770 replies to this topic

[Lynette]

Theatre Royal Haymarket, numbers where you can't see 'em. What about theatres with AA rows or some other weird alphabetical glitch. Lady nest to me [ American...but wait, don't judge yet] opened a bag of crisps just before curtain up. I was ready with the quiet mot but she finished them in time, then held on to the bag sweetly, no crumples!  At the Tricycle the couple in front of me talking all the way through , noting the furniture, laughing and then explaining why...I reckoned they hadn't been to the theatre much and they were really enjoying the play. I didn't want to put them off going again so I said nothing. Let the next person .

[MrsDoyle]

Lord preserve us from the Overlaugher. Yes, yes, yes, I know I'm laying myself open to comments of "Well we must stop the rising tide of people actually laughing in theatres!" and of course I don't want to stop people laughing, but there is a clear divide between genuine laughter and the noises that emanante from an Overlaugher. Yes it's partly what Matthew just said about telegraphing their understanding of the joke, but when it's not in response to a joke in the first place it's difficult to know why they're doing it.

As a middle-aged, quiet theatre-goer I'm trying not to take too much umbrage at all this agism. However, I do have to agree with the Overlaughter comment. On Monday night we saw Trip to Scarborough at Guildford. Across the aisle from us was an elderly gent who boomed with laughter at practically every sentence. It was positively embarrassing. What with him roaring with laughter and then my friend and I getting the giggles at him the cast probably thought they were doing a lot better than they had a right to!
I don't know if it is about "Oh look I get the joke" or just "Well it says it's a comedy so I better damn well laugh!"  His wife then started braying too
The play was pretty rubbish too..

[Backdrifter]

At the Tricycle the couple in front of me talking all the way through , noting the furniture, laughing and then explaining why...I reckoned they hadn't been to the theatre much and they were really enjoying the play. I didn't want to put them off going again so I said nothing.

That wasn't at The War Next Door last year, was it? I was annoyed and perplexed by a couple who kept laughing throughout the play, which at times featured spouse abuse.

The other week at the Bush a bloke across the aisle from me not only sipped very noisily from his plastic cup of iced drink, but between sips put the cup on the floor next to him, and tapped it up and down. Through quiet, dramatic moments I kept hearing this plasticky tap... tap... tap... tap... tap... tap...

I reckon there's some theatre demon who places these people near me, specifically to annoy me. I mean, why else would a bloke just across the aisle do something as specific as tapping a plastic cup on the floor? There can't be any other person, in any other theatre in the world, who's ever tapped a plastic cup on the floor.

[Legend]

I am happy to report that all the old dears were extremely well-behaved at the Wyndham's afternoon serving of The History Boys. There was no snoring, sweet wrappers, or chatter from anyone around me in the front stalls. It's just a shame that the Wyndhams had the heating turned up full blast as we all nearly melted by the end of the play.

[Abby]

Just while we're on the subject, I spotted this in the Guardian today. Glad someone told her off about it!

The hot ticket is the National Theatre production of Much Ado About Nothing. With such a marvellous performance by Simon Russell Beale, who can look away from the stage? Well Ruby Wax for one, who, to the annoyance of those sitting behind her, including the author Deborah Moggach, pulled out her Blackberry halfway through act one and spent the next 30 minutes replying to her messages. "When the show ended, I ran after her and said I couldn't believe anyone could be so insensitive and rude," Moggach reports. "That she, as a performer herself, should be ashamed of herself for such lack of respect, and that it ruined the show for everyone around. She stared at us in amazement and said she thought nobody could see." And that sounds just like Ruby. Quiet, unobtrusive.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/diary/story/0,,2252960,00.html

[Legend]

That strikes me as just plain rude. I always felt her TV persona was just an act but maybe it is the real Ruby.

[Trev]

That strikes me as just plain rude. I always felt her TV persona was just an act but maybe it is the real Ruby.

It has always been part of her "act" about how much she hates the theatre, so why on earth was she taking up a seat which a genuine theatre lover might have appreciated?

[Chris2]

I hate mobiles etc glowing and distracting me. I think everybody should have to check in their mobiles, blackberries etc. before entering the auditorium. After all, most of them have some kind of recording device.

[Legend]

I just can't believe the people who pay upwards of £50 or more for a theatre ticket and then don't even seem to want to be there. Perhaps they feel that their ticket price allows them to do anything they please.

[Backdrifter]

Almeida, last night - a woman who was obviously attending The Homecoming specifically in order to see Danny Dyer; that's fine, but she held up her mobile to film/photograph him several times during the 1st half (and rested her head on her companion's shoulder, with her eyes closed, for periods when he wasn't on stage). After being told by a steward not to do it, she then complained to her partner that "some twat" had told her to stop, and "I didn't know I couldn't do that, there's no signs telling me I can't", a point she reiterated several times, to his dumb agreement.

Imagine the forest of signs you'd need to tell you all the things not to do in theatres. Not to mention that, seeing as she needs signs to guide her in life, there also weren't any telling her to do it.

Something has to crack soon. Scum like her and her gormless cretin partner must be eradicated from theatres.

I liked her patterned tights though.