Bad Behaviour at a Show

To the bad behaviour thread, as I thought he might have had a mention after the Old Vic penalty shootout.

Completely agree!

Can't wait for the posts on this thread tonight! I imagine the football loving public will watch the game at home rather than in a theatre won't they...

The thing with a lot of plays in the West End now is that if they have even remotely famous people appearing in them, what with the mad rush to get tickets the second they go on sale, and FOMO months in advance of actually seeing it , people don’t think about the possibility of something else taking place on the same day.

I know it might be more popular with the older crowd who may have mobility issues, but it was young ‘uns that held up ‘Hello Dolly’ today. If you know that you’re in the middle of the front row you get there before 2.33. It highlighted this generation’s inability to just politely say ‘excuse me please’ rather than bumbling along muttering something in lieu of an apology. Is it generational? Is it rudeness, ignorance, stupidity? It starts when it starts. Please just be there by then. Unless of course the space time continuum doesn’t apply to you? 🙄

Really annoys me when someone needs to pass you but can’t bring themselves to speak to you, so they just stand next to you silently waiting for you to notice them lurking. Then when you do get up and let them pass they don't acknowledge you. Similarly in my apartment building, it’s only 24 units, quite a few of the residents are in their 20s, 30s who will pass you in the communal areas silently without even a nod. I force them by very brightly saying Hello! or Good Morning! because I’m not having it. We’re neighbours, you know who I am, get some manners for Christ's sake. 

I know I'm fighting a losing battle, but simply saying 'sorry' instead of 'excuse me please' when you want me to move gets on my nerves. I really don't mind moving (if you are polite about it), so you don't need to apologise. If you want forgiveness I need to know what it's for first.

By all means add an 'I'm sorry' after the excuse me if you have left it a bit late, or to fill an awkward silence while people are having to move lots of things, but simply saying 'sorry' and hoping I know that means you want me to move will have me muttering internally, for which you should apologise.

I'm the one that awkwardly say sorry and then point past them.

I was sat middle row in the Palace Manchester for a show and went to the lounge at the interval, on the way back to my seat a couple had roughly 8 bottles of beer open on the floor in front of them, knocked all of them trying to get past, I moved a bit quicker and didn't look back.

At Viewfrom the Bridge last night: a couple in the row behind ( sorry, but American accents) gave us a running commentary. I wasn’t the only one to turn round and put finger to my lips. And I kid you not the commentary continued right to the end with ‘He’s got a knife’. I think they didn’t know the play or even where the play would probably go so they were trying to work it out so to speak but what a pain.

Since you mention phones at public events: Someone’s just tried to assassinate Donald Trump at a rally. I just noticed a woman in the onstage seating behind him filming on her phone. Even as shots are ringing out, and people are screaming and ducking she just carries on filming.

She’ll probably make a lot of money from it, but I can’t believe with all that going on your first instinct is to keep making a video. Because I’d be on the ground, screaming hysterically. But her? Nah, no big deal. 

So annoying! I saw the matinee and had to ‘ssshh’ the two ladies behind me who were audibly ‘ooohing’ whenever anything dramatic happened (so quite a lot), alongside a few ‘oooh, he’s jealous’ type comments, just in case the rest of us hadn’t realised.