Bad Behaviour at a Show

Admittedly it was very warm in the theatre I was in yesterday afternoon... but the guy in the couple next to me was asleep and snoring within five minutes of the show starting. His (presumably) wife woke him up but then a few minutes later was asleep and snoring herself. I resorted to a loud throat clearing which mercifully woke her up and they had a good giggle together. She decided to keep herself awake by rummaging in her bag and trying a few different snacks. Before long they were snuggled together both asleep and I tried to tune out the loud breathing. Mercifully they left at the interval...

I go to a lot of mid-week matinees locally, and unless it’s something like Six or Heathers, you tend to see the same faces week in, week out. Quite often end up next to a guy who just snoozes through half the show. I don’t see the point in going if you’re going to do that, but whatever. His money. At least he’s quiet.

You're so right alece10 !
Pleased to say I also had a great audience at Old Friends. The pregnant silence during the instrumental at the beginning of Send in the Clowns was so powerful.

The lady herself Miss Taylor Swift had said she wanted fans to treat the cinema showings as a concert and react as it was live. As its the first weekend opening and it would be key fan based audiences I would have expect most evening showings to be pretty lively.
Should be more upset if no one offered you a friendship bracelet or commented on your outfit which apparently are key aspects of going to Taylors concerts.

But why are people allowed to buy drinks once a show has started? I'll answer my own question, it's because they want the money, but theatre bars should be closed once the performance has started. After all it's a theatre not an arena concert.

The moronic young women sipping a half empty water bottle throughout almost the entire second half of Sunset Boulevard. Every time she touched it, it "cracked" like water bottles do. It was starting to become a form of Chinese water torture. Completely oblivious to the quiet and tense sense. In the end the women behind, tapped her on the shoulder in the final scene and that finally stopped her. Ridiculous.

Not exactly bad behaviour but we had an Eastern European couple in front of us who were snuggled together and practically heavy petting throughout Act 1 - they didn't return for Act II...

Empty seat next to me at Lyonesse yesterday- front row. So someone swept in at the interval and commenced a photo shoot with the stage. OK, fine, perhaps it's an earnest Lily James fan or something. Then when the second half begins to text. Jaw dropped - we are 2 metres away from Kristin Scott Thomas who is trying her best in bad circumstances. I did say 'excuse me' and she stopped but then attempted it again twenty minutes later. I felt slightly on edge thereafter...

Last night at I Should Be So Lucky at the Opera House Manchester.

On Sunday I went to see Mandy Patinkin at the Lyric. I was lucky enough to get seats in the front row and as we made our way to the seats a lady standing in row B said very loudly “He’s big and fat”. Now I am tall and big but I was taken back by how rude she was, I am also disabled and need legroom. Unfortunately, my seat was in front of hers and when I sat down she started shouting how fat I was and I shouldn’t be allowed to sit in the front row and quite a bit more. She also made a comment about my ‘fat wife’. I don’t have a wife and it was a friend who came with me.

After a minute or two and it hadn’t stopped I went to find the manager. I said a couple of times that she could not speak to people like she had. She had already shouted at the you girl usher wanting her to do something. I checked she was OK and she just said she didn’t know what to do and I suggested she called the manager.

Whilst waiting for the manager, a couple of people came out and were very supportive saying how distressed they were and they were sorry something so awful had happened. (I believe everyone in the audience could hear as there were some people in the balcony looking to see what was happening). They then went to the box office to complain about the lady. Several others came out going to the bar or toilet and they all made nice comments to me.

The lady then came out and said what was I doing as she had done nothing wrong, still shouting. I said that her comments were very rude. She said she hadn’t said anything rude and then told me in the next breath that I needed to lose 120 pounds anyway and went back in.

When the manager came we went in and he asked her to come outside. There she said that he was threatening her because he used his hands as he was speaking. He was nothing but polite to her. He said she had not even apologised at which point she said that if I thought she had been rude she was sorry. Then he told her that if he let her back in she wasn’t to speak to any other guests. After some fuss she agreed and he asked me if this was OK. I said I was concerned that if she started after the show had started then that would be really awkward. She assured him she wouldn’t and I said I was happy with that as I really didn’t want her thrown out because of me.

When I got back to my seat I found out that she was rude to the person behind he saying that he should be removed because he was ugly, after he tried to calm her down. Then, to be fair, she was much quieter. She swapped seats and would moan from time to time.

Just to add she had her husband with her who said nothing but did go to see if they could swap seats. She wouldn’t as they were to far away. She was not drunk but possibly had some other issues. I remained surprisingly calm, not raising my voice or getting embarrassed.

Had she been spoke with us politely, we probably would have swapped seats with her as she had an aisle seat which I could have manage in even though it would have been more painful. Even after all that happened I still considered swapping seats but felt that it would be rewarding bad behaviour.

Anyway, thanks for reading my rant. By the way the show was great.

Thank you

It's not just the incident though, is it? You spend the whole of the rest of the show on edge, worrying that they'll kick off again. Completely ruins it.