Page 19 | Annoying audience members in the theatre

beverleybass · 2022-03-06T22:19:26+00:00

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]

RachelGreeneGreep · 27/04/2022 09:44

People being allowed in half an hour or more, after the show has started. Grrrr.

lottiecharlotte · 27/04/2022 09:47

I agree. I've stopped going to things now. We went to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory a few years ago and I was disgusted by the amount of rubbish on the floor at the end. Also, at Matilda, a man decided to go to the bathroom right in the middle of one of the lovely solos...

RachelGreeneGreep · 27/04/2022 09:50

Oh and the couple beside me, he kept explaining things to her about the show. Aaaargh.

KeepingTheWormsQuiet · 27/04/2022 10:27

My daughter and I went to a Horrible Histories children's show in the West End. The kids in front of us kept asking their mother for snacks. She had a rucksack full to the top of snacks. They'd ask for a snack (mother fiddles noisily in rucksack) - eat some snack - (more noisy fiddling in rucksack to put it away) - ask for anther snack (more wrapper rustling and rucksack fiddling) etc for the whole show.

Why can 8/10 year old children not go without food for about 70 minutes?

mycatisannoying · 27/04/2022 10:57

Some people should really just stick to the cinema. And even then they're fucking annoying, so should really just stick to watching a film at home.
I can't bear those who have no social etiquette.

CulturePigeon · 27/04/2022 11:14

I sympathise, OP. I'm afraid there's no way to put this without sound elitist, but I do think it's the case that the more 'high-brow' the show, the less irritating the audience, unfortunately. I've never found a problem at say, the NT or the RSC or in the less popular 'art film' type shows in cinemas.

Perhaps cinema audiences in the days before telly were also chaotic? I don't know, but I think there's far less formality in people's live nowadays - for instance, in schools where once there was a lot more 'sit still in silence and listen/watch' . Most people just aren't used to this any more and I do think that modern media and IT has shortened concentration spans too. Sorry to sound like an old fogey. Also, some people don't get the difference between sitting at home in front of the telly when you can chat, go and make a cup of tea etc any time you like and sitting in a theatre or cinema. For me the pleasure of the cinema (and I go rarely) is to completely lose yourself in the film without distraction and I would resent being constantly reminded that I'm just sitting in a dark room with everyone else.

I go very rarely to theatre or cinema or opera because it's out of my price range normally and i would be hopping mad if some inconsiderate person spoiled the experience for me.

Sadly, I also think there's an element of selfishness and 'no-one's going to tell me what to do!' with some people.

queenMab99 · 27/04/2022 11:23

One of the advantages of being slightly deaf and wearing hearing aids, is connecting aids to the hearing loop system in most cinemas, performance spaces etc. I can hear only the sound of the performance or film, and all irritating munching and chattering sounds are muted.

AnnieSnap · 27/04/2022 11:56

@CulturePigeon that’s a perfect summary.

RachelGreeneGreep · 27/04/2022 12:05

KeepingTheWormsQuiet · 27/04/2022 10:27

My daughter and I went to a Horrible Histories children's show in the West End. The kids in front of us kept asking their mother for snacks. She had a rucksack full to the top of snacks. They'd ask for a snack (mother fiddles noisily in rucksack) - eat some snack - (more noisy fiddling in rucksack to put it away) - ask for anther snack (more wrapper rustling and rucksack fiddling) etc for the whole show.

Why can 8/10 year old children not go without food for about 70 minutes?

I was at a show some years ago, and it was like having a barnyard of animals in the row behind. It was a row of children, being constantly fed, similar to what you described.
Adults can be just as bad. I went to see Shirley Valentine not long ago. Front row seat, and just the actress on stage in a small theatre. A woman in the next row started crackling a packet of sweets, when it was really really quiet.
She might as well have stood up and offered them to the actress and have done with it! 🙄🙄

savehannah · 27/04/2022 12:38

CulturePigeon · 27/04/2022 11:14

I sympathise, OP. I'm afraid there's no way to put this without sound elitist, but I do think it's the case that the more 'high-brow' the show, the less irritating the audience, unfortunately. I've never found a problem at say, the NT or the RSC or in the less popular 'art film' type shows in cinemas.

Perhaps cinema audiences in the days before telly were also chaotic? I don't know, but I think there's far less formality in people's live nowadays - for instance, in schools where once there was a lot more 'sit still in silence and listen/watch' . Most people just aren't used to this any more and I do think that modern media and IT has shortened concentration spans too. Sorry to sound like an old fogey. Also, some people don't get the difference between sitting at home in front of the telly when you can chat, go and make a cup of tea etc any time you like and sitting in a theatre or cinema. For me the pleasure of the cinema (and I go rarely) is to completely lose yourself in the film without distraction and I would resent being constantly reminded that I'm just sitting in a dark room with everyone else.

