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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2016 16:14:03 GMT
Phone ringing quietly, but audibly in second row of Five Finger Exercise last night. Guilty party somewhere to my left ignored it. Really annoying as not only did it buzz for a long time, the caller then immediately rang again so another round of buzzing. Couldn't even direct a glare to the culprit as the possible suspects stayed still so didn't give a clue to who the phone belonged to.
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Post by Jan on Feb 14, 2016 19:18:58 GMT
Phone ringing quietly, but audibly in second row of Five Finger Exercise last night. Guilty party somewhere to my left ignored it. Really annoying as not only did it buzz for a long time, the caller then immediately rang again so another round of buzzing. Couldn't even direct a glare to the culprit as the possible suspects stayed still so didn't give a clue to who the phone belonged to. Maybe the person concerned was one of those who had taken the blanket placed on each seat and wrapped it round their head and neck in the manner of Lawrence of Arabia and so couldn't hear the phone, there were quite a few attired like that when I was there. (To everyone else: A blanket. Yes. On every seat. Grey. Like on BA long-haul).
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2016 8:23:58 GMT
Boy (for he was only about 19-20)next to me at the Donmar decided it was entirely necessary to spread his legs as wide as possible. Much like, I might add many men do on public transport. Now things are cosy enough in the Donmar without someone doing that. Also woman in front spent all of act 2 rattling ice.
Meanwhile it was front of house at Mrs Henderson who irritated me. I know they have to prep things in the bar (at the rear of stalls) but there was much opening and shutting of the door (which lets light in every time) and loud chatter and phones going off from behind the door. Irritating.
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Post by Junie on Feb 15, 2016 8:58:33 GMT
At The Woman in Black matinée last Tuesday there were several school parties in who weren't too bad until the scary stuff started and then several of them kept screaming ridiculously loudly at every jumpy bit which completely ruined the tension/mood as it was so over the top. Several people around them started shushing them which caused more noise and disruption.
Then in the evening at Phantom of the Opera the woman in front of me started off watching the show whilst wearing a bobble hat which she luckily took off after about 5 minutes, unfortunately she then started leaning forward, at one point she was almost out of her seat! I put up with it for a little while but I'd had enough by the dressing room scene so tapped her on the shoulder and asked her to stop which to give her her due she did. However in the row behind were some foreign people who talked and rustled all the way through the first act. They started to do it again in the 2nd act and I was thinking about saying something when the lady next to me turned round and said "will you be quiet!". That seemed to do the trick :-)
That show really does attract the worst audiences, my friend had a similar experience the previous week.
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Post by theatremiss on Feb 15, 2016 12:24:48 GMT
At The Master Builder on Wed some people in 2nd row DC (too far along from me in front row DC to do anything about), decided firstly that talking was OK followed by a loud rustling of sweet bag & wrappers. A few stares followed by some shushes then finally someone said for them to stop it. All made for a rather irritating start to the play and me focusing on their noise rather than the actor's lines. What made matters worse was after the interval the same woman rattled ice in her cup all the way through the second act. I also found a small group of people extremely rude when a member of FOH asked them during the first interval to remove their coats from the balcony. They refused saying the coats belonged to their friends. The FOH asked them again to move them onto the empty seats and again they refused. FOH offered to put the coats into the cloakroom for them again they refused and challenged her as to why they had to. I actually wanted to shout over to them to not be so bloody rude and would they like someone's coat to land on them if they were sat in the stalls. Some people really drive me insane
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Post by greshco on Feb 15, 2016 15:25:05 GMT
I have started a campaign about bad behaviour - @theatrecharter theatre-charter.co.uk Spread the word as the more support I have the more I can be a bigger voice
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Post by Flim Flam on Feb 15, 2016 16:01:55 GMT
Good idea.
I always think that part of the problem is that many 'occasional' theatre-goers genuinely have no idea/have never given the slightest thought to theatre etiquette. And of course there are some, who simply don't give a toss as to how their behaviour inconveniences others.
