Stop talking at the theatre!

IwishIcouldconfess · 2026-03-05T07:55:38+00:00

I can hear you, I don't care how quiet you think you're being. You're not. Its annoying and you're very rude. Ive paid tickets to see the actors act. Not listen to you whisper about what they were in, the outfit, the set, if the time line is correct, what your memories of nights out are. Just shut up!

itsgettingweird · 05/03/2026 07:56

O often wonder why people pay to watch a show or a film if they want to chat to their mate.

Go out for dinner instead!

StudentStations · 05/03/2026 07:56

And please no phones. Including my friend who was texting her new boyfriend throughout last week during the play 😡

curious79 · 05/03/2026 07:57

And please can you eat your bloody crunchy crisps and get rid of the crackly wrapping in the interval

PrincessofWells · 05/03/2026 07:58

In fact just all stay at home . . .

JustOnePersonNotAnOctopus · 05/03/2026 07:58

Yes!!! Last month we were sitting in front of a couple and the woman kept describing what was happening to her husband. And the man sitting next to me started singing along at the end. Just shut up!!!!!

ZippyGeorgeandBungle2 · 05/03/2026 07:59

That & singing. Just shut up & watch it. We went to a show last week where the 2 women in front of us whispered & giggled like 6yo as soon as it started. I had to ask them to stop.

Whenindoubthugitout · 05/03/2026 08:00

I have started to only go to midweek matinee performances.
its generally a much older age demographic, and in the main appear to be much better behaved!

so tired of really expensive tickets being purchased to listen to someone else singing, eating, chatting.

ThatCyanCat · 05/03/2026 08:01

I turn around and ask them to please stop. I'm not some badass confrontational mistress generally but this pisses me off SO much and at the risk of sounding 500 years old, I'm SURE it never used to be like this. So far everyone has shut up when I ask; they sometimes throw me a dirty look or glare as we're heading out but I really, really don't care.

Original poster

IwishIcouldconfess · 05/03/2026 08:01

Whenindoubthugitout · 05/03/2026 08:00

I have started to only go to midweek matinee performances.
its generally a much older age demographic, and in the main appear to be much better behaved!

so tired of really expensive tickets being purchased to listen to someone else singing, eating, chatting.

This was at a matinee!
Ive taken to shushing people.

OP posts:

Original poster

IwishIcouldconfess · 05/03/2026 08:03

PrincessofWells · 05/03/2026 07:58

In fact just all stay at home . . .

I love this.

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WizardLizard86 · 05/03/2026 08:03

I had to sit in front of someone translating the entire play to the man she was with, line after line. I asked to be moved at the interval, and I was, but the usher wasn’t particularly sympathetic and actually said ‘be kind, it must be very hard to have to try to understand a play when you don’t speak the language!’ Well yes it must be but it’s also bloody hard to understand it when someone is translating it into Russian directly behind you 🤦🏻‍♀️

ThatCyanCat · 05/03/2026 08:03

Apparently Carrie Hope Fletcher has told her social media followers that she loves it when the audience sings along and they should always do it.

CARRIE YOU TWAT

ticktickticktickBOOM · 05/03/2026 08:05

Overlaughing very loudly as well.

Yes something is funny - there is no need to howl and roar so that everyone around you misses the next 5 lines.

NotAnotherScarf · 05/03/2026 08:07

ThatCyanCat · 05/03/2026 08:01

I turn around and ask them to please stop. I'm not some badass confrontational mistress generally but this pisses me off SO much and at the risk of sounding 500 years old, I'm SURE it never used to be like this. So far everyone has shut up when I ask; they sometimes throw me a dirty look or glare as we're heading out but I really, really don't care.

It, sadly, has always been like that. 25+ years ago I was a member of a country club which had a cinema. It would show films that had already been out a few months.
Cue the first Harry Potter. 2 mums and a bunch of kids. Cue one mum every time it goes loud or something happened "are you ok Toby?" "Are you scared"" do you want to leave" the last one resulting in a caustic."no but I wish you would" from me.

Needless to say Toby was bloody loving it.

But if you think a film is too much for a child don't take them... for our sakes

ThatCyanCat · 05/03/2026 08:07

ticktickticktickBOOM · 05/03/2026 08:05

Overlaughing very loudly as well.

Yes something is funny - there is no need to howl and roar so that everyone around you misses the next 5 lines.

That reminds me of when my kids were very little and would laugh extra loudly to show they got the joke. It's very cute in a toddler...

SeriousTissues · 05/03/2026 08:08

Absolutely! Goodness, the talking, the rustling of sweet and crisp packets, the poor behaviour. So disrespectful towards the actors. I saw Six and the row in front of us knew one of the queens. They’d all been drinking and had brought their drinks in with them and they were just so rowdy it was ridiculous. Then there was the man who decided in the second half of Joseph to sit a grandchild on each knee, completely blocking my view. I did have a word with him. No consideration of others at all.

