Page 7 | 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]

Forgothowmuchlhatehomeschoolin · 07/03/2022 08:29

Ugh yes can't bear other people munching and chatting away in my ear . Also went to see Come from Away and didn't realise there was no interval so was silently seething when someone got up for the toilet halfway through!

Anjo2011 · 07/03/2022 08:34

Similar experience here, took both DDs to see Wicked in half term. Lots of the audience getting up for drinks, snacks mid performance and a man in a row on the opposite side of the aisle read the programme for a good half hour with his phone light on in the second half. We were mid row so couldn’t say anything.
It used to be that you weren’t allowed to take alcohol into the auditorium in the theatre but that seems to have changed.

User135644 · 07/03/2022 08:35

@Polyanthus2

Yes, unless they sort this they are going to lose audience. Prosecco for the audience - crazy -

Selling alcohol is a cash grab, especially at prices they charge. They certainly shouldn't be allowed at seats. People tanked up on booze behave differently.

oakleaffy · 07/03/2022 08:35

Can’t bear it either.
However , went to see War Horse at National Theatre and everyone was very well behaved.

Cinemas with children running about and chatting and yo yo ing up and down
I’d rather watch a film at home .

JeffThePilot · 07/03/2022 08:44

There are several people on this thread who believe it’s OK to sing during Mamma Mia which nearly highlights the problem. People just don’t know how to behave in theatres now. Unless it’s explicitly stated, it’s not a singalong.

And the people who do behave don’t bother to spend £££ on tickets any more because of the annoyance of these audiences spoiling the show. So it means the behaviours become more normalised.

JeffThePilot · 07/03/2022 08:45

*neatly highlights

User135644 · 07/03/2022 08:46

@Brefugee

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.

Didn't they try that on trains with quiet carriages? People still make all kinds of noise.

Stepsintime4 · 07/03/2022 08:47

@Illbeokay

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

My experience of moulin rouge too, sadly it seems to be a "girls night out!" and thus encourage people to get drunk. Usually the theatre bar is full of chatter and mingling, this one was more like a yates on a Saturday night, saw lots of people being served who i would have encouraged to have a soft drink on a night out, let alone if they were about to be expected to sit through a musical

KeepScrapingBy · 07/03/2022 08:48

I was once at a musical where there was a noisy toddler in the front row of the audience. Eventually one of the principal actors stopped the performance and asked the parent to remove the child!

samsalmon · 07/03/2022 08:55

I have a bit of inside knowledge of our local theatre and I can tell you that the management are sometimes part of the problem. Please tweet along, folks! (But only in the interval….). We want you to feel as if you’re at home! Ok, well great, but in your enthusiasm to include and welcome (as well as promote your shows), you have given totally mixed messages about behaviour, which then leads to a really poor experience for audiences and casts alike. Audience behaviour has absolutely and visibly deteriorated, speaking as someone who has spent a lot of time in a theatre. The ushers have a thankless and impossible job, theatre management need to step up.

NightmareSlashDelightful · 07/03/2022 08:59

This has got worse lately but it isn’t new. Remember a few years back, Imelda Staunton was in the press because she was suggesting noisy food should be banned in theatres.

Later the same week, we saw her in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. (So not what you’d call jukebox or feel-good musical material!) The theatre specifically asked that people didn’t eat during the performance.

And yet the couple along from us pulled out a share-bag of cheesy Doritos — I could smell them — and started noisily chomping. Then gross slurpy finger-sucking to get the crisp debris off. Then a bit later they opened a second packet. Someone must have complained, because at one point an usher came and spoke to them but they just waited till she’d gone and got the crisps out again. 🤷

Beeinalily · 07/03/2022 09:00

@Phlewf I'm sorry but I'm imagining you as Frank Spencer (and your partner as Betty)

rainbowmash · 07/03/2022 09:02

@NightmareSlashDelightful

This has got worse lately but it isn’t new. Remember a few years back, Imelda Staunton was in the press because she was suggesting noisy food should be banned in theatres.

Later the same week, we saw her in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. (So not what you’d call jukebox or feel-good musical material!) The theatre specifically asked that people didn’t eat during the performance.

