3,726 posts
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Post by anthony40 on May 14, 2016 18:48:13 GMT
What's the most thing that ever happened to you at a show, either on the way to the show or during
Just to clarify, I'm talking about you as an audience member, not the performers.
For me, it was quite recently I went to seem miss atomic Bomb at the St James Theatre.
On the night I had the choice of either going home after work and rushing about or just turning up early after work and wait around. I chose the later.
So I got to Victoria Station, had a quick meal at Wetherspoons (gotta love a good Spoons) and on the way out bought a Twix chocolate bar from the nearby W H Smiths.
Now, for anyone who is familiar with a Twix chocolate bar, there are two fingers- biscuit with caramel, covered with chocolate. I ate one finger on the way, leaving one spare.
In the foyer of the St James Theatre there is a wide sofa seat which I sat at for approximately one hour, playing with my phone, watching the stars of the show arriving, etc. It was at this point I decided to eat the second twin finger and I discovered there was only half a Txix finger. Where is the other half I'm thinking?
Turns I was sitting on the other half (don't actually know how this happened), Beige jeans on a wide sofa! What the frig?!? I had been sitting there for at least an hour It was are and well smeared over my right buttock. And the show hadn't even started!
So, I took myself into the toilets, took my jeans off and I'm standing there, in my underpants, stepping on the jeans thing to get them taunt so could try and scrape off caramel with my fingernails.
I was also conscious of the fact that I couldn't e my pants too much as I still had to sit in them throughout the show so I went to the var to ask for napkins. I thought I could at least sit on the napkins without soiling the theatre seat. The napkins they gave me were black! Argh!
So I did the decent thing and made the Front of House aware so that no one else could sit on the white sofa in the foyer and also become soiled and watched the show sitting with black napkins wedged between myself and the seat, taking the opportunity to scrape a combination of squashed caramel, chocolate and black napkin.
And by the time I got home it was too late to put the jeans in the wash. And I was at work all day. So they sat this way in my room 15 hours + before I could wash them.
Footnote: the chocolate/caramel/black napkin washed out and the next time I was at the St James Theatre I couldn't help but notice the white sofa has been scrubbed clean, the swirl marks for scrubbing actually visible.
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3,057 posts
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Post by ali973 on May 14, 2016 18:57:04 GMT
It normally involves me telling people off whether it is their crumbling plastic bags, unwrapping candy, singing along. I'm normally shameless about these requests, but my OCD and control issues made me, against my good judgement, to ask the gent next to me to stop scratching his beard for entire act because the sound it was producing was grating. Oh, I also asked a heavy breather to stop, well, breathing (so loud).
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4,361 posts
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Post by shady23 on May 14, 2016 18:58:36 GMT
Was this the Right Twix or the Left Twix?
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Post by crabtree on May 14, 2016 20:24:30 GMT
I'm afraid for me it was two smart but overdressed ladies, in the row in front of me, kissing loudly and determinedly throughout a Ballet Rambert performance. Awkward tutting from many of us behind resulted in more determined kissing and more noise....the confrontation had begun. A point was being made. A whole can of worms, but if I had paid all that good money for a great seat, nothing, and I mean nothing would stop me from watching the show. Maybe that is why I am single. They could not have seen a tenth of the show, but then rose to their feet in a great ovation. Sadly, their antics had ruined the show for the row behind.
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4,799 posts
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Post by The Matthew on May 14, 2016 20:33:01 GMT
There was the time I went to see Behind The Iron Mask, and I saw it.
One time on the way to see Chicago I stubbed my toe shortly before setting off. I didn't think much of it at the time, but on the journey into London it started to get more painful and by the time the interval came around I decided to take my shoe off to see what was going on. It turned out I'd broken my toe and most of my foot had turned black. I had to spend the second act with my foot wrapped in a bag of ice donated by the bar to get the pain to subside enough for me to get home.
I ended up wrapping the toe in gaffer tape to stop it moving while it healed. To this day I include "bones" on the list of things I've repaired with gaffer tape.
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2016 23:15:06 GMT
Easy....At a matinee of The Bakers Wife, a man was sat next to me. It was a super hot day and he was wearing shorts. The friend i was with said something to me and i laughed, prompting a big thick piece of phlegm to fly from my throat... i saw it fly, almost in slow motion, onto the man's bare knee. before he knew what hit him, literally, i dived onto his knee to wipe it off.
He must have thought i was a crazy man attacking his leg. My friend laughed about it all through act 1 and still finds it hilarious today.
The man in shorts didnt return for the second act. Mortified.
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18,770 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on May 14, 2016 23:40:57 GMT
It normally involves me telling people off whether it is their crumbling plastic bags, unwrapping candy, singing along. I'm normally shameless about these requests, but my OCD and control issues made me, against my good judgement, to ask the gent next to me to stop scratching his beard for entire act because the sound it was producing was grating. Oh, I also asked a heavy breather to stop, well, breathing (so loud). When I was at Funny Girl with Anthony at the MCF I sniffed a couple of times (it was November!) and immediately got a clean tissue thrust under my nose. Anthony: theatre pro x |
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Post by oxfordsimon on May 14, 2016 23:59:47 GMT
For me, it was probably the performance of Bombay Dreams where I was threatened with violence for daring to ask someone to stop talking during the performance.
