Bad Behaviour at a Show

What did they say?

They said that for Chitty any age baby is allowed to attend with a babe in arms ticket, it is the responsibility of the guardian to take the child out if they are causing a disturbance but that some guardians may be unaware of this and I could have moved to the back if I wanted to.

Interestingly, the listing for Chitty at the nearby Sunderland Empire [managed by ATG] states that under 3s will not be admitted.

I'm not sure they should be letting babies in at all, for most things anyway. It wasn't for the baby's benefit, seems like the only person it benefits is the parent and that at the cost of disturbing people around them. Even the calmest baby will probably fuss at some point when brought to something that long.

Going back a fair few years I went to see Cate Blanchett in some goddawful play based on Pamela at the NT, sorry I can’t recall the name.  In the foyer there was a woman and man with a baby ie about 3/4 months. As the doors opened to let us in, the bloke said “see you later” and I made the assumption he was going in. No he left and left the baby with the mother who strolled into the auditorium. The child was either crying or being breast fed throughout the show, lots of noise and shuffling around. Sadly I thought I’d booked an aisle seat but unfortunately it was butted up against the sound desk and I couldn’t escape from either the baby or the awful play. 

Well at least this incident had a happy ending...

Was at ROH last night in 2nd balcony, front row, slightly house left. Further house left was a group that couldn't sit still and kept standing/moving around which was more than a little distracting. Worse, one of the party started filming from their iPhone. They were warned by the usher to stop but 15 mins later filmed again....stopped by the usher once more....then filming again only minutes later.

I complained during the first of two intervals and the usher assured me that the party involved had been warned that if they filmed again they would be removed.

Second act....more filming....they had to be stopped three times.

I approached the same usher during second interval who once again assured me "it was being handled". She wasn't kidding. A few mins before the start of Act Three as the 'unofficial film crew' were taking their seats, she told them to leave. They objected that the last act was short and wanted to stay but she accepted no excuses and they were not permitted to stay. Well done to the usher though in truth, they should have been removed after Act One, having been stopped 3 times in that act alone.

They were clearly part of a travelling group and the head of the group quickly lectured/warned those remaining about use of phones during the performance. Too bad she didn't do that before the show which might have solved the problem.

Anyway, nice to finally see those acting up facing consequences for their actions.

I believe it was called ‘When We Have Sufficiently Tortured the Audience.’

So opening night of Burlesque the musical at Manchester Opera House tonight had to have one of the worst audiences I've encountered.
The show was late starting which might have contributed a little to this as people were drinking more so by the time the show started it wasn't long before there was the near constant movement of people going to the toilet. This might have been just about bearable but I was sat next to one of the fire exits and people kept mistaking it for the toilets so there was the distraction of the light as they opened the door then again a few seconds later when they realised they'd got it wrong. Once I might have understood, but for loads of people to do it was unbelievable. There waa also a lot of rustling and crackling of sweets.
However the worst behaviour was from a group a few rows in front. They came in late (though he show hadn't yet started) and were joking about how it was becuase they'd gone to the Palace instead of the Opera House (how they could mistake the massive signs for Aladdin instead of Burlesque should have given me an indication of their level of intelligence) Once the show started they carried on talking despite being shushed by several people. Then one of them decided they needed the loo so made the whole row stand up to get out. At this point, to their credit, one of the ushers realised what was going on and called a senior staff member over to stand nearby and the next time the talking started he gave them a warning. This led to the guy in the group making sarcastic comments and finger gestures to the people sat behind. When it came to the interval the senior usher asked them to step outside and that was the last we saw of them thankfully. There was also another argument a few rows away near the end of the show and again an usher stepped in very promptly.
As I've mentioned in the Burlesque thread, I suspect this show will keep this thread going for months!

They think they’re living their best life when they do this sort of thing. There’s a certain type of person who’ll use getting pissed and causing disruption to the point where they get chucked out of a theatre as bragging rights to their equally naff, low rent mates. They’re trash and they make me puke. 
If it’s a choice of theatre being regarded as elite or everyone putting up with this sort of riff-raff then I’ll go with elite. 

I am currently on my way home from a production of Mean Girls at the Savoy. I expected a certain kind of people to attend so it wasn’t really a shock when I experienced the following.

I was sitting in the center stalls seat. In front of me there were 2 girls who kept turning their heads towards each other, whispering, even talking loudly every couple of minutes, and their whole behaviour was quite distracting. I asked them once, actually told them, to be quiet and was hoping that would be it. After a while they started talking again, so I told them to shut up. One of the girls turned around, looked at me and said: “You can ask nicely!” And proceeded to show me the middle finger.

Erm, no, I will not ask you nicely to be quiet in a theatre. I shouldn’t be asking or telling you at all. If you don’t know how to behave in a theatre, then stay home.

Of course, their behaviour didn’t change much and part of me believed that they tried to do whatever they could in Act 2 to annoy me. Oh well, speaks more about them then it is about me.

It’s sad really, how people behave in theatre nowadays. Part of me wishes ticket prices would increase to Broadway levels but I doubt that would keep the riff-raff out.

I agree - too many ferals who don't know how to behave.

Obviously you're right that you shouldn't have to tell someone to be quiet, but I could never openly tell someone to shut up! That was never going to lead to a positive response, and a bit of politeness goes a long way (even though they're being rude by talking).

"Perhaps I’m naive, but I don’t like to see people equating price of ticket with standard of behaviour. As somebody who has sat in all areas of theatres in my time, I have found that those who are able to pay the highest prices in stalls are the ones who feel entitled to still exist in their own universes."

I'm afraid that's the strategy I tend to follow on what are nowadays my rare visits to the theatre, reckoning that someone uninterested may come along to keep a friend company for £20 but not for £60 or £70. (I'm talking regional prices, not London ones.) I can't say that when I do this, my visit to the theatre is always trouble-free, so perhaps your experience shows I'm wrong.