Bad Behaviour at a Show

Talking of urination has reminded me of one night at A Little Night Music at the Menier. A drunk man went to go to the toilet but instead of heading to the toilets he went behind a curtain at the side of the stage and peed there much to the shock of the cast.

Not as bad as that, but we were in the stalls at Book of Mormon and my other half decided he needed the toilet (much to my disapproval), he took the door to the right near the front of the stalls...which took him directly into the alley down the side of the theatre, lol!

Some shows run school performances outside of pantos especially if the book is on the curriculum. But if the theatres don't have a bespoke performance for that you have to chance your luck. Like having a party of pensioners in or from a day centre etc.

Perhaps they thought they'd gone to see We Will Roquefort You? 🤣

I'll get me coat...

Saw someone try to bring in a pizza once. Thankfully they were stopped at the door, which they then blocked whilst dividing up said pizza into slices and handing them around.

Sadly no. He was with friends and they scoffed the lot.

Must be the season for bad behaviour or perhaps I am a serial whinger... but... was at "Aspects of Love" last night, very much enjoying the performance, when Mr Ball began singing his theme tune of "Love Changes Everything". Well, you could hear a pin drop. The air left the auditorium as the audience collectively breathed in, in anticipation of hearing his mellow voice sing the song that (let's face it) msot people had probably paid to hear - and possibly the only song in the show that they know.

Cue the stalker of the stalls behind me to murmur the words softly, like some kind of inoffensive but extremely unnerving grim reaper of the theatre. However hard I tried to concentrate on Mr Ball and his voice, all my ears were hearing were the equivalent of a lyrically described performance directly behind me. It was like subtitles for the ears. I turned around and politely indicated with my hand to quieten down as it was hugely distracting.

Instead, the silly old bat increased her monotonous recital of the lyrics, which indeed followed the rhythm of the song if not the tune, culminating in an uncontrolled crescendo of soporific mumbling on the "love will never ever let you be the same". Having excelled in this virtuoso performance of unmatched tunelessness, she proceeded to rummage in her bag to get out what I presume must have been the world's largest and noisiest bag of crisps.

At the interval, I turned around and said "Please could you not sing in the second half? It's really offputting and I have paid to hear the cast, not you." I thought this was pretty polite, but then she and her pal spent the whole interval chuntering and ruminating over the fact that its a song they love, they're not the only ones, who does he think he is anyway, I wasn't that loud was I, nobody else said anything, whats his problem... etc... etc...

I must thank the very kind gentleman sat next to her who gave me my phone back at the interval after it fell out of my pocket on to the floor without me realising. Very much appreciated as (like most people) much of my day-to-day functioning requires my phone and I'd have been stuffed without it. I wouldn't have blamed him if he had rammed it down the old dear's throat to quell her noise, but he clearly had more class and patience than me.

Second half was splendid and mercifully quiet, at a performance I very much enjoyed despite the indifferent reviews.

I have to say, I've seen two shows in London sat among school groups and my heart always sinks. But in both cases ('Woman in Black' and 'Medea') the kids were great once the show started. (Well, WIB did elicit several high-pitched screams at the scary bit, but it just masked my quieter squeak.)

I'm tempering my judgement based on the fact that the manager's quotes are through the prism of a journalist, but I think I saw enough wishy-washy phrases to know exactly where the problem lies at that venue.

What an awful message from Roundabout.

"Don't judge others' responses.. "

Well, that's contributors to this thread told!

So people can respond in a manner that is as distracting and annoying as possible, and Roundabout management make clear that they will defend those people. Moreover, they will not stand for anyone who dare complain.

How ironic that they couch this in messages about being kind.

I had an unusual one this week. It wasn't an audience member who was on their phone dealing with emails and taking photos, it was the administrator of the festival.

This person pitched after the interval and spent the entire second half in their phone.

I complained and got an apology from the person concerned and their boss.

But if you can't trust arts professionals to behave properly, who can you?