And yet the couple along from us pulled out a share-bag of cheesy Doritos — I could smell them — and started noisily chomping. Then gross slurpy finger-sucking to get the crisp debris off. Then a bit later they opened a second packet. Someone must have complained, because at one point an usher came and spoke to them but they just waited till she’d gone and got the crisps out again. 🤷

Oh that is foul. I think all my self-consciousness would have flown out of the window - I'd have learnt over and sharply reminded them that perhaps they were lost as Mama Mia was screening two streets over?

samsalmon · 07/03/2022 09:04

@Greywhippet

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

I think it was probably easier in the past when less common but these days, where do you start when half the audience has their phones out?

NightmareSlashDelightful · 07/03/2022 09:05

@rainbowmash I would have but they were just that bit too far away. Other people did intervene, I’m pretty sure.

Such a shame as it was a truly outstanding play, and a barnstorming performance by Staunton. She’s up there with Elizabeth Taylor for playing that part.

Bostromani · 07/03/2022 09:05

I think the blame lies both with the industry , and with the audience.

If as an industry you are going to churn out 'jukebox musicals' every 5 minutes to get people through the door, then you have to expect a less discerning audience.

These musicals are, and sorry to be a bit sexist, aimed at women who will make group bookings for birthdays, hen do's and general 'girly weekends'.

You can't then be horrified when these groups turn up tipsy and don't display any normal theatre etiquette. They are hardly going to keep quiet during 'Mamma Mia' are they? .

That being said, audience behaviour has declined over the last 5 years, basically as a population we have become more selfish and entitled. Social media addictions also mean some people simply can't leave their phones alone for two hours, hence all the usage in films and theatre audiences.

The poor ushers cop for it all now, they are more like bouncers and security than anything else.

Anjo2011 · 07/03/2022 09:08

@Bostromani , agree with you 100% .

samsalmon · 07/03/2022 09:11

Never mind the press, every time you have a bad experience, write to the director of the theatre, tell them your experience and why you will be reluctant to spend your money with them again. They might take some notice.

peachgreen · 07/03/2022 09:14

Honestly, the only way to solve the problem is for theatres to be more upfront about "the rules", and more stringent about enforcing them. The often have a "turn your phone off" announcement - they need to add "don't eat or talk during the performance" and "don't sing along". Unlikely to happen though.

I was at the Globe once and a guy was very noisily eating an entire baguette. James Garnon (never breaking character) stopped right in front of him and stared him down, fierce and unblinking, until the guy was eventually shamed into putting it away. Even as an entirely unrelated witness, it was the most uncomfortable three minutes of my life - but it worked!

NotQuiteHere · 07/03/2022 09:15

I totally agree, and this type of behaviour is absolutely unbearable at a classical music concert.

Eating and wine must not be allowed. Allowing it gives the impression of a very relaxed comfortable atmosphere and lets people disregard others.

Infinitemoon · 07/03/2022 09:16

I disagree. I have problems (mainly from adults), when I go to see a ballet performance and also when seeing an obscure, sombre piece. It makes no difference at all. I don't go to musicals as I know this will be a free for all singing fest.

People have definitely become more individualistic and so their offspring have become conditioned to become overly confident( centre of the universe) without any basic manners.

Not sure what the answer is really...I only go to theatres where I know the audience can behave now.

Brefugee · 07/03/2022 09:19

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.

How could he know it was disturbing you though? If you speak up at the beginning he might stop right away?

As for "well i know they'll be giving me looks" so what? So fucking what? You will be doing everyone a favour.

Way back in the very early 80s i went to the cinema, during the day (after O-levels) with some friends. And a woman rustled her way through a bag of butterkist. Finally she finished. And then opened another. My friend stood up, reached over and dumped it in her lap.

(mind you another time, back when you could smoke, there was an entertaining couple of minutes during the short film before Life Of Brian when a lady with really long frizzy hair, really long fridge, had a cigarette in her mouth and no idea what happened but her fringe caught alight. we thought it might be performance art)

Infinitemoon · 07/03/2022 09:21

Maybe the theatre should have a strictly no eating, drinking, phone, chatting performance,that they know will be heavily policed. Think red lettering on doors and a spotlight on offenders in the auditorium with a bouncer to eject them and a more relaxed performance for people who don't understand theatre etiquette.

TizerorFizz · 07/03/2022 09:21

I was surprised at the booze in the auditorium at Only Fools and Horses. It just means the theatre wants the money and cares little for the audience who don’t want to drink. It was ok when we went but I’m certainly not going near Mama Mia.

I love the comment earlier that seeing Warhorse at the National Theatre was good. That attracts a completely different type of audience. That’s the key really.

Supersee · 07/03/2022 09:22