Crisps shouldn’t be allowed in the theatre

[coffeegirl73]

Went to a play tonight - a professional production - tickets weren’t cheap. But for me it was spoilt by people all round me munching from large family size bags of crisps and bags of sweets. I just feel it’s very disrespectful to the performers. It seems mad to me that we can’t go an hour without eating?? They were selling ice cream at the interval which is kinda traditional I guess and most people finishing off their ice cream wouldn’t make noise. The 2nd half was worse- the girl beside me had a large bag of sweets that were individually wrapped and she was constantly unwrapping sweets and offering them to her friends. Was at Stratford there last year and there’s no way you would eat through the performance but this theatre is also pretty well known. Was very annoyed

I have never witnessed this. How disrepectful to the actors and the audience. I hate it at cinema but wouldn't tolerate it at the theatre.

Eating in the cinema is bad enough, but in the theatre it's unforgivable. Why can't people go an hour without food? I would personally ban it completely but, sadly, cash-strapped theatres make money from selling snacks, so we are stuck with it

And these are the same yobbos who don't put their phones away!

Wow, I’ve not experienced crisp eating in the theatre, thats really unpleasant. We always take sweets and unwrap them and put them in a little plastic
box to avoid rustling, so crisps is a big no no for me. I’m surprised they sell them at the venue but the again, cinemas sell whole meals these days, which is pretty gross.

They sell popcorn and crisps in most theatres.

and frankly the desire for abject silence when watching a performance needs to leave. It’s so dull.

anyway for a lot of theatres the only places they make pure profit is through food and drink sales. So they won’t be going anywhere

I agree. We were at the theatre last week and I was shocked at the constant munching (my 5 year old and 7 year old managed perfectly fine without any snacks at all). The bloke behind me loudly ate the worlds most strong smelling cheesy crisps, the scent left me feeling sick for the entire second half. Firstly it's disrespectful to the cast, secondly it's distracting and unpleasant for the rest of the audience. And thirdly, no wonder everyone is obese! The show started at 2pm so surely everyone had just eaten lunch, yet seemed to need to shovel food in throughout the show! Madness!

I don’t think it’s just the eating though , we went to the theatre this week and we were pretty disgusted that so many of the audience just left all their food rubbish on the floor for staff to clear up after them . Rubbish bins were at the entrance to the stalls , so no need to even take it home with you . This was an adult based late evening show , so no kids to blame either . We were amongst the last to get out due to our seats , and staff already had numerous full black sacks collected .

A couple of years ago, I was stuck behind 2 men at our local theatre (major city) who talked and checked their phones all the way through the first half of a play. DD wouldn't let me say anything to them so I bit my tongue.

They went to the bar (in the venue) at the interval and brought back slushies. What idiot thought that was good product to sell in a theatre???

I didn't hear much of the second half purely because of the rattle of their drinks. It was so distracting.

I did contact the venue after the performance.
They fortunately now no longer have the slush machine!

I honestly don't understand how people can't manage an hour without eating!

Drinks are fine but open them before the performance or during the interval.

I usually take a couple of mints loose in my pocket to suck on if I get a tickly throat, but that's to stop me from coughing so that I don't disturb other people.

So many people are so entitled these days and don't give a fuck about anyone else.

Someone probably suggested ice cream years ago because it’s quiet to eat. Now it’s sell anything to make some money

It's not just that, it's people drinking and then needing to be up and down to the toilet which means that the row has to get up to let them out. A performance was ruined for me recently because of this, the tickets were a Christmas present.

At least people in the cinema are more spread out so you don’t tend to hear them although the last time we went one family was up and down to the toilet every 10 minutes. I thought just go sit down by the side for fuck sake.

I agree with you. Crisps and sweets in wrappers are a no-no. The interval is for that. I don't like them in cinemas either. I've come for the performance, not an intimate interlude with someone else's snacks.

Great stuff

I like silence from the audience. I want to hear the play, that's what I have paid for. Most theatres don't sell crisps in my experience. If I want to eat something I have a bag of chocolate raisins, ready opened. Pour raisins into your lap and Robert is your mother's brother, no noise. But I rarely indulge this fetish.

Don’t blame the people, blame the venue. If it’s such an issue they can ban food

I go to a lot of theatres and they’ve all sold crisps, nuts, icecream and alcohol. A few sell things like sandwiches and sausage rolls etc

I was at the theatre once and a girl started eating an apple. WTF. Also her and her mate were talking for most of it. So rude

I'm a regular theatre goer but had about 10 years off with DC.

Pre-DC no one ate during a performance, snacks were strictly for the interval. Post-DC people munch through without a care in the world.

I totally agree with you OP!
It's infuriating. We were at the opening night of a play v recently. It's a quite, serious piece of theatre & there was some idiot down the row from us rustling LOUDLY in a bag of crisps.

After a few minutes I heard someone hiss 'for God's sake stop making noise with that bag'

But the person with the crisps persisted & continued rustling away till they were finished eating & then crunched the bag up. I couldn't see in the dark v well but I could most certainly hear it all!

Then we had the people yo-yo'ing in & out of the toilet.etc

It was v disruptive

Most big theatres do make a pre-show announcement about switching phones off - makes no difference, several phones will invariably bleep with text messages. I think they should all install phone blocking devices to block signals.

As for eating - the actors are far enough away that they won’t hear people eating but it’s very annoying to other audience members around you to rustle sweets, etc. Part of the problem is that theatres sell sharing bags of sweets at a big mark-up, so they are implicitly encouraging consumption! Lots of theatre bars also sell crisps, so again, people will take these back inside the auditorium and munch away.

I agree it’s very annoying but theatres cause a lot of it!

Could not agree more. It's so rude, to everyone. It's live performance, not the cinema. And so slobby. Do you need to eat every five minutes?The last performance I went to, not cheap, was spoiled by the adults behind me who had a bucket of popcorn, a share-sized bag of sweets, and a drink, each. It was like trying to watch the performance in a barnyard with all the slurping and munching. People have no manners anymore.

Blame the venue for both selling and allowing food. Not the people. If it was banned then they wouldn’t do it

I totally agree! If people really can't go an hour without exercising their jaws then they should sell 'quiet' little cardboard boxes of non crunchy food in these places. Like the ice cream or non wrapped sweets. Too much plastic anyway.

Agree OP
i know theatres and cinemas make money on the sale but it’s takes from the show.

i think it’s crazy theatres sell them ! Ok ice creams, fine, not noisy
but Crisps what the heck !!!