385 posts
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Post by Ade on Jul 8, 2023 20:31:25 GMT
I've only ever done this once and it was Titanic when it was touring at The Lowry a couple of years ago. We absolutely hated it. I did feel a little guilty for some reason for leaving though! Twice for me. Titanic was one of mine too, as well as Evita at Open Air (sorry, I know lots of people loved it). |
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1,482 posts
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Post by mkb on Jul 8, 2023 20:51:36 GMT
I am very much of the mindset that you can't judge any show until you've seen the whole thing, and plenty of shows have improved in the second act to make my point.
However, when I used to pay the Belgrade Coventry £925/year (minus Gift Aid rebate) for their excellent, but now defunct, membership scheme that permitted two free tickets to up to 50 shows, I got to see some real stinkers, all of which were in the small B2 auditorium. I don't know how some of these touring one-star productions managed to secure funding, but a few tested my patience to the point that I had had enough by the interval.
I've seen the term "experimental theatre" used, but the experiment often seems to be in how much money they can part from arts councils and unsuspecting punters.
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2,261 posts
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Post by richey on Jul 8, 2023 21:20:10 GMT
I've only ever done this once and it was Titanic when it was touring at The Lowry a couple of years ago. We absolutely hated it. I did feel a little guilty for some reason for leaving though! Saw Titanic at The Lowry this week and considered leaving at the interval but this time persevered and found the second act marginally better. Far too much earnest staring off into the middle distance and singing over each other. |
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2,408 posts
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Post by theatreian on Jul 8, 2023 21:33:17 GMT
Sylvia , the first run at the Old Vic...despite loving Beverley in other things thought this was awful.
Beggars Opera at Birmingham Rep
Does this count? Fantasia at the cinema when I was a child!
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241 posts
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Post by justafan on Jul 8, 2023 22:22:19 GMT
Only the once in 50years of theatregoing. Rodgers & Hammerstein’s ‘Allegro’ at Southwark - I didn’t have a clue as to what was going on - like others have mentioned took advantage of being able to get an earlier train home
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2,339 posts
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Post by theglenbucklaird on Jul 9, 2023 7:01:18 GMT
Happy Days, starring Maxine Peake, at the Royal Exchange, back in 2018. The whole thing was utterly tedious - there was 5 minutes of plot, which then just got repeated ad infinitum for the rest of the first half. I suppose that's probably the point, but I couldn't stand any more of sitting there, watching the stage revolve slowly, as lights followed it around, meaning you got your retinas blasted into blindness about once every 90 seconds. Headache-inducing. Funnily, I’ve walked out of this play because although I had seen it more than once before, it was unbearable. Must have hit a nerve. I saw the Juliet Stevenson version at the Young Vic. Couple behind me talking before the show about how they loved the Fonz, great Saturday evening tv. They, unsurprisingly, never made the second half |
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235 posts
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Post by Jane Parfitt on Jul 9, 2023 9:01:50 GMT
Avenue Q. Hated it.
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543 posts
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Post by WireHangers on Jul 9, 2023 10:56:16 GMT
The first tour of The Commitments when it got to Edinburgh. The cast were over the show and were giving the most phoned in performances I’ve ever seen.