A couple behind me were chopsing all the way through the first half and several people shushed them. But at the interval, he got up (egged on by her) and threatened to punch me.
'We've paid good money for these tickets, we can do what we ****ing like'
I can't quite remember what happened - but it was enough for them to be quiet during the second half.
Wasn't fun!
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2,041 posts
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Post by 49thand8th on May 15, 2016 1:26:48 GMT
Four of us got in a car accident on the way to Stomp. We were fine; car was not. We still ended up at the show (20 minutes late).
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3,726 posts
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Post by anthony40 on May 15, 2016 6:06:44 GMT
It normally involves me telling people off whether it is their crumbling plastic bags, unwrapping candy, singing along. I'm normally shameless about these requests, but my OCD and control issues made me, against my good judgement, to ask the gent next to me to stop scratching his beard for entire act because the sound it was producing was grating. Oh, I also asked a heavy breather to stop, well, breathing (so loud). When I was at Funny Girl with Anthony at the MCF I sniffed a couple of times (it was November!) and immediately got a clean tissue thrust under my nose. Anthony: theatre pro x To be fair, it was freezing that night and it was a particularly bad cold you had BurlyBeaR |
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6,299 posts
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Post by danb on May 15, 2016 6:11:06 GMT
Caprice.
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7,488 posts
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Post by alece10 on May 15, 2016 10:42:29 GMT
A few years ago I went to see a Sondheim gala at the Peacock Theatre. At the end I made a mad dash to avoid the crush and as I went up the stairs to the foyer I went "a*s over t*t" fell over and slid along the carpet just as everyone was walking out behind me. Being Sondheim the audience were mostly middle aged queens who just looked at me, tutted, stepped over me and carried on walking.
I was mortified.
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243 posts
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Post by theinvisiblegirl on May 15, 2016 10:48:56 GMT
When I decided I couldn't bear another minute of Cats and tried to escape between songs only to run straight into one of the Cats. Either that or Alan Cumming picking me out of the audience to dance on stage with him at Cabaret - I'm all for audience participation unless it's me participating!
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Xanderl
Member
Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on May 15, 2016 11:04:44 GMT
Cut my hand open in the interval of a show once (accidentally, I wasn't self harming) and had to get someone to fetch the first aid box
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2016 12:01:50 GMT
Meeting Joanna Riding after a performance of the Girls in Leeds, and asking her "So, were you in the show?"
Mortified.
In my defence, I was sat rather far away.
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3,057 posts
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Post by ali973 on May 15, 2016 12:10:47 GMT
lol..what did she say?
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2016 12:35:24 GMT
To be fair, she was lovely about it. But there was a small awkward silence which gave me the clue that I had been a tool! |
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2016 13:44:29 GMT
I had an epileptic seizure... technically in the interval but I pulled myself together for the second half.  |
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848 posts
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Post by longinthetooth on May 15, 2016 14:41:28 GMT
Not really my story to tell, but a friend once projectile vomited onto the woman sat in front of her.
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21 posts
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Post by kasper on May 15, 2016 15:57:28 GMT
Standing in the yard at Shakespeare's Globe, watching Henry V, leaning on the stage.
The end of act III. Jamie Parker recited: "And on tomorrow bid them march away".
And then a disaster occurred.
During those silent seconds after that speech, my mobile phone rang.
In those days my little telephone music was the Mamma Mia tune. Can you imagine? I dived into my little rucksack and couldn't find that damned thing. It took several seconds before I could kill my phone and everybody had to listen to the full melody. The audience lay flat with laughter and Parker just gazed at me and he asked, gesturing, if he could continue with the show. I sank on my knees and only stood up again during the interval. I was mortified. I saw hundreds of shows, never forgot to switch off that damn thing en never did again after that shameful moment.
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636 posts
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Post by theatremiss on May 15, 2016 16:10:22 GMT
Due to closed exits at a venue I was launched down a flight of stairs due to volume of audience members and ended up with a number of people on top of me. I damaged my arm (suspected break, but wasn't), cut my shin, damaged my knee and hip and still suffering 13 months later. The worst thing was not being taken anywhere private and many of the cast from Memphis saw me as they walked past, whilst I waited for an ambulance. A night I'll never forget in a hurry
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111 posts
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Post by andromedadench on May 15, 2016 16:16:52 GMT
I thought I was dying. Once or twice.
I helped myself to a filler ticket for the NT's 50th anniversary celebration even though I had no way of knowing if it belonged to someone else. I didn't notice anyone complaining about being left ticketless, but that's still one of the worst things I've ever done, generally speaking.