I go very rarely to theatre or cinema or opera because it's out of my price range normally and i would be hopping mad if some inconsiderate person spoiled the experience for me.

Sadly, I also think there's an element of selfishness and 'no-one's going to tell me what to do!' with some people.

I agree. Again, I hate to generalise but that is my experience too. I regularly attend classical choral concerts at the local cathedral because my daughter sings in them. Hundreds of people there and you cannot hear a pin drop. Absolute silence. The lady next to me started coughing and immediately got up and left so as not to interrupt the performance any more. So different from the attitudes at musical theatre and the cinema.

WhereIsMyBrain · 27/04/2022 12:59

Haven't RTFT sorry so imagine my points have been made, but never mind.

I'm afraid there's no way to put this without sound elitist, but I do think it's the case that the more 'high-brow' the show, the less irritating the audience, unfortunately.

This is true but not necessarily anything new. Victorian music hall audiences ate, drank, chatted, bought snacks etc all the way through. The shows which people are noisier at are generally the ones where it matters less- much better to munch your sweets all the way through a panto than Harold Pinter 😉

Also think that the theatres contribute by allowing drinks to be taken to seats and selling sweets- I appreciate they need to make money but inevitably if you sell people sweets they are going to eat them.

That said, I had a terrible woman behind me at Leopoldstadt recently who spent the whole play complaining loudly (above ordinary speaking level) about her seat, she couldn't follow the play, she didn't like it, it was boring etc etc. I blame last minute ticket deals.

JorisBonson · 27/04/2022 13:10

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.

I agree. I was at the NT on Saturday and it was a breath of fresh air.

Franklin12 · 27/04/2022 13:53

I go the theatre a fair amount and the cinema a lot. Its the constant stuffing themselves with noisy food and this obsession in eating all the time is very annoying. No wonder we have an obesity issue in this country. Talking, constant checking of phones is unacceptable.

And yes, I have sat in front of someone who insisted on singing along to a legend singer (think Gladys Knight!) out of tune.

If you cannot keep quiet or insist on stuffing your faces with food can you please stay at home and stop spoiling it for the rest of us.

Labscollie · 27/04/2022 13:58

I'm reminded of the very old Only Fools episode, where Del Boy took his new 'piece' to the opera! Hilarious. I wonder why some go to see the Arts when they have no etiquette. That's not being a snob, that's having standards.

Chaoslatte · 27/04/2022 14:16

I was at the theatre at the weekend and I was in a box. A couple in a box a few along from me talked through the entire thing. Who tf pays for a box and then doesn’t even pay attention? And if you’re not enjoying it you can just leave from a box really easily without making a row of people get up!

Ionlydomassiveones · 27/04/2022 14:23

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn at the poster's request.

User135644 · 27/04/2022 18:20

Labscollie · 27/04/2022 13:58

I'm reminded of the very old Only Fools episode, where Del Boy took his new 'piece' to the opera! Hilarious. I wonder why some go to see the Arts when they have no etiquette. That's not being a snob, that's having standards.

Apparently John Sullivan was unhappy with that scene and episode (he didn't direct it) as he felt it made Del out to be too much of a twat.

This was 35-40 years ago though. Audiences have got a lot worse.

StridTheKiller · 27/04/2022 18:43

The usherettes at my local theatre (Buxton Opera House) are fantastic. Volunteer elderly ladies as frail as feathers but brick shithouse when it comes to theatre scroates and take no nonsense. They are an inspiration.

beguilingeyes · 05/05/2022 12:23

On the opposite end...I saw Jerusalem yesterday (£15 day seat) and not a peep from the sold out audience. Awestruck silence.
Possibly (almost certainly) the greatest acting performance I have ever seen.
Mark Rylance is unbelievably good.

NellesVilla · 05/05/2022 12:39

The usherettes at my local theatre (Buxton Opera House) are fantastic. Volunteer elderly ladies as frail as feathers but brick shithouse when it comes to theatre scroates and take no nonsense. They are an inspiration.

Right, I’ll be in the audience for something at this venue one day then! It drives me f mental when people ruin a play or musical for me. I’ve not paid to hear them, but the performers on the stage.

I once nearly had a fight with a loud Scouse father and his kid at Shrek the musical, when I asked them to whisper instead of chatting. He nearly punched me, when he leant over to ask me to repeat myself, which I did. I honestly think he would have done it had it not been for a packed auditorium that day. I left at the interval as I was so stressed and didn’t even claim the free tickets the theatre offered.

I really only go to something I really love or want to see these days. Have never had an issue at Les Mis, thank goodness, as that is defo my fave…or the Opera.