Food and drink in theatre

[Lookforthegoodthings]

Taking my Dd, 6, to The Nutcracker at the weekend. It states that there is no food or drink to be consumed. The show is 90 minutes long. Surely you can bring a bottle of water for children? (and I will need to take a small snack)

What have you done when taking Dc to see a show?

They probably say that or otherwise people just behave as if they are at the cinema and would sit there rustling, chomping and slurping their way through the performance.

In lots of theatres you can take in drinks from the bar.
And people eat sweets in musicals and pantos etc.
But rustling about and eating and drinking and walking in and out in things like ballet, orchestral concerts, plays, opera is really bad audience etiquette because it disturbs people’s concentration.

OP, is it 90 mins including the interval?

Is it a casual show, a children’s performance, or one of the ‘big ballets’.

Just explain to your Dd that people like to sit quietly and enjoy the music and the dancing, so no talking, and at the interval you will go to the loo and have a drink and then go back in.

Hopefully she will be absorbed and amazed and you have nothing to worry about.

6 year olds who have had their lunch and a drink and been to the toilet really should be fine for 45 minutes.

Go to London theatre quite a lot.

bag checks in all of them.

90% of time they are not bothered about a bottle of water and small snack and glucose tablets .

occasionally say !no food’ -I am diabetic with food allergies and tell them this / show my medic alert bracelet and then never any problem taking food in as they know it is a genuine NEED.

i hate with a passion people slurping and munching throughout a performance - so noisy and disturbing. I only eat during the show if my sugar level is dropping low and I’m having a hypo - and I do it quietly and discretely - otherwise I eat at the interval if I need to.

this really is a teachable moment for the child. 90 mins without food and drink…. explain - this is the rules - You will not die. We go to the toilet before it starts . We will have a snack at the end. You can chose to buy an icecream / crisps at most theatres if there is an interval but again - it’s 90mins. You will focus on the show and at the end we can go and get a drink.

all theatre bars have tap water available in a jug. No one is going to die from dehydration in 90mins.

6 is still quite young for a show. I took one of mine at 6 to west end shows as they could sit and enjoy it - without talking, figgiting, eating or drinking. They were able to understand the theatre etiquette . My other child at 6 couldn’t sit like this so we waited until they were much older as they just weren’t ready at 6 .

i go to the theatre a lot and I find it really sad that kids are not being taught how to behave appropriately - far too much chatting, whining, eating, toilet breaks, every 30 seconds… so disruptive to everyone around them.

my kid was spell bound with theatre - sitting there literally mouth open watching - because they really loved it and really were ready for it. I started them at the cinema and then child friendly / relaxed performances to ‘test’ to see they could cope with theatre etiquette. That way both we and everyone around us at the theatre were able to really enjoy the show.

do things when your kid is ready for - if not ready to sit quietly without a bottle of water for 90 mins - this really is a poor idea.

Water I can understand - I would always take a bottle of water for myself to the theatre in case I got a tickley cough (especially if the air is dry from heating/air con). It's much less disruptive to have a quick swig of water than to push past everyone and walk out of the theatre, or sit and cough through the performance!

Snack or toilet I don't understand. Why would they need to eat or go to the toilet (assuming no disability/sudden illness) during a 90 minute performance? Surely they go longer than that at school.

I used to work in the bars and kiosks of my local event hall. When I first started 10 years ago we didn't allow any drinks into the auditorium, but even then people could still take in plastic bottles of drink and we always allowed cold food to be taken in. We started doing bag searches after the Manchester arena bombing primarily as a security measure, but stewards will confiscate alcohol until after the performance. Customers would have been allowed to bring their own drink bottles to any performances that weren't standing gigs. Of course every venue will have its own policies, but I doubt they are going to start confiscating water bottles or snacks.

There will be an interval and they will be happy to sell you drinks and sweets and ice cream, these are a big money maker for venues. If they've asked for no food or drink in the auditorium I would save your snack for the interval unless you need to eat for medical reasons. If your daughter gets thirsty I doubt anyone is going to complain about her discretely drinking from a bottle of water. No one is going to stop you leaving to use the toilet, but as people have already said, depending on the venue and the production they might make you wait until an appropriate point to let you back. If I were you I would avoid giving your daughter too much to drink beforehand and tell her you will get her a drink at the interval to avoid mid performance toilet trips.

I hope you both really enjoy it.

honey sandwich

Please don't take something like honey!
Why would you think such a huge,y sticky substance like honey would be a good idea?!

If neither you, nor your DC, can go 90 minutes without eating then you shouldn’t be going to the theatre (and a rethink of your lifestyle is in order frankly).

Unless they have a medical condition which may necessitate it, presumably.
Even people with health and medical conditions are allowed to attend theatre shows!

