Have you ever been late to a show?

I've been late to a Prom at the Royal Albert Hall - you simply get held just outside whichever door on the correct level is closest to your seat, and I could hear a bit of the music. Luckily the first piece is usually quite short so it wasn't long before I could be seated. There were loads of others waiting as well!

I've never (touch wood) yet been late for the theatre, though I have cut it fine many times!

Once. It was something at The Arts and I thought it started at 8pm. It did not. It had a strange start time of 7.45pm I believe, and when I got there at 7.50pm I was horrified to realise I’d missed the first 5 minutes. I was not amused.

Actually, I’ve technically been late twice, if we include the time I turned up for a performance at 7.15pm but the start time on my ticket was 2.30pm...

I’ve turned up on the wrong day more times than I’ve been late. I even turned up to a first preview a day in advance, I’m that dedicated to my theatre going.

I've been late a few times. I think the worst one was on the way to see Cats when my train broke down at Tring and thanks to a stupid privatisation "no train may stop where not booked to do so because it might delay another company's train even if there aren't any" rule no other train was allowed to stop and pick us up, resulting in a one-hour delay. (Infuriatingly, one train was stopped by signals at Tring, but because it wasn't scheduled to pick up passengers at Tring they weren't allowed to let anyone on.)

By the time I reached the theatre the revolve had rotated, of course, and it took a bit of work to convince the usher that the door printed on the ticket wasn't the one I needed. That was frustrating, because they were talking to me as if I was too stupid to understand that the 2 on the ticket matched up with the 2 above the door.

I've never been late.

I was really close once though. I was booked for a show at the Arts. My flight got delayed by one hour, then the Stansted Express was out of service. When I arrived to my hotel near Tottenham Court Road I couldn't believe I had still 30 mins left... I was gonna make it! But the recepcionist couldn't find my reservation. The drama was real. I showed her my confirmation e-mail and she looked very worried. By that point I asked her if I could just leave my luggage, go to the theatre and come back later. I made it by just 5-10 minutes!!

Les Mis 25th Anniversary tour at Barbican, a 30 minute train journey to London turned into 2 hours due to a fatality on the line. If I remember correctly, we arrived part way through the Prologue, and were allowed in to our seats at At The End of the Day. There were a fair amount of latecomers for the same reason.

The one time I remember was the original Almeida run of The Goat - 2003? I'd made the baffling decision to include a bus as part of my journey to the venue when usually I didn't, I'd normally just walk from Highbury station but due to earlier delays I was pushing it and stupidly thought getting on the bus would help. Some heavy traffic, several sets of unfriendly traffic lights, a diversion and a panting overheated run later, I got to the venue less than 5 minutes after curtain up. I was slightly heartened to find about 5 other people in the same boat, and we were all given synopsis sheets of the opening action and sat in front of a monitor to watch and listen to the performance. It was a straight-through production so at the first suitable scene-change, about 20 minutes in as I recall, we all got taken to a set of circle side seats which appeared to be set aside for the likes of us. It added to my irritation at myself as I'd booked a front stalls seat and indeed was able to glower resentfully down at my intended seat from my elevated latecomer spot.

It certainly had the effect of making sure I've allowed myself copious amounts of time ever since. There have been a few instances of arriving just in time as others have said, but hand on heart I can say it's always been due to circumstances beyond my control. Though some of the just-in-times have been my fault in the sense they've been Edinburgh Fringe shows and I've booked a demented schedule resulting in my having to run from one venue to another, arriving red-faced and panting with seconds to spare. That too is something I've learned from over the years and I'm now careful to avoid it, to the extent I sometimes even book entire days at the same venue.

I agree we shouldn't make assumptions about late arrivers as we know from our own experiences, but it's also a fact some people just are late as a matter of course, not due to legitimate travel problems etc. I've known some of these people! They are too relaxed and disorganised about arrangements and are routinely late for things as a result. I know at least two people who have probably never seen the opening song of any concert because of this approach. 

Even then, I can't claim total innocence. For one play, I decided to eat beforehand at a place about 2 minutes away. All nice and relaxed, no hurry, perfect. Lingered over my meal, had a drink, read a bit, checked my watch - 7.20, theatre's just there over the road, play starts at 7.30. Only it didn't. On frowning at my ticket, I realised it had in fact started at 7. As it was a one-act interval-less production, and it was now nearly halfway through, I decided not to bother. Even worse was the time I didn't even get that far, in fact didn't leave the house. Because I hadn't written the play into my diary, it effectively didn't exist and I didn't go, only realising weeks later I'd missed it.

The first time I was late to a show happened in 2014 when my flight to London was 1,5 hours late and then there were some road works and the buses with routes changed... I was 5 minutes late to the Charing Cross' USHERS. And if you were there, you know that they mock up the latecomers. Like, putting all the lights on you and asking you to answer in their mike why are you late. I breathlessly told them I basically travelled 2500 km to see their show and they are unwelcoming and they let me in to sit. And made other latecomers to compete and go through the whole row of people sitting to the other side of the theatre and apologising to everyone.
The person sitting next to me decided I was the part of the show.
I was still out of breath (I ran for the last hour) to feel humiliated but it is not one of my fave memories...

The other story was much less dramatic. I was sitting at the St James's Park and at 13:55 I suddenly understood my NT show starts at 14:00 not 14:30. I ran for my life but I had to cross the street with the Pride procession!
I was 15 minutes late, obviously, they put me on the last row of the balcony instead of my stalls seat (at least I didn't cause any inconvenience), but because of running and the heights I felt dizzy and didn't like the first act at all.

Mu third dramatic story is about the first preview of The Life starting at 15:00 and finishing at 18:00 and me catching a 18:20 train to Bromley with 19:30 Wedding Singer show to attend. I made it at 19:29 but I had to run so fast to catch that damned train I was out of breath till after the interval.

It never happened to me - probably because of my anxiety. My problem is exactly the opposite - I'm always so worried about being late that I end up arriving much too early and then I don't know what to do with myself (unless the bar is open...). OK, I was really late once - so late that I actually missed the show completely, because my plane to London was hugely delayed. And it was McKellen's King Lear. And I'm still gutted.

At a recent show at the Manchester RX they waited so a latecomer could nip off for a wee before it started.

I'm a bit like Dickie Bird, who is famously five hours early for everything. I know it can't be helped sometimes if a third-party is involved, but if it's a choice between between being late or not going to something, I'll simply not go.

Although I arrived with 30 minutes to spare, just last weekend I went to a theatre on the University campus which I assume is mainly staffed by volunteers wearing multiple hats. By the external doors was a bell with a notice that read "Latecomers Bell". We all know what students are like, so it would be interesting to know how often it's used!

My friends and I got into a car accident on our way to Stomp. The car was a mess, but no one was seriously injured and we made it half an hour late. At least there's no plot to keep up with!

Never late but a close call. A few years ago I was went to 2 shows on my birthday and had to get from Globe to Apollo. I spend about 45 mins after the matinee getting some food and then it was a trek and a half trying to get buses at 6pm. I think I got 3 buses then got to Apollo at 7.35. I thought for some reason it started at 7.30 but it started at 7.45 so I was still actually early. I mean I RAN to the theatre!!