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647 posts
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Post by ptwest on May 15, 2016 16:27:28 GMT
Seeing the King and I with my mother sticks in my memory - we were in the second row of the Manchester Opera house, I have run the gauntlet a few times of her saying what she thinks at full volume, usually trying to clarify plot points. But this time, as Tuptim came downstage towards us I heard my mothers voice call out "ooh, what a pretty girl!". This in itself wasn't so bad, but then when another member of the chorus came and stood right in front of us a couple of minutes later, in a moment of quiet she called out "Oh dear, she's not as pretty is she? How unfortunate." There were a couple of glances from the stage, the show continued, I wanted the ground to swallow me up!
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573 posts
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Post by Dave25 on May 15, 2016 16:31:25 GMT
Easy....At a matinee of The Bakers Wife, a man was sat next to me. It was a super hot day and he was wearing shorts. The friend i was with said something to me and i laughed, prompting a big thick piece of phlegm to fly from my throat... i saw it fly, almost in slow motion, onto the man's bare knee. before he knew what hit him, literally, i dived onto his knee to wipe it off. He must have thought i was a crazy man attacking his leg. My friend laughed about it all through act 1 and still finds it hilarious today. The man in shorts didnt return for the second act. Mortified. I have been laughing about this post all day. I just had dinner and wasn't even online and I started cracking up again when I just thought of it. It's just something I can really see happening, also your impulse to clean it up and your friend's reaction. Brilliant. |
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2016 18:01:44 GMT
Glad it amuses you  The friend I was with keeps threatening to put me up for the big red chair on Graham Nortons show. No chance! If that man in the shorts was by chance to read this board, i really DO apologise!! Still mortified after all these years. |
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Xanderl
Member
Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on May 15, 2016 18:55:50 GMT
I think the best way to deal with the phlegm incident would be to pretend to wipe some off your shoulder while turning round and glaring at someone in the row behind you
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169 posts
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Post by jess173 on May 15, 2016 22:26:33 GMT
Many years ago I had tickets to see Wicked. Before the show we did some sightseeing and I wanted to take some pictures of the Tower. It was already dark outside and while I was busy looking at my camera I walked straight into one of those stone benches in front of it. I badly bruised my knee but there was no way I was going to see a doctor and miss the show...  I sat through the show and my knee kept swelling. When I got to the hotel I could hardly put down my pants. I went to the doctor the next day. The knee was twice its original size and deep blue but nothing was fractured... Thank god... ^^ And one time I was at Joseph in the Netherlands. I was sitting front row and my phone started ringing. I did not realise that it was my phone because I was 100% positive that I had put it on silent mode before the show. This was actually true. But if you set your phone on silent mode it doesn't mean the alarm is put on silent mode as well. It was in fact my phone and an alarm I had set the day before, accidentally putting it on repeat. It took me probably more than a minute to realise that. The cast and several audience members gave me mean looks. It was so embarrassing... |
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372 posts
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Post by hitmewithurbethshot on May 15, 2016 23:21:07 GMT
About 4-5 days before I had a week booked in London seeing shows last September (mostly dayseating), I had an awful fall off my bike which scraped up my knee and thus gave me a nice limp for my entire trip. I foolishly planned my trip so I'd have only an hour or two window to get to my hostel (in Tottenham!), drop off my suitcase, take the train back to central London and get to the Savoy to see the evening performance of Gypsy. What I didn't take into account was a) my new speed handicap, b) the hostel was right next to the Tottenham Hotspurs' stadium and c) I was arriving on a match day. Long story short, I ended up resorting to £10 for a rickshaw to the theatre as soon as I got out of the tube station and still arrived 10-15 minutes late for the show, very sweaty and flustered.
The show itself wasn't the bad experience (though I admit I did have some difficulty seeing what all the fuss was about), just the lead-up and the getting there!
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665 posts
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Post by westendcub on May 16, 2016 12:32:31 GMT
As we are sharing,
Last year after work I walked from Barbican to the National.
Now I had just had a cold and it was a lovely cold evening, I arrived at the theatre and picked up my ticket for 'Treasure Island' (dreadful) and was walking up on the stairs and needed to sneeze, as I put the tissue to my nose I realised I was about to have a nosebleed and rushed to the loo. It seemed to go on for ages and I literally had about 2 mins till the performance time, get my seat a little mortified and parnoid it could happen again.
The show was running late, and a lady piped on a conversation next to me. I was too little in my world and paniced to not really want to engage in a conversation so I must of looked rather rude so of muttering back. Luckily it was just a random one off nosebleed brought up from just getting over a cold and prob the cold temperature outside - the woman next to me must of thought I had left but I had seen in the stalls 9 empty rows so went down there for act 2.
Terrible play but won't forget those few minutes before the show in a hurry!!
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Post by partytentdown on May 16, 2016 12:38:23 GMT
Viva Forever
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The friend I was with keeps threatening to put me up for the big red chair on Graham Nortons show. No chance! If that man in the shorts was by chance to read this board, i really DO apologise!! 
I sat through the show and my knee kept swelling. When I got to the hotel I could hardly put down my pants. I went to the doctor the next day. The knee was twice its original size and deep blue but nothing was fractured... Thank god... ^^ 
