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Original poster

Annoying audience members in the theatre

470 replies

beverleybass · 06/03/2022 22:19

Does anybody else ALWAYS seem to have seats right by the worst people in the theatre. I must just be unlucky.

This year saw Come From Away and was directly behind 3 women who kept chatting all the way through, including during really emotional and key moments and solos. Someone tapped them on the shoulder and told them to shush in the end which improved things slightly.

I also saw Cinderella and more chatters as well phones coming out constantly with their shining lights.

What is the point spending all that money on tickets to look at your phone or chat to people?? Angry

Anyway saw Mamma Mia as a birthday treat today and it was honestly the worst of the lot. People on my row playing musical chairs, people arriving up to fifteen mins late (and still being let in) the man to the left of me kept singing along with the songs, the people in front chatting and constantly zipping/unzipping bags and rustling noisy bags of snacks.

How hard is it to sit still and be quiet Sad

OP posts:
PliqueAjour · 06/03/2022 22:24

YANBU I've largely given up on cinema and theatre visits. Other people wind me up every time, so inconsiderate.

GoofyIsACow · 06/03/2022 22:24

I fucking hate this OP, it’s the reason i have given up on the cinema too!

Vanillalime · 06/03/2022 22:24

Completely agree with you OP. Same goes for the cinema.

I go to the theatre to hear the performers sing, not the audience. The only exception I can think of would be for Rocky Horror, where audience participation is expected.

Currently looking at last minute tickets for Pretty Woman or Moulin Rouge next week. Fingers crossed I’m not surrounded by annoying folk 🙉🙉🙉

Original poster
beverleybass · 06/03/2022 22:26

See I wasn’t sure whether this was a common occurrence or just my awful bad luck with tickets

OP posts:
cavalierkingc · 06/03/2022 22:27

Went to see only fools and horses recently and sat right next to someone with a worse laugh I've ever heard, basically shrieking. And she laughed at almost every line.

Twotinydictators · 06/03/2022 22:28

I had a woman in the row behind who brought a large bag of popcorn and rustled and crunched through virtually the whole performance. Even putting it away during the interval to get it back out and carry on through the second half!! When she wasn't doing that, she was chatting to the person next to her. Absolutely infuriating, YADNBU!

Drinkyourweaklemondrink · 06/03/2022 22:28

We saw dirty dancing recently and the mad bints in front of us were texting with bright lights on.
Really loudly sharing wine from a big glass bottle and then diluting it with lemonade which they kept on spilling.
One literally started video calling someone in the middle of the show. And they chatted incessantly. I did wonder why the hell they bothered.

nightscrollingdoom · 06/03/2022 22:30

YANBU! I have no idea why people simply cannot sit for an hour and a half without stuffing their faces. A bit of popcorn fine, but making it impossible for everyone else to hear is antisocial and piggish.

Last time I went to the theatre the people behind me ate a full three course meal incredibly loudly and left bits of uneaten sandwiches all over the floor and all the packaging! It’s the frigging ballet, not a picnic spot!

Hotelhelp · 06/03/2022 22:31

I hate when I get stuck behind a singy crowd

Brainfogmcfogface · 06/03/2022 22:36

I get theatre rage all the time, like you op I seem to always be near absolute twats!

I do forgive at the cinema though, my thinking being if I didn’t want to be annoyed by people I could just wait until the films released at home (and my local cinema only charges £3 so I could always come again) but theatre tickets are so expensive and there is no other option to watch it, and I tend to stay local as opposed to going to the west end anymore, so most shows are touring so only a few dates to see them, drives me up the bloody wall!

Mmmmdanone · 06/03/2022 22:39

Recently went to see Chicago with my elderly mum and teenage daughter and the amount of boozed up, loud, singing aresholes was unreal. But then again if I'd been with different company I may have also had a drink and joined in 🤫

lateral · 06/03/2022 22:40

A recent visit to HAMILTON gave me the pleasure of the woman sitting in front of me waving her arms about as if she were playing piano and singing during the kings solo Angry

MaggieMagpie1 · 06/03/2022 22:43

I tend to find that it's worse if it's a musical version of a popular film (Dirty Dancing or Ghost say) and although I got a giggle at Mamma Mia the first time I saw it I won't ever go back due to the boozy sing along crowds.

It's the same at most theatre shows unfortunately though. It sounds like such a horrible snobby thing to say but a lot of people don't have a clue how to behave in a theatre...it's so bloody expensive to go, you'd think they wouldn't want to miss a word but not so! Drives me mad!

I want to see and hear the professional performers on stage thanks!

Easterbunnyiswindowshopping · 06/03/2022 22:43

Please complain!! Email on the way home! I had 8 cinema tickets replaced with free ones with a year to use them! A family with 3 dc and 2 dps including a new baby decided all 3 dc would enjoy Dolittle! Entire film the dm stood up shushing the tiny dc in front of us - except when she sat down to give it a bottle.. I was enraged. Nothing less. Enraged.

VenezuelaChant · 06/03/2022 22:46

Circle at Les Mis. Expensive seats, great central view. Sat next to some arsehole flipping out her sun-bright phone every second song then choosing to fuck off to the bar during the big finale songs at the end of each act.

