Taking babies (under the age of 1) to the theatre?

[user1493715321]

So....
I know this has been discussed before but I wanted a more up to date opinion of how people feel towards taking your lo to the theatre?
I recently took my daughter (she is 9 months old) to a show at the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury, it was an adult show not a children's. Luckily she was very good and made hardly any noise, and when she did I would leave to ensure no one was disturbed (i was sat near the door).

It got me thinking that there should be a specific viewing, like relaxed performances, for parents/carers who want to go to the theatre but feel they can't because they have a young baby.....
What is everyone's views on this?

NotCitrus - DS doesn't like them either!

Look I resepct everyones comments and I also respect that it would be unfair to take a young baby to a normal viewing of a show which is the point of my idea (and i would like to remind you it is ONLY an idea that I am proposing, so that is why I am pushing foward the conversation)
I have spoken to countless amount of people who agree with this idea, ok mum and babies groups are great but the point of the experience I am proposing is that it is another way for mums to come together and embrace being a parent and allowing their social and cultural life to continue if anything the theatres putting this in place would benefit them because it would gain them publicity
I would have thought that as mums yourselves you would be on board with this idea, it means that we can enjoy an activity such as going to the theatre without feeling like a burdon to society, I am not talking about taking a toddler to the theatre but more so a young baby that would only sleep and feed mostly anyway.

I think there are more important things in life. Your life changes when you become a parent. If that means giving up theatre for a while, then so be it.

There are millions of clubs or groups for mums and babies - we have more choice than ever before of activities to dow tih our dc - wo why focus on the theatre?

All I am doing is trying to propose new ideas for us mums its a positive thing I am not saying its for everyone do you not feel that for those mothers that do enjoy theatre, like myself, this would be a great experience, this is only an idea like i have stated and it is great that it has sparked so much conversation.
I just would love for it to happen and see what the results were.

Hi OP. I just got this email through from the Park Theatre in Finsbury park. Thought you might like to see it:

'Hello from Park Theatre, my name is Lorna and I’m the Access Coordinator at Park Theatre, I look after our Parents and Babies Performances.

Since you have previously booked for either our Parents and Babies Performances (which you can find out more about by clicking here) or our Storybook Playtime (Which will be running again next season!) I’d like to let you know about the ways in which we are making performances more accessible to parents and babies at Park Theatre.

We have now delivered three Parent and Baby Performances at Park Theatre: The Quiet House; Raising Martha and Finders Keepers. It has been wonderful to see such great turnouts for these shows and to be continuing improvements on our Parents and Babies Performances with the help of your brilliant feedback.

The last Parents and Babies Performance was of Finders Keepers, which was a family show. We received some feedback after this performance that a show which is engaging for little ones might be better placed in the mid-morning or mid-afternoon. We will be sure to take this feedback into account if we have another family friendly show coming up, thank you for bringing this to our attention.

In the meantime, I have included the upcoming Parent and Baby Performances below. These productions won’t be family friendly in the same way as Finders Keepers was. They will, much like The Quiet House and Raising Martha, provide an opportunity for parents and their friends/family to come along to the theatre to see a wonderful show, whilst bringing along under 1 year olds and not having to worry about disturbing other audience members or the performance. We will therefore be keeping a start time of 1pm for these performances.'

So there. It can be done.

That's a lovely email from the Park Theatre. I've also had a quick google (as I felt lots of posters were overly negative) and I spotted that Soho Theatre in London, the Lowry in Manchester and the Bike Shed in Exeter all do seasons of plays specially for Mums and Babies (as well as there other more general relaxed performances). So, it definitely can and is being done. Good luck finding one near you OP!

By the time the baby is crying everyone has been disturbed. You need to wait until you can leave it at home, I object to having screaming kids foisted on me, especially if we had paid a large amount for tickets.

People have to accept that if they choose to have children their lives will change

But no one is suggesting dragging babies to 'normal' performances. They're suggesting that there's scope for some cinemas to offer baby-friendly matinees every now and then.

This has weirdly reminded me of a Lee Nelson performance I went to where someone had brought their young teenager. Really inappropriate, kid was irritating and got himself some attention from lee Nelson and it was having some young kid in the audience for all the sex etc jokes.

First they took over the buses, then the coffee shops, now they are planning to take over the theatres....... Is nowhere safe from the yummies?

Thanks for the post Pansiesandredrosesandmarigolds this is inspiring and I am aware of a few places that are on board. Although what I am imagining is a theatre show for adults (within reason) that young babies can be bought to
I know it has been done in London and received good feedback and just wanted to see what other mums thought of the idea although from this post it seems a lot of mums are condemning it, really I think as mums we should be embracing ideas like this that allow mums to maintain a social life that isn't entirely revolved around baby events. I'm not suggesting that a toddler goes through this, but a small baby under 1 that would most likely sleep a lot of the show anyway