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Post by ix on Apr 10, 2024 15:47:23 GMT
Bet it was more interesting than what was happening onstage. It was actually quite threatening and upsetting. I don't recall much of what happened onstage in act two because I found it hard to concentrate given the circumstances. I thought the show lacked cohesion but it didn't lack imagination. It was a wide miss but an interesting attempt at something different. I'm sorry you had to go through that. I never want to be the prudish gatekeeper of theatre etiquette, but I think it's shocking how much (in my opinion) the pandemic and lockdowns changed what some people think is publicly acceptable behaviour. |
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Post by alece10 on Apr 10, 2024 16:29:32 GMT
Bet it was more interesting than what was happening onstage. It was actually quite threatening and upsetting. I don't recall much of what happened onstage in act two because I found it hard to concentrate given the circumstances. I thought the show lacked cohesion but it didn't lack imagination. It was a wide miss but an interesting attempt at something different. I'm sure it was and a horrible thing to go through. My poor attempt at humour. Sorry. |
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Post by shownut on Apr 10, 2024 17:44:08 GMT
It was actually quite threatening and upsetting. I don't recall much of what happened onstage in act two because I found it hard to concentrate given the circumstances. I thought the show lacked cohesion but it didn't lack imagination. It was a wide miss but an interesting attempt at something different. I'm sure it was and a horrible thing to go through. My poor attempt at humour. Sorry. No apology needed - it was still funny. :-) |
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Post by bigredapple on Apr 10, 2024 21:17:57 GMT
Front row at enemy of the people tonight.
I’d you haven’t been, the show puts the house lights (or close enough) on a couple times, lighting up the audience.
The woman beside me took this opportunity to rummage in her bag and take out a book. She read a couple of pages before putting it away, which resulted in a lot more bag rustling. She took it out again later to do the same.
She left at the interval, so I guess it wasn’t her thing. I tried to see what she was reading, it seemed to be about Ibsen. So I guess it’s relevant, but do that stuff at home? So rude to the actors on stage
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Post by theatregoer22 on Apr 10, 2024 23:04:00 GMT
Was threatened last night during act two of OPENING NIGHT by a very drunk patron. He and his friend kept talking/commenting quite loudly (where were the ushers?!!) and after several minutes of this, my husband asked them to be quiet. They ignored him and carried on. A few minutes later I told them if they kept being disruptive I would get the House Manager. At this point, one of them threw a barrage of 4 letter words and threats my way including 'shut the f+ck up'. I started to leave and get the manager at which point the drunk patron also got up and barreled towards the aisle as he we were coming after me. THAT got the usher's attention. I remained in my seat so as not to elevate the situation. The drunk SOB shouted a few things at me from the side with the usher standing next to him (yes, the show is still going on) but did not return to his seat. I have a feeling he was asked to leave. His friend apologised then left about 10 minutes later. Disgusting behaviour. So sorry to hear that. Hope you're okay now. |
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Post by theatrefan77 on Apr 10, 2024 23:22:16 GMT
That's terrible. Sorry your night was spoiled by this awful behaviour. Maybe you should write to the Manager at the Gielgud and explain what happened? Sometimes in cases like this they offer the affected patron tickets for the same or another show.
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Post by ThereWillBeSun on Apr 11, 2024 11:36:48 GMT
That's terrible. Sorry your night was spoiled by this awful behaviour. Maybe you should write to the Manager at the Gielgud and explain what happened? Sometimes in cases like this they offer the affected patron tickets for the same or another show. Defo write into Delfont / point of purchase. Not OK, sorry you had to go through that shownut - same happened to me (pre pandemic) and I can appreciate how you were feeling. ❤️ |
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Post by theglenbucklaird on Apr 11, 2024 15:28:24 GMT
Joe Lycett told the story tonight on QI that he has a friend, who when bored at the theater, in a quiet moment will call out "Line!" He he Yes I was watching QI repeats yesterday. Very amusing story |
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Post by adrianics on Apr 12, 2024 10:06:07 GMT
Speaking of Joe Lycett, I had an awful audience experience seeing his outstanding show at the Utilita in Birmingham a couple of years back. I came back from the toilet to find that someone behind me had hung her jacket and bag on the back of my chair, so I turned around and asked who it belonged to. One of the women behind me said their friend who had gone to the bar, so I said "please tell her to keep her belongings to herself when she gets back" and put the coat and bag on the floor. I heard the woman I spoke to say "oh god, she's going to kick off".
