To ask what poor theatre etiquette you’ve witnessed?

[AllaMova]

Admittedly, I had never experienced poor theatre etiquette until I saw Phantom of the Opera in the West End last week.

A woman next to me kept lunging forward and then flinging herself back in her seat throughout the performance, which was very distracting and made my seat shake each time. Then, she kept whispering to her companion.

A man kept kicking another man’s seat. I didn’t notice until the man in front turned around and told him off doing so. (Not that I blame him in the slightest!)

Another woman a few rows in front of me got her to text several times. An usher intervened, but she kept doing it.

Some people also arrived late and missed the start of the show and distracted everyone else in the process of finding their seats.

I can’t believe all of this happened during one single show. Until that point, I had been so lucky.

I saw a show recently and a larger couple sat beside me. Unfortunately the woman sitting next to me spilled onto my seat slightly. I don’t blame her, people are getting bigger, seats and spaces should be larger. Then the man sitting behind me kept putting his feet on the back of my open seat and the toe of his shoe kept hitting my backside. I did look behind and it eventually stopped. People need better fucking manners. Keep your filthy feet off seats. The show was awful as well.

We went to see a dancer from Strictly this woman was so drunk she fell down the stairs to her seat, in front of us she was up dancing and whooping stumbling , her friend took her out at the interval and they didn't return to the seats.

I get people want to have a good time,but what a waste of a night out.

Recently at the Tina Turner musical- lady in front kept having her Apple Watch pinging all the time! Couple on the end of the row kept talking, man kept getting up and leaving all the time and coming back , towards the end of the second half, he disappeared for ages , she got her mobile out and rang him , ‘where are you? ‘ really loud!

Constantly having to stand up and squeeze into a nonexistent gap to let people out to the bar/toilet etc. Do it before the show or during the intervals. Bloody annoying.

Not the theatre but I once took DC to the cinema and a man sat in the back row with us. Took his shoes and socks off and perched his grippers on the headrest of the seat in front of him. Diabolical.

Same! A woman checking messages and Facebook about once every two minutes with the brightly lit up screen during a production of Macbeth.

Then I too saw the wanking post! 😂

At Six a few weeks ago. The couple beside brought snacks - dry roasted peanuts. The pong as they opened the packets was disgusting. They were a supermarket version so really crinkly plastic. As Jane Seymour sings about the death of her child and the whole place is silent and moved by her beautiful voice, all I can hear is the deep rummaging of the peanut packet beside me and wafts of dry roasted peanut smell.

People behind us at Priscilla queen of the desert were pissed before it started (it was the matinee) and just whooped and talked all the way through the first half. At the interval a female usher came out and told them off, she was magnificent- said any more and we will stop the show and you’ll be ejected. I turned round and did a happy face that they’d been told , one of the women saw me and told her friend that they’d “get me” after the show and apparently to add to my crimes I wasn’t showing enough pleasure at being there ( that was true as I did not like the show ) I think she thought it was me who’d complained about them.

about five minutes later, still in the interval the usher came back and booted them out.

Being threatened at the theatre was a new one on me.

I was going to ask just HOW but having been to the Royal Exchange I do understand now.

My DS had three seizures during a performance of Peter Pan Goes Wrong and the first one involved a lot of moaning and if you were there I deeply apologise. We explained to our immediate neighbours but I'm sure other people could hear.
We took him out when we could, then he seemed fine so we brought him back in and then it happened again. The theatre staff were amazing. Helped DH with him, found him somewhere to chill where he could watch on the big screen.
We had the four seats at the end of the row and I was in the end seat after this where the row being shorter behind I wasn't in front of anyone fortunately. I did text DH to find out if DS was ok as I thought it would be less disruptive than going to find him. Plus DD was only 7 and would have followed me disrupting everyone further.

I went to see a comedy show in my local theatre, Georgie Carroll the very funny nurse who tells all of her crazy experiences in hospitals. The place was wall to wall with medical staff so lots of crowd interaction. However - a few rows away from me on a team night out who had got absolutely wankered before the show. Every story the comedian told they had their own version of, that they proceeded to shout to each other the whole way through. Ruined the show for me

I told them to be quiet a few times and was told to fuck off quite loudly

I was threatened at the cinema by a group of teenagers. We went to see Titanic 25th anniversary and a group of about 15 teenagers came in and talked, texted, joked around, threw popcorn at each other and just acted a bunch of right nobs the whole way through. I asked them to be quiet and two girls said they were going to follow me out. I got up to go to the loo and they appeared by the sinks when I came out, when they spotted my 7 month pregnant belly they went very quiet and sulked off.

