Bad Behaviour at a Show

having lived in Manchester for five decades, that incident sadly doesn't surprise me, and why of late I've lost the Manchester theatre going habit.

I saw a new one for me, the lady next to me in stalls row E at Blues For An Alabama Sky chatting away for 20 minutes to her friend, then at 1435 the lights go down. Suddenly she goes for her handbag, gets her iPhone, and spends 2 minutes trying to do something with it. Then, the reason I'm posting this, because I was so appalled, she turned the TORCH ON, held her phone right up to her face so she could find the silence switch, flips it, then casually spends a few more seconds closing some apps before turning the torch off and putting the phone in her bag. She was literally lighting up the heads of the people in front, it was insane. THE TORCH!!!

Mamma Mia at Sheffield last night: proof that gangs of middle aged women + lots of alcohol + theatre are not a good mix. Full marks to the team at the theatre for dealing with it as well as they did but they had their work cut out. Special mention to the classy lady who stuck fingers up at the team when everyone did get up out of their seats towards the end. Classy.

I should also report one or two of the cast for the damage inflicted to the Abba songs too.

Is it seriously being suggested that you should feel obliged to applaud something that was unremittingly awful? I certainly wouldn't, and have done so. Similarly, if you've had a bad meal in a restaurant, should you simply feign contentment?

Clapping something you don't actually like, far from being polite, is hypocrisy and devalues genuine praise. It reminds me of that complaining couple in Fawlty Towers who, when asked by Basil, lie that everything is fine.

I've been at some shows so bad that I thought that everyone involved owed me an apology for wasting my time and taking my money. Of course, if a show is merely poor, and the cast have tried their hardest, then I'll clap where it's due.

At the Garrick yesterday, I was in the last (fifth) row of the Dress Circle next to a gentleman in a wheelchair in the central space reserved for that. I thought it was poor that he missed the finale of the show because of people ovating in the rows in front.

I see the problem though. If the people in row D had remained seated, they would have missed it too. It required all four rows in front to be aware of the situation and show some self-restraint. Perhaps some notices on those seats from the theatre when the wheelchair position is in use would not go amiss?

I think it's a bit impractical to tell audiences that they have to stay seated during a standing ovation because of who may be sat behind them. It's an unfortunate circumstance but we can't police everything I'm afraid. 

I also suspect that many theatregoers who use wheelchairs would feel terribly uncomfortable if it was made to seem that their presence was preventing a standing ovation.

Given that the first recorded standing ovation happened at the premiere of Handel's Messiah in 1743, calling it modern selfishness is pushing it a bit..

My best friend was a wheelchair user and we had one issue across about 40 shows in town and fringe. The trains, on the other hand, despite booking assistance in advance - shameful. Issues more than half of the time.

We saw one show and had such a bad time of it*, they invited us back and gave us VIP treatment.

I’d say most venues (in my own experience, not everybody’s before people start crowing) are very disability aware in recent years and the service is generally excellent.



*this was a long runner at a top show in town, it turned out two of their four dedicated staff for people needing additional assistance were off. A mix up meant we had nobody helping us and had a miserable time, were brought in late at the rear of the stalls and she (under 4ft) couldn’t see anything. Left after 30 minutes.

They couldn’t have been more apologetic, free tickets, travel, drinks, programme, brochure and voucher for the merchandise stand, plus a dedicated “butler” for the night and was offered to meet the cast.

She declined the backstage thing, as all she wanted was the same experience as everyone else in the first place.

I’m not naming as the venue as they recognised a huge flaw in their processes and how upset she was, and did everything in their power to fix it - and did.

I've just seen this retweeted by the POTO Twitter account. I can't decide if it's bad behaviour or amusing enough to get away with it.

"I also suspect that many theatregoers who use wheelchairs would feel terribly uncomfortable if it was made to seem that their presence was preventing a standing ovation."

In fact, I am sure that all wheelchair-users absolutely hate it when any consideration at all is shown for them and would be much happier if, for instance, if organisations didn't feel they had to provide ramps or lifts for access, dedicated parking facilities, and so forth.  They are much more comfortable being disadvantaged.  So that's all right, then.

Oops, the best example I’ve seen of this was also at the Lyttelton where two audience members were chatting away until the show started. Once it started and 5 minutes passed, there was an exclamation of surprise as they realised they were at the wrong show. Quite a struggle for them to get out from the narrow stalls seats at the front. If I recall correctly, the clue as to the show was there all along as before the show there was a safety curtain with huge words “Wuthering Heights” all across it.