Loud Noises in Shows

Oddly the confetti canon in Matilda always catches me by surprise.

It’s strange to observe other audience members, just sitting there mellow with a gun being waved around and me on edge, even though I know it isn’t going to hurt me, does nothing to subdue the agony, I’m still very much feeling uneasy . But then again one of those mellow audience members could struggle to walk through a park, because of their phobia of pigeons, which to me sounds very outlandishand daft, I mean how could someone be scared of a pigeon, it’s not possible for that bird to harm you but to that person it is very real and scary, as gunshots and unexpected noises are to me.

My mum reckons my fear comes from whe. I was 3 when a champagne cork got popped the cork hit the ceiling then hit me on the head, which is plausible, as they say your fears are developed in early childhood, for example a young child that gets bitten by a dog has a chance of developing a fear as this dread is implanted deep in the cognitive functions, where a older person who is bitten can process this more logically - such as; dogs are friendly and playful creatures and are fine to be approached, except a very few may bite, the young child subconscious mind doesn’t reason this, therefore develops a disproportionate fear.

I used pigeon as an example, as I know someone that has this phobia and the fear is very real to them.

I jumped a few times today at the Ink matinee. Lots of sudden loud music and dramatic sound effects. My lack of sleep last night didn't help much!

I know this thread is a few months old but I'm forever trying to find out where the loud noises are in shows before I go. So this is a very useful resource!

I am as nervy as a nun in a strip club and I jump ALL THE TIME! The ones I have burned into my brain (some spoilers):

Cats:
- Macavity appearing in a bang at the end of the song about him and kidnapping (catnapping?) Old Deuteronomy.

Our Country's Good:
- Captain Phillip shoots at a kangaroo in an early scene - the line is something like "You will have to organise the hanging yourself, and get someone to fill that hideous office". Excellent fun when the "kangaroo" is somewhere in the audience and the gun gets pointed directly at you

Les Mis:
- When Valjean lets Javert go at the barricade and then fires his gun into the air (I think I weed myself a little bit the first time I saw this... it's a blank rather than a sound effect and it is SO LOUD)
- Gavroche getting shot (the shots are spread out and you never expect the last one... EVER)

War Horse:
-One of the captains is testing Joey's ability to withstand loud noises fairly near the beginning, and he fires his pistol into the air twice
- The German soldier shooting the dying white mare in the second half
- The same soldier (I think) shooting at the little French girl a few moments later
- The fricking tank, at least when it first enters, the music gets drum-heavy and very loud too.

The Light Princess:
- The prologue - "A Sealand spy shot Althea's brother, Prince Alexander, dead." *BLAM*
- Digby shooting at Althea - luckily this is massively signposted with Digby raising the gun and Althea saying "Fly bird!"
- The dragon attack near the end of the show, the screech is so powerful, I think I have tinnitus from it

Blood Brothers:
- When Mrs Johnstone sees Mrs Lyons putting the shoes on the table, she shouts "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
- The drumbeats on the Narrator's warning to Mrs Johnstone, "But a debt is a debt... and MUST. BE. PAID."
- Sammy during the robbery in the second half - the two shots comes after a line that's something like "This isn't a toy! Listen... listen -"
- Obviously the finale - "I could have been him - I could have been-" *GUNFIRE GALORE*

Mary Stuart (the one that was just at the Duke of York's):
- Horrible grinding noise as Mary is released from prison to go out in the fields
- Again at the end after Mary is executed

Wicked:
- The dragon head thing roaring and clanking at the beginning
- When the professor brings the lion cub on in a cage, and Elphaba's annoyance makes the cage door open with a bang.

Mary Poppins:
- In the kitchen scene, something explodes and sends steam everywhere - can't for the life of me remember what actually happens in that scene even though I've seen it twice! Robertson Ay is involved somehow I think.

Closer at the Donmar:
- The beginning of the club scene, which opens the second half - music came blaring on out of nowhere, I think we all jumped.


Couple of other famous ones:
Assassins - basically the whole show, I won't go near it because I will probably throw up from the stress
Children of the Sun (at least, the most recent National Theatre production) ended with an enormous explosion and apparently set the fire alarms off the first time.

I noticed the current Birmingham Hippodrome brochure says on the Matilda page says that it contains "loud bangs" (which is kind of understandable but I'd describe them more as "loud sound effects"), but nothing for the War Horse page, considering all the gunshots in it!

I remember finding this particularly loud when I saw the first production of this in Glasgow. Then again I was fairly young and will take gunshots from the sound booth over real ones anyday!

As for War Horse there were plenty and loud too but as I got used to the show I felt I jumped less and less.

I am terrible with any loud noises...hence this thread!