Annoying audience members in the theatre

[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??

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

Perhaps this post will get picked up on by the journalists and we can have a ‘stop the stupid’ campaign at theatres! The theatres themselves should be putting out announcements to respect others and please don’t eat until the interval. People also arrive late and are sitting in the middle of the row. Have some respect people!

Except then the backlight of your phone would disrupt the show for everyone behind you too. Terrible idea.

texting the usher - so getting up and making the whole row shuffle/stand up so you can walk out to find the usher then ditto when you return to your seat.

Someone tapped them on the shoulder and told them to shush in the end which improved things slightly.

why didn't you? I would,

Glad i live in a place where there are fairly rigid social conventions around performances, especially classical ones, that forbid any noise at all, coughing, shuffling etc etc, and the person next to you will tell you right away if you're being disruptive. A 2nd time and the usher will yank you out.

I've been to the opera in Milan though and they all follow on the score and mouth the libretti. It's weird but apparently that's their thing.

There was an article in the Guardian about this recently. TBH i think the answer is to have separate performances - noise allowed and absolute silence required. And phones never ever on.

Humm, I’m wondering if I’m luckier than most of MN; more tolerant of most of MN or actually an unwitting offender ;-) I’ve been to three london theatre productions in the last few months:

Hamilton just after it reopened: singing along with king George but only at the point he encouraged it, a few audience responses to very key lines (eg some “yeahs” after Eliza’s line about including women in the sequel!) - a little bit of energy and interaction that added to the joy of being back in a theatre at a high energy production for me.
Cirque de Soleil - few people coming in late, some photos being taken but nothing that ruined the show.
Bridge - more serious theatre but again, nothing that impacted my enjoyment.

YANBU - I don't even think people should eat in the theatre so I'm aware I take a bit of a harder line than most people

Went to see Phantom on Saturday in London and was pleasantly surprised at the complete lack of phones during the performance. The latecomers and toilet visitors on the other hand 🤬🤬 why bother giving a start time if you're going to let people in for up to fifteen minutes afterwards? Like a PP we were in the Royal Circle so expensive tickets. One group towards the back were chatting during the opening of the second half and several people shushed them pretty quickly.

Show itself was amazing - I've seen several over the years but this was the first time I got actual tingles down my spine from the voices of the leads!

Yes!
See also:

• people talking their way through lectures.
  I went back to uni to do my PGCE and people were chatting their way though 1 hour lectures. That's an actual person standing in front of you, trying to teach you something, you twats!

• people wandering about and talking and laughing to each other though exercise classes so I then can't hear the instructor properly and am distracted

I mean ...it could just be that I am a miserable old menopausal bat....but to me its just basic manners and respect to STFU in these situations.

This is reminding me how at the cinema on a Saturday afternoon when I was a teenager a member of staff would make an announcement about the rules between the adverts and the film... no throwing food, no talking, no phones etc. Maybe theatre goers need treating like school children!

Yanbu, we went to see a concert of a popular tv programme and the woman next to us spent the whole time moving about , almost out of her seat and waving her phone around to film it..

Just buy the fucking DVD!

Moulin rouge is the absolute worst for this.ive seen at a few times as I got bought It multiple times for Christmas.

To be honest I blame the theatre though as they allow people to take full bottles of wine to their seats. Perhaps proseco reading the above.

This means I've sat behind people passing whole bottles down the row, waving their hands to get the bottle passed to them. Its also just full of people loudly playing name that song, joining in (even at clearly inappropriate moments and theres changed lyrics so they don't know them), and just irritating stuff like audience dressed up so have big top hats on, big feathers in their hair. I even had to ask someone if they could move their helium balloon, they weren't malicious but surely an usher should be having a quiet word?

The last time was the absolute worst though, a group of 4 girls were drunk enough at the start that they were stumbling down the stairs etc and would have been stopped going into a club in my experience.

They were then given 3 bottles to take to their seats. Unsurprisingly they were loud and generally disruptive, culminating in being sick (which they loudly discussed)

Frustratingly I moaned about this at work and my colleague also sat next to someone who was sick so clearly not uncommon

They were also drunk enough that they didn't realise they could get out at the aisle next to them so got 90% aisle up 8 times in the first act for a wee (or to be sick as it turns out). They were incredibly unstable on their feet and stumbling and it was dangerous on a balcony. All using phones as torches

Usually a musical only let's people back in at certain points eg during applause etc. They were allowed to come back in and get the row up during quiet bits, key bits, middle of music numbers etc.

They were kicked out at interval, came back unescorted had a shout at the people that reported them and left. They obviously forgot something so were allowed back down the row (getting people up) and then back out again.

Obviously these women have personal responsibility but no way should the theatre of given (even if they werenr obviously drunk already) 3 bottles of whatever it was between 4 people as the curtain went down to drink in the first act at their seats

They should also have stopped people re entering rows until an appropriate moment so it was much less disruptive.

They should also have seen what was happening clearly. They seemed to wait for people to complain (which is only really possible at interval if you aren't near an aisle), from my seat I could see people texing, hear other loud conversations etc but the ushers were very absent.

