Bad Behaviour at a Show

He is such a ducking bumhole! 

But what you can expect from somebody who thinks its acceptable to piss in a bottle in the corner of a film set rather than walk to the toilet. 

CNUT. 

Such a weird BBC agenda atm... I have now seen that news article but also 2 separate videos on their BBC UK insta page where they are asking people and celebrities to say it's okay to singalong in cinemas to Wicked and Moana. I think cinemas should offer more relaxed singalong performances to cater for this crowd who think it's their personal lounge, but please let's not make it socially acceptable to disturb others in theatres and cinemas at normal performances.

Why do people still do this?  It was always annoying - there's no point offering a defence that's almost impossible to prove or disprove so it's just likely to make a dissatisfied customer even more dissatisfied; but you'd think customer-facing staff would, after the Horizon scandal, be aware that no complainant is ever again going to believe you if you tell them they're the only person to have mentioned this problem.  Even if it's true.

It gets better. I took a photo of the credits. They said my phone was at fault then told me you shouldn’t take photos. Apparently me reporting it right at the start was ignored / not passed on. Eventually I was upgraded to a manager who after the standard ‘nothing I can do now’ offered vouchers to come back. Fingers crossed for next time!

I went to a workshop reading of Cliffs at The Other Palace’s studio space on Friday afternoon. It’s a really intimate space and I felt so sorry for the cast as a woman in the front row ate for the entirety of both acts.

I’ve never seen anything like it. She literally did not pause. It was as if her right arm was on some sort of automated setting, lifting crisps and sweets into her mouth. Now, I don’t mean to judge but I’m not exaggerating when I say this woman devoured a minimum of six family sized packets of food.

Obviously she was making no attempt to stifle the noise and rustled the whole way through in blissful ignorance. I was too far away to say anything or make eye contact, alas. Her partner made a loud comment at the start of act two about how he wasn’t enjoying the performance and they were very vocal about it during the interval too. How rude.

I also moved seats during Dirty Rotten Scoundrels on Sunday due to the couple directly in front of me being unable to sit still or stop talking. I’m no prude but the performative displays of affection was gag-inducing.

By contrast, at an amateur show last night, a family arrived with a toddler in the row in front and my heart sank. It’s a long and serious show (The Color Purple) and I was fully expecting to be looking for a spare seat elsewhere in the interval. I couldn’t have been more wrong though. The child sat still and didn’t make a noise throughout the whole show!

Bad behaviour of the year award nearly went to me, when I noticed the young man who spent the last act of Orange Tree 12th Night playing on his phone was sitting in a stalls seat almost directly under my circle seat, from where I could very easily have beaned him with my empty paper cup.

That's depressing I usually think the OT is one of the theatres with better audience behaviour.

If you fancy playing 'Guess the Show', there's this from a Tripadvisor review:

"In the interval an usher announced from the aisle there was to be NO SINGING …oh dear , a huge faux pas I obviously made due to my enthusiastic 50 year wait!! …I suggest the Mayflower print this fact on the tickets and/or make an announcement beforehand to save anyone else the embarrassment of being publicly humiliated like a naughty child!"

Never truer words - the number of times I look at the ushers holding up those signs, and then look around at the people who really needs to see them busily scrolling their phones, oblivious.  Audio announcements, and (as in some cinemas) the sound of bleeps, rings and vibrations - that's what works (better, at least).

Also, it's much easier to challenge someone if you know the FOH staff have given the phone policy verbally as people enter/have tickets checked.  You know that they know.  I think this is more commonly done at plays (?)

I've said before on this thread - it's the producers. Producers hate pre-show announcements generally.

It's strange and self-defeating that producers don't like it.  An announcement welcomes the audience warmly, and if you get a slight murmur of agreement or even applause after the 'no mobiles' announcement it's the audience having their own chance to express that they approve of the message and want to concentrate on the show. 

It's a bit of audience bonding that should surely set up the oneness amongst the audience, and between them and the performers. Plus make ushers' lives easier, as the strength of a number of people has been expressed.