capybara Posted August 27, 2015 Share Posted August 27, 2015 Especially if they had actually known it wasn't the end and just wanted out! I did check! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted August 28, 2015 Author Share Posted August 28, 2015 Have we had this one before? Worth repeating though! (With thanks to Tours en l'Air for sharing on FB ) https://www.facebook.com/SeattleOpera/photos/a.102275646037.113604.90753776037/10153759977226038/?type=1&theater As knitting is such a popular hobby again, I hope this warning does not have to be repeated! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billboyd Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 ROH - Copied from cast list of first general rehearsal of the season - 'Our staff are committed to treating everyone with dignity and respect and we ask that you show them and your fellow audience members respect too. We adopt a zero tolerance approach in response to anyone who interacts with our staff or with fellow audience members in an intimidating, aggressive or threatening manner'. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coated Posted September 14, 2015 Share Posted September 14, 2015 Oops, bad behaviour of a disorganised audience member - namely me. I grabbed my Orphee ticket this morning, checked where I was sitting and merrily turned up at the opera house to sit in 'my' seat. This poor guy shows up shortly before curtains looking for his seat only to find me sitting in it. Confusion ensues, and I get up so we can go find an usher when someone a couple of seats further up told the guy that the next to her seat will remain empty and he can sit there. After that kerfuffle I check my ticket again only to notice that I brought the one for the wrong date. D'oh. Thankfully the guy was happy with the slightly better seat he ended up with and didn't mind too much about inability to figure out the correct date, so I probably won't need to feel eternally guilty. And that's how I ended up in spitting distance to Flórez instead of my more expensive but less awesome actual seat And as a bonus I get to sit there again in a couple of weeks. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted September 15, 2015 Share Posted September 15, 2015 I was talking to my neighbour over the fence the other day, and he told me that he and his wife went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with their two small boys a couple of weeks ago. They were sitting right up in the Gods, and part-way through the first act he nodded off and started snoring. When he woke up his family had moved several seats away to get away from the noise. During the interval he took his boys to the loo and was standing there yawning while waiting for them co come out. Another man commented on his tiredness and he mentioned having fallen asleep. The bloke said "Oh, I could hear snoring coming from up there, was that you?!!!" 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonty Posted September 19, 2015 Share Posted September 19, 2015 I also had the misfortune to walk along Villiers Street on my recent visit to London when there were no buses. When I left the underground, I was almost knocked back by the gag inducing stench of drains, urine and vomit,and piles of rubbish. It was a very warm day but even so, the whole length of the street was utterly disgusting. Goodness, a friend of mine works in Villiers Street, and I often meet her outside the office. Can't say I have ever seen it like that, although it is a very busy street. Was it at the weekend? I think it is irrelevant to say it is a modern idea for audiences to be expected to sit quietly, and that they used to be extremely noisy in Shakespeare's time or whatever. Yes, the audiences were rowdy and pelted the stage with food if they didn't like what was going on. People also used to throw the contents of chamber pots out into the street in those days, and I hope nobody is suggesting we go back to doing that. Theatres were very different places in those days, and now I expect an audience to listen to what is going on. I have probably said this before, as it is one of my favourite soap box topics, but I think it is a pity that the Disney full length films are no longer shown at the public cinema. Children could learn how to behave at public performances while going to see films that were specifically for the young audience. Watching it at home on a video is not the same at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted September 19, 2015 Author Share Posted September 19, 2015 I have probably said this before, as it is one of my favourite soap box topics, but I think it is a pity that the Disney full length films are no longer shown at the public cinema. Children could learn how to behave at public performances while going to see films that were specifically for the young audience. Watching it at home on a video is not the same at all. I quite agree Fonty. I took my nieces to the cinema to see the Disney films before I felt they were old enough to go to a theatre. They knew the basic etiquette before we ever went to a live performance. Mind you, that presupposes that the people who take youngsters to the cinema teach them the basic etiquette! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacqueline Posted September 19, 2015 Share Posted September 19, 2015 (edited) Goodness, a friend of mine works in Villiers Street, and I often meet her outside the office. Can't say I have ever seen it like that, although it is a very busy street. Was it at the weekend? I think it is irrelevant to say it is a modern idea for audiences to be expected to sit quietly, and that they used to be extremely noisy in Shakespeare's time or whatever. Yes, the audiences were rowdy and pelted the stage with food if they didn't like what was going on. People also used to throw the contents of chamber pots out into the street in those days, and I hope nobody is suggesting we go back to doing that. Theatres were very different places in those days, and now I expect an audience to listen to what is going on. I have probably said this before, as it is one of my favourite soap box topics, but I think it is a pity that the Disney full length films are no longer shown at the public cinema. Children could learn how to behave at public performances while going to see films that were specifically for the young audience. Watching it at home on a video is not the same at all. I passed through Villiers Street on a very warm Sunday in August. It was disgusting as described. I should imagine it is a different story on weekdays, when perhaps there has been a rubbish collection and maybe some street cleaning. I was probably seeing at least two days/nights of rubbish and general squalor and the smells were appalling. I take it this is Villiers Street and I am not mistaken as to location - the street that runs from the Strand to the Embankment tube? I absolutely agree with your comments about theatre behaviour and the pointlessness of comparing the very olden days with the current. Completely different times. As children, we were taken to the full length Disney films and there was no question about how to behave, unless you were absolutely desperate for the toilet! Even then, you still got told off for not going