Inappropriate laughter during plays

I can't remember specific moments, but I'm actually one of those. Sometimes I laugh when nobody does. I also tend not to laugh when the others do. Say that the audience laugh 20 times during a play: I will join the laugh maybe 10 times (and possibly being annoyed at the other ten) and then adding one or two of my own. I don't know if my extra laughs are inappropriate, but I often feel that audiences tend to laugh too much. I'm rarely bothered by a single person random laugh anyway; I find a collective laugh much more disruptive when I don't understand what they're laughing at.

Some people find it difficult to understand the relation between content and tone, I think. They pick up on an element that suggests it should be funny and that overrides the other elements telling them that it isn't. A good example is if there is a mistake; instant laughter even if in the middle of tragedy. Occasionally it is through embarrassment, seen often in young audiences or having jumped when a gun has gone off or something.

With Angels and such plays there is a deliberate mix of comedy and tragedy, and the tendency to veer between different moods requires an audience that is quick to pick up on such cues. Elliott does deliberately create grey areas in her direction throughout, however, so I think the laughter is meant, mirroring real lfe situations where serious issues are dealt with flippantly, leaving people unsure as to how to take what they are hearing.

Something similar with the person next to me - it's a dark comedy

Some well-thought out points.
I think it also has to do with:

1) theatre audiences generally seem to be fairly warm and encouraging towards what they're seeing, so sometimes that good will translates into almost waiting to laugh.
2) pretty human nature to laugh when something is awkward, confusing etc.

Of course, I'm not trying to lambaste anyone for laughing. Whether it's out of place, on their own, or awkwardly etc. And I should have made it clear, I'm generally talking about when large amounts of people find something funny that I've thought isn't intended to be so.
But I have found that sometimes it really jolts me out of the moment when I'm confused as to why people are laughing.
And as has been said, occasionally a chunk of the audience isn't able to grasp the context or the sudden change in context particularly quickly.

Re AiA perhaps I was in the minority. I found that particular moment really haunting and powerful and the laughter almost instantly took me out of the mode. Comparing it with the ending of part one - I didn't want to move from my seat and I was in that 'mode' for about an hour and a half afterwards.
I wondered if the over reaction from Andrew Garfield was a result of the laughter of previous audiences meaning he was playing up to it slightly. Although I'll happily to defer to others with more knowledge than mine.

Just shows how subjective it all is - inappropriate is probably the wrong word.

I very often laugh when I'm not supposed to at the theatre.

Usually, it's because I'm jacked up on Martinis.

"We buried her in a footprint"

In relation to Rapunzel's death in Into the woods. Annoys me every time when someone laughs

Laughing in Bent during the scene where they can't touch but have 'sex' through talking and imagining. Incredibly powerful, and each time I've seen it (in the Alan Cumming version and the NT reading) some buggers have sniggered and ruined it. I get that it's an intense scene and that some people feel a bit embarrassed or uncomfortable, but honestly if you're over 12 there's no excuse.

Unfortunately I've just ruined my moral high ground by sniggering at Alan Cumming's surname.

I had it in part 2 of Angels recently. They were mainly laughing at the funny lines to be fair but it was just how much they were laughing that stood out. Any even mildly amusing line was greeted with such a level of hysteria and reaction (head in their laps, hand over face in shock at sexual lines) it felt completely fake. It's odd enough when 1 person does it but there was a group of 4 of them and in the front row which must have been distracting.

I laughed way more than I thought I would at Angels but it was so funny, especially in the delivery

eta: some of it was you had to laugh or you would cry

About every second 'adventurous' choice we make at the Edinburgh Festival is memorable for the one person who is smart enough to appreciate this comic masterpiece which is never heard of again. Often you can see it distracting the performers.

Sorry to be insensitive but when you are the ONLY one laughing out loud a lot, then just maybe you might consider the effect you have on those others and on the performers. I went to the Opera one night with a friend who as the lights went down swallowed two Nurofen, Stops me twitching he said.

A sensitive person can moderate their behaviour.


(Not that I'd know. )

I go to shows more than once if I really like it I can end up seeing it 6 plus times. With this in mind I do have a tendency to laugh at funny things but sometimes I do it before its even happened. I had to physically put my hand over my mouth to stop myself laughing during one scene of Clockwork Orange.

People tend to laugh at the line 'I have no eyes' as well, which is annoying.