Sure enough, the woman got back and immediately tried to put her coat and bag back over my chair. I turned around and told her to keep her belongings to herself and she asked me what my problem was, to which I said "you, right now". I asked her why she didn't just put her things on her own chair, to which she just smirked and nodded at me, so I said "anything of yours on my chair, you'll lose". She then gave up but I heard her say "it's a shame men these days are such princesses". I was going to turn around to ask her if she was aware that nobody she was with was happy she was with them, and that when she was gone they were all talking about how she was going to cause a problem, but my wife stopped me.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Apr 12, 2024 10:51:17 GMT
Reminds me of this
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Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2024 15:36:49 GMT
Speaking of Joe Lycett, I had an awful audience experience seeing his outstanding show at the Utilita in Birmingham a couple of years back. I came back from the toilet to find that someone behind me had hung her jacket and bag on the back of my chair, so I turned around and asked who it belonged to. One of the women behind me said their friend who had gone to the bar, so I said "please tell her to keep her belongings to herself when she gets back" and put the coat and bag on the floor. I heard the woman I spoke to say "oh god, she's going to kick off". Sure enough, the woman got back and immediately tried to put her coat and bag back over my chair. I turned around and told her to keep her belongings to herself and she asked me what my problem was, to which I said "you, right now". I asked her why she didn't just put her things on her own chair, to which she just smirked and nodded at me, so I said "anything of yours on my chair, you'll lose". She then gave up but I heard her say "it's a shame men these days are such princesses". I was going to turn around to ask her if she was aware that nobody she was with was happy she was with them, and that when she was gone they were all talking about how she was going to cause a problem, but my wife stopped me. You should have said that as causing divisions in the emeny is a great tactic. |
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Post by alece10 on Apr 13, 2024 8:46:23 GMT
Similar thing happened to me in 1977. Liza Minnelli concert at the London Palladium. Woman sat directly in front of me draped her fur coat over the back of her her seat and half of it was on my lap. I did the "blow" test and it was real.
Tapped her on the shoulder to ask her to move it, she turned around and it was Ingrid Bergman. She was very nice and removed it.
I've been telling that story for years now and the usual response from the younger generation is "who's Ingrid Bergman?".
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Post by hannechalk on Apr 13, 2024 15:05:32 GMT
Not as much at a show, but telling a performer the show he performed in was flat that evening, doesn't help you get closer to him, like you so desperately have been trying to do. 🤭
(It wasn't me, honest)
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Post by n1david on Apr 13, 2024 15:22:30 GMT
Reminds me of the time I left a Fringe show and went for a drink in the bar. I spent the next 15 minutes moaning to my husband everything the production got wrong - the script, the casting, the direction, the acting. When we got up to leave I realised that the entire cast had at some point joined us at the table behind me. As we left one of them said "thanks for coming." Furious at my husband for not telling me...
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Post by Joseph Buquet on Apr 13, 2024 22:42:54 GMT
Went to see I Should Be So Lucky at the Bristol Hippodrome tonight.
There were two young women seated just in front of us. During the opening scene, one of them got her phone out to take photos. A few minutes later, she clearly felt the need to take more photos. Then the phone came out again so she could send the photos to someone on WhatsApp. And then again to continue the WhatsApp conversation.
Then her friend next to her got her phone out and started watching dog videos. By this time, I’d had enough, so leaned forward and asked the one nearest to me (the one watching dog videos) to put her phone away. The scary thing was that she seemed genuinely astonished I was asking her that. She asked me to repeat my request. She just couldn’t understand why I would ask such a thing. “But I’ve only had it out once”, she said. By this time, we were only 10 minutes in - and looking at your phone any number of times during the performance is wrong.
As we had this conversation, her friend also still had her phone out, and fortunately the usher shone a torch on them, and gestured to put their phones away.
It worries me how they clearly thought that having phones out during the performance was an entirely acceptable and normal thing to do. I hope they don’t represent the future of theatre audiences!
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Post by ladidah on Apr 15, 2024 11:25:55 GMT
It's shocking, just stay at home!!
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Post by max on Apr 15, 2024 11:50:32 GMT
Went to see I Should Be So Lucky at the Bristol Hippodrome tonight. There were two young women seated just in front of us. During the opening scene, one of them got her phone out to take photos. A few minutes later, she clearly felt the need to take more photos. Then the phone came out again so she could send the photos to someone on WhatsApp. And then again to continue the WhatsApp conversation. Then her friend next to her got her phone out and started watching dog videos. By this time, I’d had enough, so leaned forward and asked the one nearest to me (the one watching dog videos) to put her phone away. The scary thing was that she seemed genuinely astonished I was asking her that. She asked me to repeat my request. She just couldn’t understand why I would ask such a thing. “But I’ve only had it out once”, she said. By this time, we were only 10 minutes in - and looking at your phone any number of times during the performance is wrong. As we had this conversation, her friend also still had her phone out, and fortunately the usher shone a torch on them, and gestured to put their phones away. It worries me how they clearly thought that having phones out during the performance was an entirely acceptable and normal thing to do. I hope they don’t represent the future of theatre audiences! Can you remember what kind of spoken or signage warning there was about phone use? I wonder if ATG have a blanket policy for their venues (on how to notify the audience), or go with whatever the incumbent show wants? I think that may have been answered already upthread. I made a complaint to FOH at the Barbican recently, and they said they'd gone with what the visiting company wanted - which was no announcement (they then pointed to some printed out A4 sheets on a wall on the steps to the seating, which nobody would be concentrating on when going down steps and finding their seat). |
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Post by richey on Apr 20, 2024 11:14:05 GMT
Not sure if it's bad behaviour but I sufferred extremely annoying behaviour at the Lowry for 42 Balloons last night.
