Why do people do this?

[Wellandtrulypeedofff]

Spend £150 on theatre tickets, then proceed to rustle crisp and sweet packets and munch their way through the whole performance? Even the emotional solos and monologues weren't safe from the incessant rustling and crunching.

Special mention for the man in front of me, who despite having a clear veiw of the stage, sat right forwards in his seat with his neck stretched like bloody meerkat the whole performance giving me a great veiw of the back of his head.

Usually when I go to see a show i like I'm on a bit of a high, but I just feel deflated this morning. Feel like just giving up on theatre altogether.

@Babsthebookworm Sounds like a scene from a sketch show. Absolute madness.

It’s people generally I’ve found.
We went to a lovely restaurant last night, one table spoiled it by letting kids constantly drop cutlery on the floor with no consequences, adults swearing and drinking shots so getting louder and louder whilst talking about their mate in prison.

I generally find the sound at the cinema loud enough that I only hear the film and not the rustling but agree at the theatre the talking, eating, getting up and down etc. is very annoying. Doesn't help that many theatres were built hundreds of years ago so space is limited and visibility not always great so all in all, can be an underwhelming experience.

It will never happen.

The film studio takes most of the tickets price to see the film. The studio makes its money by selling a drink and popcorn for £12.

• the CINEMA makes its money with snacks.

the ones who get up and down to the toilet piss me off- if you can’t wait until the interval, book an aisle seat! Also, the late arrivals piss me off, dickheads who wear hats (the guy who arrived to Six wearing a bloody cowboy type hat and sat directly in front of a child who then couldn’t see), the usher was right on it in minutes and told him to take it off.
Worst are the kids who are either too young for the show or can’t behave- including the woman who allowed her 5 year old child to put his feet up on the back of my daughters seat during a performance of Lion King resulting in him kicking her in the head- and she was really put out when I turned around and told him off. (we know he was five because it was mentioned during his endless bloody monologuing throughout the show- mummy, mummy, blah blah blah- and again she was put out when I eventually told him to shush!). No tolerance for that shit when I have spent £200 on tickets which is a massive expense and treat for our household.
The corrie actor sat in front of us at the panto who allowed his kids to throw food and wrappers all over the floor in the theatre then left it a total mess at the end- as well as the 16 people in his entourage regularly standing up and swapping seats with each other throughout the performance blocking our view every time they did so. Furious about that as the view they were blocking for me was my daughter performing on stage in her first professional show. Pissed me right off.

I go to the theatre a lot, the small fringe theatres seem to be fine, but at the larger theatres I don't think I've been to a single performance since covid that hasn't had people talking through it. It drives me nuts. I often say something and then end up getting abuse. I can't understand why you'd pay all that money to sit and have a chat. It's the same at gigs and concerts too.

Yep it’s the reason I very rarely spend so much money on theatre tickets. I us3 to go very regularly, it was part of my budget. It’s very sad that people can’t spend a few short hours just enjoying a drama of one sort or another. Do we really need to remind people where they are every step of their lives with posters like those in banks and hospitals about what kind of Beth will and will not be tolerated and lowering expectations!

As youngsters we felt grown up going to a restaurant now to feel grown up is to have little consideration for those around you. It often feels feral out there!

@mangoontoast "I can't understand why you'd pay all that money to sit and have a chat."

Me either. More money than manners I imagine. And sense for that matter. Surely with the prices of theatre and concert tickets being what they are, you'd realise you're paying for an experience and not treat it like you're at home sat on the sofa in your pants.

Cowboy hat wearing man has me laughing. The level of unawareness is unfathomable to me.

the CINEMA makes its money with snacks.

exactly & tbh i've never been disturbed by eating in the cinema, films are loud!

Going to the theatre soon & hope it's not ruined, haven't been for yrs

I also went to see the Lion King and the same thing happened. While my 5 year old sat perfectly (ie still and quietly), the slightly inebriated women behind us talked all the way through the show. They obviously hadn’t seen each other for a while so kept talking about what had been happening in their and their friends’ lives and at one point, started scrolling through Instagram showing each other photos. We were third row back so that must have been so distracting. My husband and I both politely asked them to be quiet and they were for about about two minutes and then started again. Eventually, the man behind them told him to shut them to shut the fuck up and complained. They were quiet after that but there were only 15 minutes left.

Theatres shouldn't allow food. It's live performance, not the cinema. Latecomers not allowed in once the curtain is up, at least not until the interval. If you use your phone even to just glance at, removal by an usher. If only..
The last play I went to had a disinterested teenage boy seated behind me. He had a streaming cold and apparently no tissues. He constantly snorted. His family had brought a share pack of crisps and another of toffees. And they talked through bits of it. It's so crass.