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Post by NorthernAlien on Jul 9, 2023 11:47:00 GMT
I am very much of the mindset that you can't judge any show until you've seen the whole thing, and plenty of shows have improved in the second act to make my point. However, when I used to pay the Belgrade Coventry £925/year (minus Gift Aid rebate) for their excellent, but now defunct, membership scheme that permitted two free tickets to up to 50 shows, I got to see some real stinkers, all of which were in the small B2 auditorium. I don't know how some of these touring one-star productions managed to secure funding, but a few tested my patience to the point that I had had enough by the interval. I've seen the term "experimental theatre" used, but the experiment often seems to be in how much money they can part from arts councils and unsuspecting punters. There are some people who are very good at getting money out of ACE, because they know how to answer the questions, and how to 'tick the boxes' - and bear in mind that the boxes which require ticking change relatively frequently, depending on ACE's current policies. Having tried to secure funding myself, and having several friends who have also tried, and knowing some shows which do/have receive(d) funding, my personal opinion is that there is often a disconnect between 'decent show an audience will enjoy' and 'received funding from Arts Council England'. And to say more would probably require us to establish a new thread, lest we de-rail this one... |
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395 posts
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Post by lichtie on Jul 9, 2023 12:56:00 GMT
Never done it (mainly because with the exception of Leeds Playhouse I can't just leave and get an earlier mode of transport home). But been several where I definitely wished the option was there - top of the list is Salome at the Olivier. Susanah Clapp's 1* Guardian review overpraised it... Made me decide never to go to another Farber show ever. Macbeth, Common and St George and the Dragon at the National also came close, but there was a certain element of car crash about them that made it hard to look away (and they weren't as shouty). Quite a few mediocre RSC productions over the years tempted me to quit as well - the closest probably the recent Julius Caesar which was awful, but the weather outside was similar so squatting in the warm theatre seemed preferable. Mostly I just settle in for a quiet snooze if the first half is poor.
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1,970 posts
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Post by sf on Jul 9, 2023 15:31:56 GMT
The Man In The White Suit. Witless One Man Two Guvnors knockoff, and the cast couldn't save it.
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8,153 posts
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Post by alece10 on Jul 9, 2023 17:16:16 GMT
I've just remembered another. Funny Girl at Cliffs Pavillion Southend On Sea.
Sheridan was off with glandular fever but main reason I left at interval was because I couldn't see anything.
Having never been to the theatre before I didn't realise it is more of a mini arena than a theatre and stalls seats are all on one level with no rake. As I'm not 6 foot tall I really couldn't see so left at the interval and got back to London a couple of hours earlier.
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Post by zephyrus on Jul 9, 2023 21:41:45 GMT
I generally force myself to stay until the end of pretty much everything I see, although I make an exception maybe once a year. I remember I left The Duchess of Malfi at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at the interval about 10 years ago (mainly because, unsurprisingly, I was very uncomfortable, and it reminded me why I hate that particular theatre, and why I generally avoid everything at The Globe.)
Recently, I went to see When Winston Went to War with the Wireless at the Donmar, and I really wasn't enjoying it at all. I spent the whole interval toying with the idea of leaving... but, in the end, I went back in to the theatre and, for the next hour, regretted that I hadn't gone home early.
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Post by vickyg on Jul 10, 2023 8:19:13 GMT
I've only left at the interval once, which was very recently for Aspects of Love. I always worry that I would have enjoyed the second half and usually there is *something* that has potentially to develop. I do often regret not leaving though and wish I could be more brutal with my decision making!
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10 posts
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Post by stitcher on Jul 10, 2023 13:05:29 GMT
Just remembered a staying after the interval when we wanted to leave! Marti Webb in Tell Me On A Sunday (she took over after the Denise Van Outen run,2004?), - they'd closed the upper tiers and there were just a few of us in the front rows of the stalls - it would have been very noticeable if we'd left. She sounded great and gave it her all, but it was just quite an uncomfortable watch...
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Post by fluxcapacitor on Jul 11, 2023 8:54:13 GMT
I don't do it very often, but if something is bad enough (in my opinion) and I'm not enjoying it, I will.
The first time I ever left at the interval was a god-awful concert production of 'Little Women: the Musical" narrated by Sandi Toksvig at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in (I think) 2005. It wasn't the Broadway musical, but a new version by Lionel Segal. We had comps, but even free tickets weren't enough to make me stay for more. It was terrible.
Then most recently, the RSC's Don Quixote at the Garrick in 2019. We saw it towards the end of its run when closing was imminent, so I think the cast were just going through the motions, and it had been left to become laboured and sloppy. It was unfunny and felt amateur. We preferred a civil drink before heading home.
I also left the Sydney production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella last year. It was the perfect example of how a strong production (it was based on the 2013 Broadway version - using the same sets, costumes, staging and arrangements) can completely lose anything that made it special in the wrong hands. It was hammy, played like a pantomime in wide brush strokes, and felt targeted exclusively at primary school children. Watching bootlegs of the Broadway version is like watching a different show and I'm gutted they messed it up so badly.