Two ladies sat to my right, one in the next seat but one to me spent whole of first act swaying not just her head but whole upper body. Second act, waited until the lights had gone down to rummage through a plastic carrier bag on the floor under her seat to bring out a succession of food and drink which she ate and drank loudly non-stop,hardly stopping for breath during the next 30 minutes.
Her companion, sat next to me, had obviously only come along to keep her company as she was evidently bored. Had her phone on her lap and tried to look at it several times. Took off her sweater then put it back on again at least twice. Then started rubbing her hands together for at least ten minutes- might not sound bad but they were raised to just under her chin so it was right in my sightline and very distracting.
Thankfully the show was so good it didn't distract me too much.
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Post by TallPaul on Apr 20, 2024 11:17:03 GMT
Not sure if it's bad behaviour A clear-cut case. |
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Post by sfsusan on Apr 20, 2024 13:13:35 GMT
I went to The Play That Goes Wrong recently and a little kid got a bit carried away during the bantering-with-the-audience portion. He kept commenting and talking back when it was evident that portion was meant to be over. And the adults with him didn't seem to recognize he'd stopped being cute. Until the stage manager character (I think... the one on stage he was talking to) stopped, turned to the kid and said "Who raised you?" The kid didn't speak up again, so I suspect the adults got the clue.
Speaking as we were earlier of relaxed performances, is that the appropriate setting for someone with a medical issue that disturbs others? At the ROH the other day, during the overture a gentleman 3 seats to my left was somehow producing a sound exactly like a phone vibrating. It would go for 30 seconds or so, then stop for a bit, then start up again. Myself and the gentleman in front of me kept turning to see who it was (assuming it was a phone) with the obvious intent of glaring (or perhaps even tutting).
The woman to my left quietly explained it was the man, not a phone. At the interval, she and I started chatting (the gentleman and his wife had left their seats) and she said the gentleman was also periodically spitting into a plastic bag his wife had! Obviously this is a medical issue so you can't exactly blame them, but if I'd been next to him I'd have had to move or I'd be needing a sick bag myself.
(This did make me have more sympathy for a woman who took offense at my brother-in-law's oxygen concentrator making noise during a show. Although she went a bit far when she asked him to turn it off! Problem solved by rearranging the family members so the machine was further from her. Being able to attend a relaxed performance would be best for everyone in these circumstances, I suspect.)
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Post by bigredapple on Apr 20, 2024 21:28:53 GMT
London Tide tonight
The woman in front of me (who was in the front row) treating the play like a fking panto.
Audibly “awww” if someone kissed. Plus “oooh! Aaaah!” When bad people did bad things
Please just be quiet. It’s not that hard
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Post by properjob on Apr 21, 2024 9:28:57 GMT
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Post by lt on Apr 23, 2024 12:35:25 GMT
In two of the recent shows I've attended there has been behaviour which while not the worst has been very annoying. In a sense, when it is more borderline, it is harder to take action. One was at Guys and Dolls last night when the couple next to me kept making comments like "Where is the orchestra?" throughout the performance and despite insistent ssshing from me and other theatre goers pointedly looking at them, carried on oblivious.
Then at The Glass Menagerie, I wasn't sitting directly in front of the two men concerned, so fortunately only saw them in the corner of my eye line, but it was still very annoying and particularly so for the two women sitting directly in front of them. These two men who were clearly friends, just could not sit still for a moment, moving backwards, forwards, sideways in their seats and putting their arms up to scatch their heads. Yet strangely in the interval hardly seemed to move at all. I was so glad I wasn't sitting directly behind them and I did speak to the women directly behind them, who just said "but what can you do?"
I just don't understand why people find it so difficult to sit quietly for a couple of hours.
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Post by lynette on Apr 23, 2024 23:08:59 GMT
In two of the recent shows I've attended there has been behaviour which while not the worst has been very annoying. In a sense, when it is more borderline, it is harder to take action. One was at Guys and Dolls last night when the couple next to me kept making comments like "Where is the orchestra?" throughout the performance and despite insistent ssshing from me and other theatre goers pointedly looking at them, carried on oblivious.
Then at The Glass Menagerie, I wasn't sitting directly in front of the two men concerned, so fortunately only saw them in the corner of my eye line, but it was still very annoying and particularly so for the two women sitting directly in front of them. These two men who were clearly friends, just could not sit still for a moment, moving backwards, forwards, sideways in their seats and putting their arms up to scatch their heads. Yet strangely in the interval hardly seemed to move at all. I was so glad I wasn't sitting directly behind them and I did speak to the women directly behind them, who just said "but what can you do?"
I just don't understand why people find it so difficult to sit quietly for a couple of hours.
This made me chuckle. In the dark you behave differently and stretching, scratching wouldn’t seem intrusive. In full light, you would keep still cos people can see you. All this is instinctive and not deliberate. So, lack of theatrical experience maybe ? |
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Post by lynette on Apr 23, 2024 23:11:11 GMT
Does the board need some of these from the Ushers merch store?  www.ushersmusical.com/-merch/p/unisex-t-shirttotally wonderful. I looked on the site and see that the large sizes are sold out 😂 the big fellas are coming for ya’all. |
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