Man on WhatsApp next to me in Theatre?

[PassingStranger]

Can't people just put their phones away and switch them off for once.🤫

Man using WhatsApp in the performance and kept checking to see if he had a reply.
How can you concentrate what is going on if your mind is on the phone.

It should be off in the theatre also.
Why cant people switch off from their phones and talking to people for a while.
No consideration for others either it's distracting.
😫

Bet he was a tourist

Last time I was at the theatre the woman in front was scrolling Facebook. The show was crap and she was obviously as bored as me, but still...

THIS IS WHY STEVE & REECE NEED TO GET THAT SKIT MADE INTO LAW!!!

ffs. Yes i am shouting. Yes OF COURSE HE IS DISTURBING PEOPLE. THAT'S LITERALLY THE PROBLEM.

I sympathise. This drives me mad in theatres and cinemas. Makes me want to grab their poxy phone and shove it where the sun don't shine.

I was at a performance last week where two women sitting next to me were sitting side by side on their phones and one even took a call too. Oh my gosh, it was so frustrating. I wanted to say something but I couldn’t be arsed with the stress.

I’ve never heard of that rule in a theatre.

They may say turn it on silent or no photography but I’ve never heard them say to turn your phone off/not go on it.

Theatres, cinemas etc really need to come down hard on this asap to avoid going out of business - I am not bothering to book anymore because even though I am not averse to telling people to stop messing with their phones, it causes the evening to be stressful and it is too expensive to have to take the risk. That, and ending up with feral people who don't know not to talk/sing/eat/sniff throughout performances.

Yes @PassingStranger I agree this is so annoying.

I don't accept that it doesn't disturb anyone – the lit-up screen will attract your attention. People shouldn’t go to the theatre if they can't manage for an hour without checking messages.

Before Christmas DD and I saw an amazing show at the National, we utterly loved it. But in the middle of it the chap behind me had a phone call - ffs why was his phone not on silent? - and when we all looked round and glared at him he made out he didn't know why. YOUR PHONE IS RINGING. I was fumming.

At the interval I said something to him (quite sharply tbh; the tickets were not cheap and we were had been very excited about it) and he said he couldn't hear the phone. FGS. He was oldish (older than me haha and I am 60+) and very posh. Which somehow made it even worse. Maybe he can afford £75 to sit at the back of the stalls multiple times a month but we can't.

<rant over> We still LOVED the show which was the wonderful Ncuti Gatwa btw

I have been to the theatre quite a bit lately (DD gets cheap tickets to lots of shows bc of her age) and they always either announce “please turn off your phone” or hold up a sign saying "no phones" – sometimes both.

Of course it's annoying and I can see why it bothered you but I guess you don't know why he's checking the phone, perhaps someone is ill or in crisis or similar. Or maybe he's never been in that type of environment before and doesn't know the etiquette. Many people think its obvious but I've worked with lots of people who genuinely wouldn't know this was an issue. Of course he may also have been bored/reliant on it but I think it would have been fair to say to him nicely that the light was bothering you and would he mind turning it off, or you could have said to a member of staff and let them deal with it.

I’ve never seen that before. Perhaps they are needing to do it more now.

I don't understand why the people doing this don't think, "I paid way too much for these tickets to spend the time on my phone instead of concentrating on the play."

If anything so serious was going on that he had to constantly be checking his phone, perhaps he shouldn’t have been there.
Also, it’s the light from the phone that is so distracting.

There are a lot of excuses for the inconsiderate people on here. It's never acceptable. If there is some dire emergency then why are you at the theatre?

Speak to an Usher

Seriously. We will try and stop people where we can see it, maybe give them 30 seconds to quickly check a message but not repeatedly

And we don't always notice

To a PP - many shows do have "please turn phones off" type messages and we have signs to hold up too.

I think the toilet roll shelf is a great idea. I keep my phone in my back pocket so need to take it out before I use the toilet. So having somewhere to put it (not use it) is very handy.

I always put my phone on silent and on aeroplane mode (so I don’t get any calls that would make it vibrate) and I put my smart watch on theatre mode to so the screen is dark.

Saw a musical last week and a woman decided to film one of the scenes half way through the first act. WTF? Most shows let you film at the end, so just wait till then!

Don't think so, but still shouldn't do it anyway.

Lots tell.ypu not to take pictures or film.

Smart watches are awful for flashing up, I wish more people would turn them off!

This is rubbish. There’s no reason to keep checking it every few mins. I once went to see a film I’d be looking forward to for months. My mum was in hospital at the time and it wasn’t looking great (nothing imminent though) and after weeks of stress I really needed a couple of hours of escapism. I kept my phone in my hand on vibrate (obviously with the screen off and I kept it face down as well just in case) and sat by the door. So IF it rang while I was in there I could dash out to answer it. What I did not do was keep it on bright screen or keep checking it every few mins.

There’s also ways you CAN check a phone much more discreetly if needed once or twice. Brightness turned right down, check it under a coat or in a pocket.

The staff should have intervened. They do at theatres I’ve been to recently. The light is really distracting for everyone around.

Re: S&R - I agree EmeraldRoulette.

It wasn’t Hamilton was it? You might have been sat in front of me yesterday OP.

Then he should have foregone the theatre trip. People pay hundreds of pounds and wait months for some shows. It's not ok to have it spoiled by people who cannot manage a 90 minute slot without their phone. If you have a potential emergency like a v sick relative, dont go.