At the moment, staff or audience members who try to remonstrate in the case of bad behaviour are often met with the attitude of 'who says I should have to turn my phone off/stop talking?' etc. As if this is some sort of strange personal foible of ours, to want to have the phone turned off, rather than these being accepted 'rules' of theatre attendance.
If it were possible to have a large sign dropped in front of the curtain, prior to the performance, listing a code of conduct for acceptable behaviour- don't talk,eat or make phone calls during the performance etc, then at least everyone would have a clear idea of what was expected of them, and our complaints would have more force.
If those rules were also in the 'terms and conditions' of purchasing a ticket, and agreement to abide by this 'code of conduct' clearly being stated as part of acceptance for purchasing the ticket, then that too would give staff more authority when dealing with these people.
Mind you, having sold the punters some noisy refreshments, I can't really see how much credibility anyone would have, when trying to quieten the munching and ice-rattling down! Oh well...
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Post by David J on Feb 15, 2016 16:10:41 GMT
Not quite bad behaviour but I just like to applaud the usher at Nell Gwynne last Saturday afternoon, who apparently spotted someone photographing the set
It seems the photographer was unreachable because he shouted "no photography please" in a clear and concise way that left the audience silent for a few seconds
There was certainly no photography after that as far as I could see
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Post by David J on Feb 15, 2016 16:12:17 GMT
Mind you at Hand to God in the evening there were so many people going in and out you'd think the Vaudeville was a walk through
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Post by djdan14 on Feb 15, 2016 20:16:29 GMT
Just held a door open for Robert Lyndsey at Hand to God press night and he didn't thank me. Not sure if this can be claimed as bad behaviour, but it's my new claim to fame
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Post by wickedgrin on Feb 16, 2016 17:03:35 GMT
It was not bad behaviour from Robert Lindsey not thanking you for holding the door but his belief that he has the divine right to have a door held open for him!
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Post by theglenbucklaird on Feb 16, 2016 22:42:49 GMT
Power to the people
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Post by d'James on Feb 16, 2016 23:49:35 GMT
For the first time ever I had to shush someone in the theatre at Miss Saigon tonight.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2016 22:26:52 GMT
This pales into insignificance compared to some of the dreadful recounts on this thread, but about a week or so ago when I was watching In The Heights, I was in the front row of Platform A and had a lovely view of the stage. However, I was sat in between a perfect pair of well-mannered men and on the other side was an atrociously loud family. Unfortunately for me, being the lone teenager of our row, I had no one to roll my eyes to when the man next to me started headbanging furiously. Now the tunes are quite catchy, I'll give him that, but he didn't seem to stop and he even did it during the slow-paced songs...that's right. He did it during "Atencion", and even started softly humming along. I had to restrain myself from seizing my water bottle and causing grievous bodily harm. Fortunately during "When You're Home", when Benny and Nina are talking to each other on the stairs and the ensemble have a quick breather and sit down before moving the stairs again, Graffiti Pete gave him the best subtly annoyed stare I've ever seen from a cast member.
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Post by lynette on Feb 18, 2016 0:59:32 GMT
Ice rattling is bad at Donmar. I like the idea of a code of conduct but tricky in places like Donmar with no proscenium to hang it from so to speak. Maybe a text with ticket confirmation. They send out stuff on your forthcoming visit to the Globe for example. Might catch on. I think some of the behaviour we experience might be from lack of experience, kids not taken to theatre much, on the one hand and a kind of arrogance on the other from people who fashion themselves above the herd. Just thoughts.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2016 8:22:59 GMT
Oh I also forgot the obnoxious group behind me at Funny Girl...a very posh group of middle aged couples. The one man leaned forward, a good five minutes before curtain up I might add, and said to the woman in front of me 'Turn your phone off I can hear a phone' now bear in mind the woman didn't have her phone out at any point she had been sat down, and as she then 'proved' to the man it was in her bag, completely off. I'm all for a stern word or glare if a phone does go off but that was extreme. THEN to top it off, after being the phone police, the man in question proceeded to talk through the whole overture. Loudly.