I went to see The Gloaming (Irish American band) a few years ago. I think I paid £55... the young couple next to me talked all the way through.
People are shocking. Inconsiderate.

For the purposes of the kind of thing you’re talking about, musicals aren’t ‘the theatre’, though. People who would never contemplate setting foot in a theatre to see a play will go to a musical, and as they’ve often never been in a theatre before, appear to have not understood that they’re not in their own living rooms, and have no comprehension of behavioural conventions.

You’re generally going to get very different audience behaviours at the NT, unless there’s a ‘star’ in the cast. (Not at the NT but there was a group who screamed every time Benedict Cumberbatch came on stage in Hamlet, and they were swiftly dealt with by ushers who were clearly on the lookout.)

Aren’t they good? I’m a huge Iarla O’Lionáird fan.

I hear you OP.

We went to see Frozen earlier in the year, I know it’s a Disney musical but it specifically says no under 4s will be admitted and over 6 recommended. Some woman who I believe was the grandmother decided to take her 2/3 year old grandson who she could not control at all. They were sat in front of us and he was climbing all over the seat, constantly asking questions, shouting.

I don’t know what she was thinking, maybe she assumed it was going to be ok but it’s still a west end production! I don’t think they should have let them in as he was clearly not old enough.

But I’ve also had the experience at Hamilton of the woman behind me singing along to every word which was extremely annoying. People don’t have theatre etiquette.

The leaning forward thing I always challenge. I'm short so it really impacts on my view if the person in front does this. I pretty much immediately tap them on the shoulder and ask them to stop. Once they replied they had to because the person in fron of them had. I asked if they like me to climb down and ask them too or could they do it themselves...they did. It does take a bit of courage but with tickets being so expensive I'm buggered if I'm going to sit and say nothing.

@Murrain You're right. Doesn't make it any easier to put up with though.

I know what you mean.

i went to see a musical recently but someone’s alarm was going off who then didn’t turn it off for ages 🤦‍♀️

Also the security guard didn’t have his walkie talkie wired in properly so we could hear the weird noise of that intermittently too.

also the staging broke. They got it going again after 25 mins but then of course during the last 25 mins people were leaving to get trains etc.

It was expensive and the noise and disruption just really took me out of the zone!!!

Your update will skew the vote.

I voted YANBU at first because YANBU to deplore this behaviour.

Then changed my vote because I think YABU to give up.

The reality is that behaviour is worse in some shoes than others, with the ‘populist’ musicals being high risk, those attracting he. type groups etc.

I don’t know why theatres allow crisps.

Theatre staff need to be trained and supported to intervene and ask people to be quiet. In many theatres such as the National latecomers are only admitted at certain points between scenes and if you leave during the performance you have to watch on a screen in the foyer until the interval.

Also we need to get better at saying ‘would you mind being quiet please’ if someone is making a din.

Exactly this ^

My pet hate is singing along. My kids were mortified when I challenged a woman warbling along to an outdoor performance of G&S. When she tried it a second time I told her I’d paid to hear the professional actors’ performance not her am dram effort.

@Murrain yes musicals are ‘the theatre’ - the performers work extremely hard to get the production to the standard that you see on stage, with years of training in singing, drama and dance before hand (usually starting in childhood) and deserve the same respect as any other performer. Is it as serious as the opera/ shakespeare? - absolutely not, but it doesn’t mean that people can be rude and disrespectful in the audience. We need to raise our expectations of people and their behaviour and hold them into account (ask them to leave after 1 warning from staff) to prevent disruption for other audience members. Even at the pantomime which is one of the most casual sorts of theatre entertainment, there should be general respect for others- we all expect the usual booing/ cheering / clapping type behaviour and audience participation, but children should not be running about in the aisles, climbing on seats/ standing up, screaming/ shouting over the main dialogue and adults should not be talking over the actors/ checking their phones etc. Basic respect for the performers and other audience members.

I have a friend who is an amateur musician. He plays in city music bars. I went to see one of his performances and people stood right in front of him talking loudly to their friends. After a song, he asked people not to do that. Said it was really off-putting and kind of rude. Please go away from the stage if you wish to talk. A group of young women ignored his request so I intervened. Reiterated calmly but firmly his request, and asked them to move. They called me rude and aggressive! Said I had upset them. They did move though. Utterly lacking in self-awareness and manners.