I've contacted them a few times to ask they look into responsible alcohol serving to no response

Liked the musical but awful crowd

I loathe the theatre now. 20 years ago when I was childless and had more disposable incone, it was a nice evening out. Now, people treat the stage like the TV in their lounge and don't GAF about either the other patrons nor the performers. The last time I went, someone was live streaming the show and commenting on proceedings as it went on. He got thrown out for it. Going to the theatre is very expensive for a family and these prats ruin it for everyone else.

Years ago we went to see the Lego Movie at a local cinema in London and it was horrible. Few of the children could sit down and be quiet. Parents were looking at their phones. Constant packet rustling and slurping. I go to a different cinema now, usually during the school day, to avoid this nonsense. Having said that, DH went to this cinema during a "Silver Screening" which encourages senior citizens in for a much reduced cost, and a group of drunk seniors behaved very badly whilst guzzling bottles if prosecco.

I booked tickets for something the other day and at time of booking there was a small notice saying "latecomers will be admitted" (it's a gig, no issue for me) but I guess that means they have a "no latecomers admitted" policy for other things?
Some theatres should get on board with that.

It's easy to say "why didn't you tell them to shush/stop using their phone" or whatever, but having to do that creates an atmosphere and basically ruins your enjoyment of the show/film anyway. I've politely asked people to stop on several occasions. Some stopped, but then you know you're being glared at, whispered about, others get arsey. Either way my night was spoilt. Theatres and cinemas really need to crack down on antisocial behaviour if they want to retain an audience.

I've been pretty lucky. I go to the theatre often and don't often get this - or I'm so absorbed in the drama I miss it entirely. I was in the theatre this weekend when the show actually had to be stopped to remove four drunken women who were being vile to everyone around them which is one of the more dramatic disruptions (fortunately not too near me).

Bop them on the head with a folded up magazine and whisper 'young lady You are in big trouble' a la school years

And audience behaviour has definitely deteriorated. We took our children to see The Lion King in 1998 and it was so magical I had a constant tear in my eye. Everyone sat enraptured. Saw it again about 5 years ago and the audience acted like they hadn't realised the show had started - chatting, kids running about, using phones. A very different experience.

Just say something FFS!
You said yourself, someone else tapped them on the shoulder in the end which improved things. If you’d just said something yourself as soon as it became annoying, you could have enjoyed the rest of the show.

It's the cinema for me. I try and go during the day when not working but I'm either the unluckiest person in the world or general etiquette and behaviour have gone to pot.

Empty-ish massive cinema trying to watch Spencer, two older ladies a few rows back yapped all the way through it. Hated the film anyway so maybe that didn't help!

Big burly Aussie guy beside me during Joker who checked his emails constantly until I lost it and told him to stop. Which thankfully he did. It's what I think about when I think back to the film.

I'm also a hard liner when it comes to food. Popcorn ok but can people really not go a couple of hours without munching? I think bags of sweets/chocolates that rustle should be banned.

@CourtRand

Bop them on the head with a folded up magazine and whisper 'young lady You are in big trouble' a la school years

Haha, I love this suggestion.

Although I think you can only pull it off if you're 98 years old.

Given the price of tickets I can't believe the people that chat or look at the phones through the show. At Joseph we had a drunk lady behind who was singing along and whooping at Jason Donovan. My kids had been in the show and were word perfect but would never have sung along.

Also, people taking children that are too young for the show. We saw The Lion the Witch and the wardrobe at half term and there were lots of preschoolers there who were a)scared of the scary bits and b) didn't understand the story. Preschool child behind us constantly asking his mum questions "is that a real tiger?" Wanted to say "it's a fucking lion it's in the title of the show!" It was recommended for age 6+. Personally I think they should have advertised it as "if your child can't read the book yet don't bring them".

It even happens at outdoor events and opera.
Years ago I was lucky enough to get tickets to see the Three Tenors perform on the lawns in front of the Royal Crescent in Bath. It was a seated event and the people in front of me were up and down like yoyos getting more and more drunk as the evening progressed. I don't know why they bothered going.

Totally agree with this, have been doing to see musicals for years and every show I see is worse than the last. It never used to be like this. Why can’t people go to the loo before the start.
I think theatres should stop selling bottles of wine though, I guess they do this for the money and I know theatres need the money, but people drinking whole bottles of wine or pints then need the loo, I have never seen so many people up and down on Saturday. We saw 9-5 which was brilliant, really funny, but they actually stopped the show about 40 minutes in to chuck out some drunk women. I think they must have had lots of complaints but I have never been to a show where they have had to put the curtain down, lights on, and send people out. Thing is, by the time they got them out, half the audience had got up, walked about, gone to queue for the loo, and the staff were walking round telling people to sit down so they could restart the show….what is wrong with people, I know I sound like my gran, but people just do not know how to behave !

Cinema's and theatres need to understand that this is ruining the experience for people, so in the end it hits the bottom line.

You can't argue with drunks, but I do ask people to be quiet is they are talking.

There ought to be announcements, and ushers in the theatre/cinema during the performance to deal with this.

People seem to act like it's their front room. Drives me nuts!

It makes me cross when the ushers don’t intervene to get people off their phones.
Why don’t they?

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

I did on a number of occasions. Memorably I recall concerts where people were talking or singing the whole way through the sets at such a volume I couldn't hear the music. I was even threatened for it for it by some charmers who told me that we'd all paid for tickets so they could do what they liked. I don't blame ushers for not intervening when people are that aggressive.

I've largely given up on live performances because of similar stories to everyone else.