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Post by solotheatregoer on Jul 11, 2023 9:59:30 GMT
I generally force myself to stay until the end of pretty much everything I see, although I make an exception maybe once a year. I remember I left The Duchess of Malfi at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at the interval about 10 years ago (mainly because, unsurprisingly, I was very uncomfortable, and it reminded me why I hate that particular theatre, and why I generally avoid everything at The Globe.) Recently, I went to see When Winston Went to War with the Wireless at the Donmar, and I really wasn't enjoying it at all. I spent the whole interval toying with the idea of leaving... but, in the end, I went back in to the theatre and, for the next hour, regretted that I hadn't gone home early. I'm the same. I try and force my way though productions even if I am not particularly enjoying them just in case they redeem themselves. I've never actually got to a point of leaving at the interval for a live production. However, I did leave during the Best of Enemies NT Live showing a few weeks back. I just found it so incredibly dull and since it was a NT live cinema screening I felt less guilty about leaving. |
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Post by ladidah on Jul 11, 2023 10:54:51 GMT
I left Grease last Summer.
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1,482 posts
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Post by mkb on Jul 11, 2023 11:14:22 GMT
Oh no! I've just remembered "Two Into One" written by, directed by and starring Ray Cooney, at the Menier in 2014. Not a happy memory (and I write as a fan of bawdy farces and with an affection for Carry On humour).
Not only did I leave at the interval, I also vented my anger at the box office, something I've never done before. This is the only theatrical production I've seen where I thought they crossed a line; not just crossed in fact, but leapt clear over it: this was NOT a team trying their hardest to make a piece work, and failing; this, in my view, was a cynical scam, designed to extort money from punters. It was clear that not the slightest skill or ability had been employed at any point. It was just complete and utter rubbish, devoid of anything that would even raise a smile. To actually charge for this tripe was disgraceful.
I figured that if I could complain in a shop about a product being sub-standard or not fit for purpose, the same rules applied to theatre. Needless to say, the box office were unsympathetic and not the slightest bothered by how upset I was at being duped.
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1,351 posts
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Post by CG on the loose on Jul 11, 2023 13:09:15 GMT
One play because my head hurt so much I was seeing stars, and not those up on stage who, from what I did see, were doing rather a good job.
Two musicals, because... meh, and I had a long journey home. A little surprised that 'long journey' hasn't swayed me into leaving at the interval more often, but the inherent optimist in me figures (wrongly on occasion!) that things can only get better.
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19,778 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jul 11, 2023 18:19:59 GMT
I left Grease last Summer. Summer lovin’ had you aghast? sorry… I’ll get my coat. 🙂 |
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Post by marob on Jul 11, 2023 19:49:29 GMT
Thinking about it, there is one show I had to leave at the interval: Ken Dodd. One of the rare times I went with someone else, and they had to be in work for 6 the next morning. And with it being Ken Dodd the interval wasn’t until about 10.30. Wish I’d seen that through to the end.
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3,316 posts
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Post by david on Jul 11, 2023 19:55:29 GMT
Thinking about it, there is one show I had to leave at the interval: Ken Dodd. One of the rare times I went with someone else, and they had to be in work for 6 the next morning. And with it being Ken Dodd the interval wasn’t until about 10.30. Wish I’d seen that through to the end. , I saw the great man himself once. Sat through the entire show and it must have been gone midnight before we left the theatre. A long day, but so worth it despite having to get up early for work the next day. |
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Post by ladidah on Jul 12, 2023 7:18:01 GMT
I left Grease last Summer. Summer lovin’ had you aghast? sorry… I’ll get my coat. 🙂 I didn't get very far...  |
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Post by NorthernAlien on Jul 12, 2023 7:57:56 GMT
Thinking about it, there is one show I had to leave at the interval: Ken Dodd. One of the rare times I went with someone else, and they had to be in work for 6 the next morning. And with it being Ken Dodd the interval wasn’t until about 10.30. Wish I’d seen that through to the end. Yeah, Ken was notorious for being a long show - very often running until after all the buses in whichever town he was in that evening had stopped running! |
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