887 posts
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Post by longinthetooth on Sept 24, 2016 21:50:25 GMT
I thought that myself, and then realised that I had never been late to the theatre because I leave myself a buffer. I'm not being smug, just saying that I respect the rest of the audience & the cast enough to get there on time. I''m not saying I haven't got there with seconds to spare, but the buffer was enough... There are limits to how much you can do. I usually work on the basis of working out what train will get me to my destination with half an hour to spare (or an hour for long journeys) and then catching the train before that one, so even if one train is cancelled I'll still have plenty of time in hand to allow for more delays on top of that. But it's not possible to account for everything, and you can't plan for events like your train driver having to be rushed to hospital or a suspected bomb on the train or trackside arson. To have never been late going to the West End I'd have had to allow a buffer of over four hours for a 90 minute journey. As mentioned elsewhere, I allowed myself three hours to undertake a 40 minute train journey (plus a bit extra for the tube), but on that particular day it took me nearly three and a half hours. I usually plan to allow for lunch and a bit of shopping before a show. The train track was flooded, which took out the electrics, then all their contingency plans failed. The first and hopefully only time I have been late for a show. |
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2,041 posts
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Post by 49thand8th on Sept 24, 2016 22:14:37 GMT
The closest I ever came to being late to a show was Spider-Man, if you can believe that. I had rushed the show and lived in Hell's Kitchen at the time. I had dinner with friends in a restaurant about halfway between my apartment and the theatre, and I didn't want to bring my delicious Thai leftovers to the theatre and cause a (literal) stink, so I walked briskly to my apartment to put them in the fridge, then ran to the theatre from there. My roommate, who was my +1, was outside under the marquee not amused. But I sat down barely in time for the adrenaline to come down by the time the lights did the same.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 24, 2016 22:27:06 GMT
I used to get embarrassed leaving at the interval wondering what the FOH staff thought of me. I developed a foolproof technique for embarrassment-free leaving - tapping my jacket pockets in the internationally agreed mime for "looking for cigarettes as i'm going out for a fag break" (I have not smoked since 1988)
Only left pre-interval twice - first at the RSC as I was ill (and the RSC staff were very helpful), secondly in a show that was so dreadful I ran for it at the first scene change
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