Bad Behaviour at a Show

It amazes me the number of people who genuinely seem incapable of finding their seats, and seem mystified when you tell them they are sitting in the wrong ones. They were empty, weren't they, so what is the problem? Or they stand there, tickets in hand, blocking the aisle or row, but seemingly incapable of working out where they should be sitting.

I too find this amazing, but unfortunately experience confounds expectation, though it's worse at some venues than others.  I was hugely relieved when the new AD at the Orange Tree introduced reserved seating at long last, but it definitely takes longer now for people to enter the auditorium than it did before - how and why is this possible?!

So far I haven't needed to, my unwillingness to back down has thus far proven 100% successful. I would absolutely go for a member of staff if I had to though. I don't book cinema or theatre seats on a whim, most of the time I have chosen precisely the one I *want*, and I don't deal well with having plans derailed.

If they're in my seat and won't move, I just sit on their lap.

At Brighton Theatre Royal the other afternoon a guy entered my row in the stalls, I was sat in the low numbers (4) and was sat in seat 16 - right at the other end of the row! I said nothing but the woman next to me said quite reasonably "why didn't you go in the other end?" the guy replied "I would have done but the usher sent me this way!"

The staff and ushers at Brighton Theatre Royal are useless. They seem to be on day release from some care home for the old and demented!!! SO bad behaviour from the ushers!

Pretty much the entire audience at Dreamgirls tonight - usual problems of talking, ice in drinks and rummaging in bags, but the rustling of sweet packets behind me was nothing compared to the yelling out in inappropriate moments throughout the show. Yes, the cast are astounding, but there is really no need to yell "sing it Effie" in a moment of silence before Amber starts singing And I am Telling You...dramatic tension completely ruined!

Amber referred to this in a tweet but didn't exactly condemn it, let's hope it doesn't become a 'thing':

@msamberpriley: I just wanna know who yelled out “SING IT EFFIE” before “And I'm Telling You” tonight 😂 I almost laughed and I forgot what key I was in 😂

So..... is this bad behaviour?

At Blood Brothers this week at the Brighton Theatre Royal I was sat next to a girl who fidgeted the whole show - the coat was on, the coat was off, the scarf was off, the coat was on, she sat crossed legged, she sat on the tipped up seat, the coat was on, the "top knot" hair was up, the hair was down, the hair was flicked, the scarf was on, the coat was off..............the WHOLE show.

The Mother who was with her ignored the behaviour. The people behind her must have been very distracted.

No-one said anything and neither did I. Yes, I said nothing. Why? Because the girl had Down's Syndrome.

So not bad behaviour per se but hugely annoying none the less?

Thanks for those responses.

Yeah but that's only because he wanted to shout it.

Trying to pre-empt any bad behaviour happening here more than anything! We're going to see HP on Sunday as I managed to get tickets in the Friday Forty. My husband has just told me he's on call so will have to keep his phone on vibrate during both shows. If it goes off he will have to get up & answer it. We're pretty much in the middle of a row in the stalls.

I have asked if he can give them the number of the theatre instead but apparently that's not possible. He is military so (hopefully) highly unlikely he will get a call but is there any other way this can be dealt with to prevent any potential bad behaviour?

Going to the theatre is actually part of my job so keeping a phone on is a big no, so I'm feeling rather stressed about what was supposed to be a nice day out!

I tweeted him back.  The women who shouted thought it was great! Her tweet is in my tweet.