Not so much bad behaviour but very amusing was the younger girl in front of me who audibly gasped when Darius made his first entrance!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2016 9:41:26 GMT
I *hate* the phone police. You might think it's sad that I can't bear to not be reading the internet ten minutes before curtain, but I *am* going to turn it off before the show, and what I do the rest of the time is *my* business.
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Post by Kim on Feb 18, 2016 10:59:20 GMT
I *hate* the phone police. You might think it's sad that I can't bear to not be reading the internet ten minutes before curtain, but I *am* going to turn it off before the show, and what I do the rest of the time is *my* business. Same. I've found at a couple of touring venues I've been told off by ushers for merely being on my phone before the show and interval! unless there's awful signal there I should have to go outside just to look at twitter
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Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2016 11:03:29 GMT
Ugh obnoxious! quite right that as long as it's off during the show it's nobody's business what you do beforehand.
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Post by kathryn on Feb 18, 2016 11:32:16 GMT
Yes, but they should be off during the overture and definitely not taken out during curtain call to blatantly record the bows and the reprise!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2016 11:34:24 GMT
Preaching to the choir, there.
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Post by 49thand8th on Feb 18, 2016 14:07:23 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2016 14:34:04 GMT
Ugh obnoxious! quite right that as long as it's off during the show it's nobody's business what you do beforehand. Depends on what you're looking at on the interweb I suppose . .
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Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2016 15:03:53 GMT
haha I thought that after I wrote it!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2016 16:03:39 GMT
I *hate* the phone police. You might think it's sad that I can't bear to not be reading the internet ten minutes before curtain, but I *am* going to turn it off before the show, and what I do the rest of the time is *my* business. Mmm, but people on their phones five minutes before the start of the show make me feel nervous! I don't know you will turn it off... Too many bad experiences, and reading the never-ending thread on here, make me wonder otherwise.
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Post by 49thand8th on Feb 18, 2016 16:08:38 GMT
Agreed. I'm okay with ushers who nicely say things like, "Just remember to turn that off in about three minutes." I've found the ushers at the Imperial on Broadway to be good about that... in the orchestra section, anyway.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2016 16:13:32 GMT
Yep, I don't mind a friendly usher and I can forgive a nervous fellow audience member, but I do mind a patronising usher, a passive aggressive fellow audience member, or a downright rude fellow audience member.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2016 16:34:31 GMT
Last time at the RSC I was having an interval email check and an usher rushed over to tell me I couldn't take photos of the set; I pointed out that if I was trying to do that I probably wouldn't have the phone pointed at my knee.
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Post by Rebecca on Feb 18, 2016 21:04:12 GMT
Last night at the Sound of Music US national tour, I had the twin pleasures of the couple to my right, who checked their phones regularly throughout the show, and the couple to my left who, at both intermission and the end of the show refused to move until they had put on their jackets, organized all their belongings and generally stood around for a while, never mind all the people down the row yelling at them to maybe wait until they were not blocking an entire row to do all that. (Naturally they had the aisle seats, so no one else could go anywhere.)
And, not bad behavior as such, but on my way out of the theater I heard an older woman tell the small child with her that they had tickets to Cabaret next, so they "could see another Nazi play!" I'm not sure which was more horrifying - the glee with which she said Nazi play or that she thought Cabaret was an appropriate show for this little girl, who must have been about 7 or 8.
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Post by showgirl on Feb 18, 2016 22:45:21 GMT
When it comes to leaving, if I'm not in an aisle seat and people in the row in front or behind are moving out faster, I just climb over and hasten along. I can't be the only person with a longish journey and unreliable train "service", so to keep others waiting is arrogant and selfish.
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