extremely pissed off. It wasn’t his fault though, the Victoria Apollo and been completely remodelled, badly in the stalls IMO!

You can see well from the cheap seats and it’s a very steep pitch. No leg room, but really good views in both the £37.50 and the £53

Thank you OP, every day's a schoolday!
I have googled 'carry on like a pork chop' and 'two bob watch' and 'Hamilton'.
I am now wiser!

YANBU. I’m 6’. She should have asked for a booster seat. If it’s any comfort to the shorties, it is pure torture trying to fold a tall body into most of the seats in West End theatres. I study Theatre Monkey in detail before booking anything and was very proud of my seat selections for Hamilton - until they put in extra rows and I lost my legroom.

Thank goodness for the National Theatre, which has both great sight-lines and decent legroom.

"I pointed it out to staff at the beginning so they couldn’t say afterwards that they could have moved us - they couldn’t as it was sold out."

Why is it not possible to swap short and tall people around in this situation?

Extra front rows should be outlawed unless they're part of the booking process from the off. To accommodate our difference in heights, I only ever book front row at venues with shallow raking, so that I can see and DH has somewhere to put his legs. Otherwise I go further up where at least one of us will be happy.

I’m 5’7 and even I’m struggle fitting in the seats. The only issue I have is when tall people or any people actually move from side to side in their seats . It’s like hello I would like to watch the show too just pick a place and stay there. The last show I went too was on Broadway In New York and my event was nearly ruined by a lady that was much bigger then average. She came and sat down on the seat next to me proceeded to put the arm rest up and used half my seat too. Normally I wouldn’t have said something but I had surgery 8 weeks before travelling and couldn’t sit squished. Went and told the usher on the interval as I had paid for good seats and her and her partner were moved to a different row but on the aisle.

The lady could’ve requested a kids booster seat and I’d have offered to go get her one

Admittedly it IS annoying when you can't see anything due to someone's head blocking the way, but it's the risk you take when going to the theatre, unless you want a front row seat.
However I understand it's not the tall person's fault. They can't help being tall as I can't being short.

She was really rude it's not like you can help it.

Unfortunately it's the way theatres were built, I love going to the theatre but am tall so can only sit in stalls as so bloody uncomfortable in cheaper seats. This means I don't go very often as too expensive, I've sat in cheaper seats and the pain your in, spoils the show.

Can you imagine if they divided theatres into size zones, people over 5' 8" one side, everyone else other side.

Floor concerts even worse and I'm guilty off wearing heels to make me taller. Just hate as now days all you see is bloody phones.

I'm 5ft4, DH is 6ft4. We mostly have issues at concerts. I like to stand near the front so I can see the stage, but he hates the comments he gets, from the (so not funny) joking 'what's the weather like up there' to people asking him to move to the rear, even though they're the ones who decided to stand behind a tall person.

At the theatre I usually try to book an aisle seat - mostly so DH has more leg room, but also so that he's sitting in fewer people's line of sight. Having said that, my husband loves to put his hand behind his head, and generally fiddles around a lot. As a short person it drives me absolutely insane, because I know how annoying it can be to sit behind someone like that.