ThatCyanCat · 05/03/2026 08:08

NotAnotherScarf · 05/03/2026 08:07

It, sadly, has always been like that. 25+ years ago I was a member of a country club which had a cinema. It would show films that had already been out a few months.
Cue the first Harry Potter. 2 mums and a bunch of kids. Cue one mum every time it goes loud or something happened "are you ok Toby?" "Are you scared"" do you want to leave" the last one resulting in a caustic."no but I wish you would" from me.

Needless to say Toby was bloody loving it.

But if you think a film is too much for a child don't take them... for our sakes

Show quote history

Oh cinema yes, absolutely. Even now, if a big blockbuster is coming out, I wait a while before I see it to reduce the odds of an obnoxious audience.

But live theatre, I'm sure, used to be better.

Original poster

IwishIcouldconfess · 05/03/2026 08:20

SeriousTissues · 05/03/2026 08:08

Absolutely! Goodness, the talking, the rustling of sweet and crisp packets, the poor behaviour. So disrespectful towards the actors. I saw Six and the row in front of us knew one of the queens. They’d all been drinking and had brought their drinks in with them and they were just so rowdy it was ridiculous. Then there was the man who decided in the second half of Joseph to sit a grandchild on each knee, completely blocking my view. I did have a word with him. No consideration of others at all.

The rusting of packaging, the unwrapping of sweets, the crunching.

Just sit down, shut the fuck up and watch what you have paid to watch!

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Greyblankie · 05/03/2026 08:22

WizardLizard86 · 05/03/2026 08:03

I had to sit in front of someone translating the entire play to the man she was with, line after line. I asked to be moved at the interval, and I was, but the usher wasn’t particularly sympathetic and actually said ‘be kind, it must be very hard to have to try to understand a play when you don’t speak the language!’ Well yes it must be but it’s also bloody hard to understand it when someone is translating it into Russian directly behind you 🤦🏻‍♀️

Edited

They should have been thrown out, selfish pricks. I don’t care if you can’t understand what’s being said, I couldn’t understand a word of the Italian opera I went to see either but I kind of expected that when I booked to see something in a language I don’t speak!

Original poster

IwishIcouldconfess · 05/03/2026 08:25

WizardLizard86 · 05/03/2026 08:03

I had to sit in front of someone translating the entire play to the man she was with, line after line. I asked to be moved at the interval, and I was, but the usher wasn’t particularly sympathetic and actually said ‘be kind, it must be very hard to have to try to understand a play when you don’t speak the language!’ Well yes it must be but it’s also bloody hard to understand it when someone is translating it into Russian directly behind you 🤦🏻‍♀️

Edited

OMG that is terrible!

OP posts:

Original poster

IwishIcouldconfess · 05/03/2026 08:27

WizardLizard86 · 05/03/2026 08:03

I had to sit in front of someone translating the entire play to the man she was with, line after line. I asked to be moved at the interval, and I was, but the usher wasn’t particularly sympathetic and actually said ‘be kind, it must be very hard to have to try to understand a play when you don’t speak the language!’ Well yes it must be but it’s also bloody hard to understand it when someone is translating it into Russian directly behind you 🤦🏻‍♀️

Edited

What is it with the be kind!

Why aren't they kind! By not disrupting out enjoyment??!!

There is something about that expression that just makes me want to smash their smug little face when they say it.

They always cock their head to one side, put on a sickly sweet smile and say in a very annoying voice, Be Kind!

No I won't be bloody kind!

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ThejoyofNC · 05/03/2026 08:29

Rustling of packets really doesn't offend me, the theatre sells the snacks so people are going to eat them. What I can't stand is when people sing along. I got a couple of (very drunk) women thrown out of a performance last year because they were screeching and completely ruining it.

Vodkaandlemonade · 05/03/2026 08:33

We are going to the theatre tonight hopefully no one is making a noise.
First time for a few years.

NotAnotherScarf · 05/03/2026 08:34

ThatCyanCat · 05/03/2026 08:08

Oh cinema yes, absolutely. Even now, if a big blockbuster is coming out, I wait a while before I see it to reduce the odds of an obnoxious audience.

But live theatre, I'm sure, used to be better.

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You could be right. I don't go to the theatre these days just because there's nothing I really want to see.

ilovesooty · 05/03/2026 08:35

IwishIcouldconfess · 05/03/2026 08:20

The rusting of packaging, the unwrapping of sweets, the crunching.

Just sit down, shut the fuck up and watch what you have paid to watch!

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I don't see why it's necessary to bring sweets and snacks into the theatre or cinema at all.