Another was shining his iPad around. Expected better from the expensive seats but theorised that people think they're more entitled to behave like utter twits when they pay top £££?

Cheshirecatwoman · 06/03/2022 22:46

@beverleybass

Does anybody else ALWAYS seem to have seats right by the worst people in the theatre. I must just be unlucky.

This year saw Come From Away and was directly behind 3 women who kept chatting all the way through, including during really emotional and key moments and solos. Someone tapped them on the shoulder and told them to shush in the end which improved things slightly.

I also saw Cinderella and more chatters as well phones coming out constantly with their shining lights.

What is the point spending all that money on tickets to look at your phone or chat to people?? Angry

Anyway saw Mamma Mia as a birthday treat today and it was honestly the worst of the lot. People on my row playing musical chairs, people arriving up to fifteen mins late (and still being let in) the man to the left of me kept singing along with the songs, the people in front chatting and constantly zipping/unzipping bags and rustling noisy bags of snacks.

How hard is it to sit still and be quiet Sad

Completely agree.

Saw Wicked last weekend and people were up and down like musical chairs, toilets, getting food and drink etc. Loads were late and that meant whole rows standing up.

We had people talking behind us (adults) and a family with 3 young kids in front. 2 behaving well but the youngest boy was an absolute terror. He kept climbing on the rail in front, wouldn’t sit still and was talking loudly. He was too young to be there really, not fair on him as it was late.

Tickets are so expensive you want to enjoy it properly without distractions....

Cheshirecatwoman · 06/03/2022 22:50

“One literally started video calling someone in the middle of the show.”

This happened to us at another show we went to. The person in front started FaceTiming during the show and I was in the background. It made my blood boil and I couldn’t concentrate.

Have social skills massively deteriorated after lockdown or am I just old and miserable.

RVN123 · 06/03/2022 22:51

YANBU.

We travelled from Scotland to see Back to The Future stage show in London a few months ago. The people in front of us (a couple) insisted on sitting with their arms over each others shoulders, which in effect meant that their arms were resting across our knees for the entire performance (the seats in front are so close and your knees back into the top of the seat in front). It was ridiculous.
Not to mention the constant up and down to the loo from people on both sides (literally 5 minutes into the show). Whole rows of people having to stand up and let others pass. It's infuriating.

Wizard of Oz was also totally spoiled by a semi-drunk couple who were constantly using their phones (were told several times by the usher to stop), chatting loudly through the performance, the had a full blown shouting argument with someone who told them to be quiet. Singing loudly to to the songs etc.

I thought it was just me who was unlucky OP.
It's either that or seat kicking idiots behind you.

People are so inconsiderate now. I don't know why some people bother spending money on tickets to see a show if they chat and use their phones throughout the whole show.

Concestor · 06/03/2022 22:51

Why don't you say something? I do. Or at heart complain to the ushers who will have a word. But honestly, just speak up!

EmmaH2022 · 06/03/2022 22:53

@Drinkyourweaklemondrink

We saw dirty dancing recently and the mad bints in front of us were texting with bright lights on. Really loudly sharing wine from a big glass bottle and then diluting it with lemonade which they kept on spilling. One literally started video calling someone in the middle of the show. And they chatted incessantly. I did wonder why the hell they bothered.
A video call? 😱
Erinyes · 06/03/2022 22:54

I used to think it was theatre snobbery to say that this is much worse at west end musicals than at somewhere like The National or the Donmar (or any theatre showing a straight play), but I think there’s an element of truth in it. I think people who would not go to the theatre much will still go to musicals (which is why they’ve eaten the west end) and, surrounded by other people who also only see occasional musicals, haven’t necessarily absorbed normal etiquette like don’t eat loud or smelly food, don’t talk or sing along, go to the loo before it starts, if you’re sitting right in the middle of an aisle-less row, get to your seat early enough so twenty people don’t have to get up to let you squeeze past and then out again for a drink AND the loo AND to get a booster seat for little Freddie etc etc. Because if people around you are doing this, you don’t necessarily think there’s anything wrong with copying.

I was in London a few weeks back and went to a play at the NT, a concert at the Royal Festival Hall, and to two musicals with my nine year old — no annoying behaviour at the NT or the RFH. Some at both musicals. I don’t think it’s because people at those venues are fundamentally more considerate, I just think they’re more likely to have been to more theatres and concerts where other people are modelling considerate audience behaviour.

TooManyPJs · 06/03/2022 22:56

Why do you all just sit there? If someone was doing this all the way through I'd have complained to the ushers after about 10 minutes, I wouldn't just sit there seething! Theatre tickets are super expensive!!

gogohm · 06/03/2022 22:57

I had a lady behind me (circa 75) sing hee way through les mis out of tune one beat behind, we asked the usher to move at the interval (and got moved to better seats)

Nanny0gg · 06/03/2022 22:58

Why don't you either say something to the annoying people?

I would not tolerate paying all that money to have it ruined

Though I went to see Joseph recently and it was absolutely fine

mags1862 · 06/03/2022 22:59

Tend to try for less busy performances and avoid Friday and Saturday shows altogether, popcorn in a west end show is a No for me .