To expect people not to walk out before show has finished?

[NRCOA]

Is this not bloody rude?

Just been to a kids comedy show with my 9 year old charge. It was fun. Very silly. The older kids loved it. Younger ones got a bit restless 5 mins from the end.

Instead of just waiting a few minutes, people started leaving before the end of the show. The actors were just finishing up. I get that there may be circumstances where kids aren't coping and need to be taken out early, but there were hoards of people going.

I felt SO bad for the actors.

Maybe they just didn't like it that much.

It’s to beat the rush for the loo or the car park

Yep. It’s to race to the car so they don’t have to sit in a queue to get out of the car park or sit in traffic for an hour before they get going on the journey home. I’ve left concerts in stadiums before the very end for this reason, wouldn’t do it in a theatre though.

They didn't know it only had 5 minutes to go and didn't want their younger DCs to disrupt the show perhaps.

I used to think this but then the buses and trains round here got so rubbish you just have to leave early or else you'll be waiting ages for a bus that will be too full for you to even get on

For context, it was a morning show (11am), in central London.

We've had to do it in a West End theatre play recently. It started 10 minutes late and we needed those 10 minutes to get to the train station to catch the last reasonable train. The one the following hour wouldn't have got us home before 12.30am.

People are just dicks nowadays unfortunately - especially in theatres. A mid morning London show mean none of these excuses apply - just bad manners.

It's incredibly rude and disrespectful to the cast and crew. This whole "rush to the car" thing is awful - just wait, & if you really can't wait then don't go in the first place.

Wouldn't normally do it but had to do it once recently (just before Christmas) - there was a train strike and I had to catch the last train. Theatre ticket was a present from a relative.

If performers have put in the effort, they deserve to get applause and encores, etc. Must be very dispiriting for them if there is a mass exodus before the end.

It's fucking rude. People don't know how to behave anymore.

But surely the fact that younger DCs started getting restless indicates that either it should have been recommended for an older age group, or the production should have been shorter.
Faced with a restless child, the DP has the choice of either letting them make noise and ruining the performance, trying to get them to hush up - difficult if it's genuinely beyond the duration that a young DC can sit still for, or taking them out of the audience.

In that scenario, I'd go for the latter option.

Incredibly rude.

One of the reasons for taking your children to these things is to show them how to behave politely in different situations. At a show, you stay until the end and you clap to show appreciation. It's pretty basic. If showing basic courtesy means you're not first to the car park then really that's a small price to pay.

They are human beings on stage, it's not like leaving a movie early.

People don't know how to behave.

The performers had made it clear that it was the end. In fact, the song was called 'the big finale'.

It's a kids comedy show- im guessing the audience wasn't expected to be silent and still the whole time.

If my child was acting up with 5 minutes to go, I'd be telling them 'there's five minutes to go, enjoy the last song and then we'll clap and cheer and leave' and correcting their behaviour.

Not walking out and blaming the show for being too long.

Exactly this.

"It's nearly finished, darling. We will leave in a mo."

I agree with this, not just families with kids but anytime any audience starts drifting out in droves towards the end of the show, I feel terrible for the performers!

And to be clear people are aware it's nearing the end and do it to beat the crowd

We left a show one because we were freezing cold and didn't want to wait for the buses and get hypothermia.

That was Elton John.

It happens to the best!

Yanbu I think people have lost all sense of how to behave at the theatre. They arrive late, leave early, eat constantly.

At that time in the morning there really is no excuse! Unless someone or the child is absolutely desperate for the toilet.

And if its a late showing then yes for those who make it but train times are such they have to go fair play, think the actors rather they came then didn't.

They don't want to be at the back of the queue for the exit/car park/bus stop. Much the same as people trying to grab the bags on a plane before it's even stopped moving.
Me me me attitude, and no patience