This policy is to be commended.

At my nearest theatre so many concerts and plays are ruined by people eating and drinking noisily all the way through. People have forgotten how to behave in public.

Bag search, our local theatre will do them but they are not interested in any snacks or bottles of water, they are done for safety purposes

Water yes

Snacks only during interval

It's rude and completely not on to eat during a theatre show that people have spent lots of money on

Expect to be spoken to and asked to stop if you eat at all during the show

Please don’t take a snack. The constant rustling of packets ruins it for everyone else. If your child can’t last the length of the show without a snack, they are too young to go. The theatre has a no food and drink policy for a reason! The selfishness of people in theatres these days is unbelievable

No they don't

Obviously completely disrespectful morons do think it's ok to eat sweets etc but well brought up people do not

I've taken my young children to the theatre many times. I do not allow them to eat, drink or go to the toilet during the performance. It is disruptive for others and they need to learn respect. I make sure they've been beforehand and are not hungry. If they started to cough unexpectedly, I would allow water bottles.

My children and I do not have any medical needs. If we did, I'd book aisle seats and have a discreet word with the usher beforehand to explain we might need to nip out and when would be best.

I'm sure the audience can cope with a child asking to use a toilet - if you can't, maybe you aren't fit to go to the theatre or out in public for that matter. If you're this miserable you might as well stay at home 24/7. I have no idea who you think you are telling people they aren't fit to attend a theatre because they asked a perfectly reasonable question.

I work in the theatre @NestaArcheron and have done since I was a small child. I know how hard the actors, dancers & singers are working on stage (I train them) and I know how disrespectful to the performers, and disruptive to the audience, it is to have members of the audience who don't respect those around them and those on stage.

There are conventions of live theatre going for very good reasons. Different types of shows have different conventions. At the pantomime, audiences are encouraged to be noisy - but at particular moments. Even at the pantomime, there are conventions for yelling out: you don't boo when the Prince kisses Cinderella, for example!

The one I was at the other day had a small child (too young really) screaming & crying at the baddie - his parents did the right thing and took him out of the auditorium.

If I'm seeing a ballet performance of the Nutcracker, I want to hear the music (especially the sublime Tchaikovsky score) and see the dancers, who perform extraordinarily difficult physical feats.

The theatre is LIVE - we are all sharing the space, and there are conventions for how we share that space, and how we allow others to enjoy the show.

At one opera house, I used to go to regularly, in the winter season, the opera company used to have bowls of unwrapped cough sweets available so that audience members could quell their coughs without the rustling of cellophane wrappers. Rounds of coughing in an aria are really annoying.

No one needs food or drinks for 90 minutes.
Go for a drink after the show. Enjoy it! The Nutcracker is wonderful.

I've never had a resuable bottle for water taken off me - I'll often have one on me because I've been travelling in, and I always like to have one with me in case the different atmosphere in the auditorium sets off a tickly cough as a pp said. I've been known to take (non-rustly) cough sweets as well!

What they mean is you won't be able to take drinks or food from the bar into the auditorium, or a picnic from home if you have brought one.

I have relatives who work in theatre and one is a manager so some of my kids have been going since tiny. We take a small lunch box with jelly sweets in it so no noise at all and a small bottle of water (fruit shoot size). Never had any issues.

Also you will definitely be allowed back in if you need the toilet. You may just be kept outside to wait for a natural show break/scene change/lights change and everyone goes back in at the same time. It's much easier to do with opera/musicals/ballet than straight plays.

I always take a small bottle of water, and the security searches have never asked me to remove it. I think they are looking for bigger items, booze, inappropriate food etc.

Also let's be realistic here: in 2024 there are audience members threatening to punch front of house staff, having to be removed for drunken behaviour, shouting and swearing and singing when they shouldn't, a child sucking a sweet or taking a sip of water is the least thing to be distracting for cast, front of house, and the audience.

I despair - unless you have a medical issue, you can last 90 minutes without food and drink!

Unless you or your d's have a medical reason like diabetes then If she can't sit through a show without eating or drinking them maybe she is a bit young to go to the ballet yet. My 10 year old has autism and we didn't take him to the cinema until he was 8 and could sit through the film without disturbing other people. We are hoping to take him to the local college and secondary school live performances for the first time this year.

This. I went to see Wicked last night in Manchester at £100 a ticket. Parts were completely spoiled by the never ending rustle of sweet wrappers and crunch of popcorn, plus the endless stream of people getting up for the loo (and banging the doors each time).

If a six year old can't go 90 minutes without a snack/drink/wee then perhaps consider whether they're old enough for the ballet. I've taken my kids everywhere but unless it was a specific, abridged children's ballet performance (and I did take them to those too) mine would have struggled with a full length ballet.