My DH told me he would come to the loo with me but I told him i wouldn't be intimidated by a bunch of kids, I grew up in a rough town and did high level martial arts for 15 years. Its not my first rodeo standing up to twats

Went to see The Lovely Bones and a guy fell asleep part way through the first half and snored loudly until the interval. Fortunately he didn’t come back for the second half.

My friend’s theatre companion is very intolerant of ANY noise during the play - one time he was infuriated by the man
in front of him constantly opening a bottle of fizzy water and sipping from it. You’d have thought Hugh Bonneville would have known better 🤣

That’s a medical emergency - obviously disruptive for those around you but that’s life! I hope it wasn’t too stressful for you all 💐

Why do you think people seem to be much worse at the theatre than at the cinema?

Is it because it’s more expensive so they feel entitled?
Is it because it’s often a “big occasion” so they’ve overindulged and are tired and emotional?
Do they genuinely not realise that the performers can hear them?

I’ve never understood the “singing along” thing. I was at an acoustic concert with a friend once and she insisted on singing along to every song, I couldn’t hear the famous performer.

I don't know if I can call it "poor etiquette" but it was really annoying. I went to see 'Born with teeth' (Ncuti Gatwa was one of only two actors in it and was superb), a one act play that - like most dramas these days is serious with the occasional "wry" line. The woman next to me shrieked with laughter like a banshee at each of these, meaning that I missed the next lines as she did so.

Of course, in actual comedies, the actors are directed to pause for the laughs...

I was sat next to a women in a big fluffy jumper with very strong perfume for a production of Antony and Cleopatra. Itching and gagging through the whole production. Not her fault I have sensory issues but why do some people wear so much perfume or aftershave?

The worst was a couple eating fish and chips at the ballet. When people complained they says they hadn’t had time to eat beforehand so it was quite reasonable.

My teenage daughter is also diabetic, and recently she went to see a Shakespeare play on her own with a friend. The man next to them leaned over and had a go at her for using her phone.

She uses her phone regularly to check her insulin levels. She didnt correct him as she didn't want an argument and she was quite rattled.

I'm sure he went home delighted he'd put to rights an antisocial teenager.

Indeed. And you've reminded me (this is not about the theatre but similar) about people who pay a lot for tickets to football matches and then leave beofre the end - to get ahead of the traffic, apparently.

I go to Old Trafford, which is usually sfull of 73 thousand people - some of whom routinely (the family who sit in front of us, for example) get up and head off before the end. I mean - why bother going?

Some men love to tell off women and girls, don’t get me started.

I was once at an international cricket match where we were losing and people were leaving in droves. Only for us to make a comeback and end up winning!

It was sometime in the late 1980s and I can’t even remember which match, but it was a really exciting ending and many people missed it 🤣

When dd and I watched Everybody's Talking about Jamie someone complained to someone near them about noise and was called a fat cow in response. Charming

Not a theatre but a posh concert hall. Somebody got up and left during a piece. Presumably went for a pish and then came back to his seat during the next piece.
And no he wasn't at the end of a row he was in the middle!

I cannot actually understand how ushers allowed him back in or at leastdidnt make him stand and wait at the back until there was applause to go back to his eat.

It gave me the rage.

I took my Dd to Matilda in the West End - her first proper theatre experience. She was youngish but excited and it was an evening show, not a matinee, so I gave her the talk about being quiet, sitting still, go to the loo before it starts, you can have a sweet quietly but no rustling wrappers, the whole thing. She got it and was well prepared. Imagine her - and my - surprise when the family next to us sweep in with a huge tray of doughnuts and start handing them out mid-show, along with rummaging in a bag every two minutes for more snacks! And I was shocked at a family show to see people coming back from the bar at the interval with pints and pints of beer. I like a glass of wine sometimes at a show but it’s not a pub crawl!

As someone from an underprivileged background, I couldn’t agree more. I’ve discovered a love of theatre as an adult and never grew up knowing the etiquette. I find this utterly patronising.

Children's theatre group performance, child in audience in similar costume to the female lead.(there were a few) You could see her fidgeting excitedly, her mum then virtually pushed her onto the stage(steps at the side) where she proceeded to sing along side the shocked lead. Utter chaos ensued. Turns out girl wanted the part, didn't get it, left the company, and mum hatched the plot. They stopped the show, kids in tears, they were escorted out. Break then show went on.