I came, I saw, I scarpered.

I don't like leaving in the interval as a matter of principle. I've only done it once, and that was for Edward Bond's Dea at the Secombe Theatre. It's not a good sign when you find yourself wanting to laugh at incest and murder.

I nearly left that Martin Crimp play, In the Republic of Happiness, in the interval, but decided to stick it out. I also wanted to leave Three Kingdoms at the Lyric Hammersmith but couldn't, really, as we were a large party there to see my friend's brother who was in the cast. (None of us liked the play it must be said!)

The theatre costs way too much damn money to consider leaving before I've seen everything, plus it so often isn't anything to do with the performers or crew and that feels disrespectful to them.

...Having said that, I *desperately* wanted to leave Aladdin and try to drown out the memory of the first act in the nearby Norman's Coach and Horses (one of my favourite London pubs), but we ended up staying because a friend had organised a big group trip and it felt a little harsh to them.

Haha! Yes, something of a missed opportunity for you there. Props for sticking it out anyway, a lot wouldn't have.

And I thought Mrs Snow and I were a very exclusive Club on this one. Our duet is now a Quartet.

Sextet. The only time I've left in the interval in 25 years+ of theatre going.
I came close again at Woyzeck, only the divine Nancy kept me in my seat for the second half but after I'd seen it, devoutly wished I had left.
Otherwise, yes, I will always try to take something from the production.

People who have paid for their ticket lose their right to walk? I do question walking DURING a performance but at the interval why shouldn't they?

I 'donate' a significant amount of my personal disposable income to the theater and sometimes I get RUBBISH in return. More fool me for not checking up beforehand but to suggest that I have to eat it all up is perverse. You have to entertain an audience if you want them to come back....after the interval.

Calling walkers disrespectful is suspect IMO. Too many people around the arts are somewhat more than a little precious about how important what they do is.
If I do my job poorly, I don't expect my customers to come back.

I've never booed a performance, nor have I ever asked for my money back. (I have complained about a bad experience after the event and been offered a free return trip though, for which I was appropriately grateful.) I may have left a handful of shows (out of literally thousands attended over my lifetime so far) at the interval, but I've never left in a way that would disturb the cast or my fellow audience members. Also I know for a fact the least respectful I have ever been was when I desperately wanted to leave an interval-less show but couldn't establish a reasonable escape route, and even that was just not being discreet about the fact I was actively trying to fall asleep (and I may have accidentally headbutted the wall behind me in despair at a particularly appalling line of dialogue).

If my behaviour counts as disrespectful, then I think you should probably stop going to the theatre all together, because you're going to have your mind BLOWN when you see how many people rustle sweet papers, rattle jewellery, use their phones, chat to their neighbours, go to the loo whenever they fancy it, take their stinky shoes off, etc.

Also, I take umbrage at the idea I'm "happily indulging" when I've scarpered at the interval. You think I *wanted* the shows I paid hard-earned money for and gave an afternoon/evening of my life to to turn out to be so unbearably terrible I couldn't hack it any longer? The ONLY happiness involved in leaving a show at the interval is knowing you've only done half the suffering. That still doesn't make up for the money paid, the time used, and the crushing disappointment that a show you thought looked good enough to devote some of your finite resources to wasn't even worth the booking fee, especially if you know you chose it over another show that in hindsight would have been a MUCH better choice, and ESPECIALLY if people are then going to be all unnecessarily sanctimonious about your decision to set yourself free.

I don't think anyone is wearing it as a badge of honour (well except maybe one well known poster...) most of us have said 'yes I have reluctantly left x or y' but read back most comments and we've also commented on how often this was because we were unwell, or conditions in the theatre were so bad as much as for the show.

I don't think it's 'disrespectful' at all. I would rather a person leave quietly at the interval than remain, being disengaged, or even outright hostile to what they are seeing. There is no sense of entitlement here. It's our time, our money and we aren't hurting anyone by leaving. I am a fan of many things, but it doesn't mean I blindly love it, or indeed have to continue loving it in instances where it's either actually offensive or uncomfortable enough to make me want to leave.

Also as Baemax points out, for most of us out of 1000s of theatrical events, we can count on one hand the number of times we've left. It's not like any of us (well almost) are leaving every week. I just don't understand how that's 'entitled'

Personally I'd find it difficult to leave a tiny show where my exist would be visible to all involved. But really if I'm sitting at the back of the Olivier and leave at the interval of Common who is any the wiser? nobody.

If you are in a small studio space (and part of a small audience) then the cast might well notice a couple of new gaps in the audience - but otherwise, they are unlikely to be taking that much notice of a few people not returning after the interval. They, indeed, will be concentrating on their performances rather than counting empty seats.

Even if they do notice, then they can't be certain whether it was because someone has moved seats or has had bad news and returned home to deal with emergency or just hated the show so much that they can't cope with it any longer.

Yes, there are cases like the RSC Marat/Sade when it was reported large numbers of people not returning after the interval - but these are few and far between.

And at the end of the day, a cast often knows when they are in a dud. If audience members are leaving, it is likely that there are cast members who wish they could do the same!

As a paying customer, an audience member is at liberty not to return after the interval. You have paid your money, if you are not being entertained then there is no disrespect shown by leaving. Making a fuss about getting up part way through an act to ensure that everyone around you knows that you are leaving is disrespectful. Occasionally you might miss an absolutely amazing second half - but if the production has failed to grip you during the first half, the fault is not with you for not wanting to waste any more of your life on a less than pleasurable experience.

I don't think I've mentioned it before but once I left Sister Act at the Interval when Whoopi was in it. Me and my friend had just booked tickets for the following week, when the Box Office Manager offered free tickets to the show that had just started because a coach trip hadn't turned up yet. Well, guess what, they had turned up by the Interval so they offered us the option of standing at the back for the second half of the show, but as we had tickets for the following week we left. No empty seat, no problem ;-)

I've left a few at the interval due to being ill, I generally hope for some redeeming happening in the second half but when you're ill, you're ill and figure it's much better to remove yourself than risk disturbing the second half.

I wouldn't leave in a small venue where the cast would notice, but there is no moral superiority in sitting in the Olivier for an extra 45 minutes bored out of your mind.