Have you ever walked out of the theatre or cinema? Why?

[EverySongbirdSays]

I was at the theatre last night. The play was 16+ and clearly stated it contained swearing and sexual references in its advertising and BOY did it. The people next to us walked out after the umpteenth wank joke and I was like I've never seen that happen before. And surely if something states upfront what it's about you don't hoik your bosoms and get professionally offended and make for the exit?

We walked out of Hamlet in the interval. Brian Blessed was meant to be on it but he was ill, the replacent was reading the script from and A4 piece of paper on stage.

Oh, and the cinema, although I don't know which film as it hadn't started. DH always books carefully to make sure they are in the middle of the screen etc. Invariably we get there and someone is in our seats. On this occasion, DH politley asked the woman to move and she pointed to spare seats a few seats down and said we should sit there. DH said no as we had booked those seats. She was very huffy about it and as she got up they somehow managed to bump heads. She then started having a go at DH. It was all very we then say in 'our' seats and the woman and her partner sat a few seats down. Very awkward atmosphere. DH got all twitchy and wanted to leave so we then had to squeeze past the woman to get out. This was all before the film started.

Jerry Springer musical. We hadn't intended to even go, just walking around London one day and tickets were really cheap so we thought why not? We found out why not. We don't even watch the JS show so I don't know why we thought we might like paying money to see a musical.

It would out me completely to give the full details because I've told this story to almost everyone I know, but a few years ago I was at an Edinburgh Fringe show (a comedian) with an audience of only 8 people, and quite shortly into it, 4 of them got up and walked out. It was in a tiny room above a pub, so it wasn't even as if it was dark and they could slip out without the comedian seeing them. They took the time to put their jackets on and everything before squeezing past the rest of us. It was completely excruciating. The guy offered to stop the show and give us all remaining 4 our money back. We said no, go on. We should have taken the money and run, because it only got worse.

2nds I had to smile at your tale of walking out of a U2 concert due to Bono's preaching, there's a story that has done the rounds about a U2 concert in Glasgow where Bono said "Every time I clap my hands a child in Africa dies" so some wag in the audience shouted out "Stop fucking clapping then!". You go to a concert for the music not a sermon.

I walked out of a Keira Knightley film but I can't recall which one it was just terrible to the point of being very irritating, and I had a lot of things to get done

Went to a doublebill of The evil dead and Slither

Sat through Evil Dead, slither started and we watched it for about 20mins

Then the projector broke down and while they were fixing it 90% of the audience left

slither was just that crap

I've walked out of loads of films. And the only opera I have ever been to I realised at the first interval there were another three hours to go!

I walked out of a classical music concert. The first half had been really good, loads of well known pieces. The second half, they did some wanky modern abomination that just consisted of loud notes and random trumpet sounds.

So many others had started leaving, we put up with it for 20 minutes then followed them. The conductor turned round at one point and saw what was happening - he just had to shrug and carry on. Only a few people stayed. Quite exciting really.

I haven't walked out of anything other than Moulin Rouge on DVD. I wanted to love it but the singing was just too bad. And an experimental theatre thing about science in Churchill College, though maybe I was meant to end up in the bar!

Usually there's some entertainment from making comments to my companions, or even full-on heckling. Saw the 2nd LoTR film one Boxing Day in a packed cinema of people escaping their families and quite merry - by the time Gimli told Legolas "Toss me" it was pure comedy. I wanted to leave Fram - if small children are being eaten and the audience at the National Theatre is deeming it light relief and comedy in comparison to the previous 2 hours, your show is irredeemably shit.

Once sat through Murder in the Cathedral only because I was getting a lift home at the end. And Matrix 2. And a god-awful production of The Colour of Magic because I was on front-of-house duty.

We walked out of The Taming of The Shrew at the Globe after 40 minutes a couple of weeks ago. It was deadly and clearly wasn't going to get any better. Such a shame because the tickets were a gift and you're usually guaranteed an excellent show there. Or you used to be, under the previous management...

It was deadly and clearly wasn't going to get any better.

I've seen a lot of Shakespeare over the years, and I'm now trying to get my "if it's crap, leave at the interval" mojo working even for that. I'm just about to tick off having seen the whole canon (I'm missing Pericles and Timon of Athens, and the Troilus and Cressida I've seen was so bad it barely counts) but I've seen most of the rest multiple times: perhaps I should set my next target as seeing in a professional theatre a genuinely dreadful production of each play. Mere incompetence or mediocrity or disappointing meh-ness isn't enough (David Tennant's Richard II: meh): it needs a compellingly wrong-headed production and some genuinely misguided acting as well, which is a far lower bar.

I've just remembered DH and I also walked out of a Franz Ferdinand gig. Possibly the most boring band I've seen; no charisma and despite all the props, lights and backdrop absolutely no stage presence. Shame really as The Rakes and Editors were great.

Bolograph I'm with you - I've seen more than enough bad Shakespeare to want to sit through any more just to be polite. Still haven't recovered from a version of Romeo and Juliet at Stratford years ago that was shaping up very nicely until the first fight scene - at which point the two gangs proceeded to dance at each other while banging big sticks on the stage. A real WTF moment.

Related to this subject ... would folk agree (or not) that you are more likely to stay through a cinema/theater production than if you watched it at home ? The fact you have paid for it resulting in a temporary suspension of critical faculties ?

proceeded to dance at each other while banging big sticks on the stage

In the Michael Boyd years, we had a bingo card: no production was complete without folk dancing and a large phallic symbol, preferably both at the same time. I suspect the former is great as a bonding exercise in the rehearsal room and the second is all transgressive and shit if you are fifteen, but at times it all got rather much.

I walked out of a Sean Penn film, and the Baby of Macon years ago because of the rape scenes in both. I found the Baby of Macon one the worst - rape, violence and sexual degradation posing as art = middle aged director getting his jollies

lurkinghusband I think there's an element of conformity when you're part of an audience, no one wants to be the first to leave so they tend to sit there weighing up the awkwardness of the leaving vs sitting through a performance / film / music that they aren't enjoying. Plus you always want to give these things a chance to improve.

timelytess I'm impressed you managed to walk out before Ian Brown did, I've seen him twice and both times he stormed off stage!

Another one who walked out of Mama Mia here.

Only once and then it was because I realised halfway through that my companion was hallucinating (undiagnosed kidney infection). It was a bloody good production of La Boheme too but it couldn't stand up against the jeering voices allegedly emanating from the empty seats behind us.

I walked out of 'Howard the Duck' in 1986.

Wtf was I doing in that cinema, I was 25 and sober.

I loved Hot Fuzz and Howard the Duck