Theatre- does everyone talk at children’s shows

[Bornnotbourne]

We went to the theatre yesterday to see a children’s performance and it was constantly disturbed by people talking. Behind me a mum was explaining every scene to her small son who was constantly asking what was happening. I noticed that other children round us were talking and weren’t shushed by their parents. It’s an extremely rare treat for my children to go to the theatre as we’ve not wealthy so didn’t know if this is the norm?
it really ruined it for me as it was like watching TV with audio descriptions on! We won’t go in future if this is the norm.

I have taken my LO4 to several shows and this is the norm. However, adults generally keep their voices down and children asked to be quieter if shouting, being loud etc. So not rowdy but definitely not quiet and I wouldn’t shush my child either if he wasn’t being particularly noisy or talking constantly. It’s a child event so I think you shouldn’t have expected the same environment as an adult show to be honest

Oh my goodness we had this with the Bluey show and I was livid. The entire audience just jointly decided to talk over the whole thing.

However, I think that's the age it was aimed for. We've been to a few David Williams shows and also things like Aladdin and wizard of oz and the audience were very respectful.

Behaviour is notably terrible at theatre these days so I would say all bets are off at a children's show.

It wasn’t a toddler show, the books are aimed at 7-11 years old so I was expecting that age range to come.

Toddler shows like Bluey and Peppa Pig we are more "relaxed" over the rules. Because it's very little children, parents probably talk the episodes through with their children whilst watching it and are doing the same. It's expected to be noisier. But if you'd had a real issue, we would have tried to move you if possible.

If it was a "children's" show like anything Disney or David Walliams then the audience would be expected to act "properly" as its not just children there and it's really aimed at older children as more of an actual play/musical

My biggest concern with that would be it could disturb the actors.

Seeing how adults behave at west end shows I'm not at all surprised!

Few people seem to have manners these days.

I hate this - even for children's shows. I remember going with a friend to one of the My First Ballet shows and she talked all the way through with her daughter explaining everything, even though they have a narrator who does exactly that!

I'm not an ogre - I don't expect everyone to be completely still and silent in a children's show, but I don't expect people to be holding conversations in a normal voice so we can't hear the music or the actors!!

We don't go to things like that anymore - we do normal shows and I expect appropriate behaviour from my DC.

I was going to say that's how it was at Bluey because of the age of the audience, but no I wouldn't expect it with that age group! Something to look forward to I guess...

Agreed, but sometimes I feel like the staff at the West End shows don’t help. I don’t get why they let in latecomers (who subsequently use their phones to find their seats and have to walk over audience members to get to them) when the tickets clearly state that latecomers cannot be admitted.

I think people have forgotten how to go to the theatre in general.
They seem to think they are at the cinema - and don’t get me started on the ones who think it’s ok to sing along at a musical.
I only go to matinees now in the hope there are less drunken sing along crowds. It’s a shame I used to love dressing up for a meal and a show.