before, even if you had! Now, I think we have more than one generation of people with no social skills, so there can be no passing on of good manners by those who themselves don't have any. This tends to manifest itself in the defensive line so many take when their behaviour is challenged. When I contacted the Linbury about my ticket options recently, the man I spoke to was extremely helpful but made it quite clear that if I were to pass on my ticket, the person attending should be made aware that there is absolutely no coming and going, once one is in one's seat and if one is late arriving, one will not get in at all! Good thing too! Edited September 19, 2015 by Jacqueline 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonty Posted September 20, 2015 Share Posted September 20, 2015 I passed through Villiers Street on a very warm Sunday in August. It was disgusting as described. I should imagine it is a different story on weekdays, when perhaps there has been a rubbish collection and maybe some street cleaning. I was probably seeing at least two days/nights of rubbish and general squalor and the smells were appalling. I take it this is Villiers Street and I am not mistaken as to location - the street that runs from the Strand to the Embankment tube? Yes, that's Villiers Street. It is very busy, especially at weekends, so probably gets a bit "tired" by Sunday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacqueline Posted September 20, 2015 Share Posted September 20, 2015 I don't know if my nose was set to extra sensitive that Sunday, but I was also struck by the stink of urine around the entrance to the Coliseum. Perhaps it is a Saturday night, Sunday morning thing of the sort you would encounter in any town or city where anywhere can be a public toilet. I don't know if the Coliseum has any sort of outside cleaning policy - I ought to ask the management - but it was very off putting to climb the steps and walk through that smell. A couple of buckets - or maybe more! - of disinfectant and a scrub of the steps in the morning might be helpful! After all, this is supposedly a premier venue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aileen Posted September 20, 2015 Share Posted September 20, 2015 I live in London and recently I've really become annoyed by how dirty the streets are, not just in Central London but around where I live in South London. The main problems are overflowing bins, commercial bagged rubbish sitting on the street and urine. My sister was visiting from Vancouver (famously clean) this summer. She didn't say anything but I felt quite embarrassed by the state of the London streets. I think that there need to be more rubbish collections, stricter controls on leaving bags of rubbish on the street, and jet cleaning or something similar of the pavements and alleyways (or, alternatively, an obligation on the traders to clean the area in front of their 'shop fronts'). Public urination should be an offence punishable on the spot by a stiff fine. London will never be pristine but we have so many fantastic buildings, parks and open spaces, many of which have been improved over the last couple of decades, and it is a shame that our capital city is so rubbish strewn and smelly. It must create a very negative impression to overseas visitors. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAB Posted September 20, 2015 Share Posted September 20, 2015 Twelve people live in four flats in the house I live in, we have three wheelie bins emptied once every fortnight, inevitably rubbish piles up and plastic bags get ripped open by rats and foxes. The whole of my stretch of road is subject to fly tipping and currently a double sized foam mattress has been lying across the pavement for the past three weeks. It gets depressing/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annamk Posted September 20, 2015 Share Posted September 20, 2015 I live in London and recently I've really become annoyed by how dirty the streets are, not just in Central London but around where I live in South London. The main problems are overflowing bins, commercial bagged rubbish sitting on the street and urine. My sister was visiting from Vancouver (famously clean) this summer. She didn't say anything but I felt quite embarrassed by the state of the London streets. I think that there need to be more rubbish collections, stricter controls on leaving bags of rubbish on the street, and jet cleaning or something similar of the pavements and alleyways (or, alternatively, an obligation on the traders to clean the area in front of their 'shop fronts'). Public urination should be an offence punishable on the spot by a stiff fine. London will never be pristine but we have so many fantastic buildings, parks and open spaces, many of which have been improved over the last couple of decades, and it is a shame that our capital city is so rubbish strewn and smelly. It must create a very negative impression to overseas visitors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aileen Posted September 20, 2015 Share Posted September 20, 2015 Oh, that's depressing MAB. Luckily, we still have weekly collections in our borough. There is a new student accommodation development near us and the wheelie bins outside the front entrance are often surrounded by bags of rubbish (I don't know whether the bins serve the commercial premises next door as well as the flats). I suspect that flats are often under served by council refuse services. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonty Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Public urination should be an offence punishable on the spot by a stiff fine. If the local councils persist in closing all the public toilets, then this will only become more of a problem. Pubs and restaurants take a very dim view of people coming in to use the facilities without buying anything (quite rightly), yet sometimes this is the only place to go. If you cannot find one open, then what do you do? All very well to expect people to control their bladders and wait for the interval of a performance, but if you are out and about in the city, it could be hours before you find anything appropriate. I was out with a friend recently, and she had to beg a shop keeper to allow her to use the loo in his own private quarters. The fact that she was hugely pregnant made him more sympathetic to her plight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 While I agree entirely with this, we're getting a little bit off the track: perhaps we ought to start an "antisocial behaviour" thread in Not Dance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonty Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Yes, Alison, I did realise I was going off topic a bit in my response to a previous post, but I couldn't think of any way of bringing it back on track! I think I have already moaned before about female teachers at matinees taking all their pupils, male and female, into the Ladies "because boys are not allowed to go to the Gents on their own", thereby making the queues enormous at interval time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 I think I have already moaned before about female teachers at matinees taking all their pupils, male and female, into the Ladies "because boys are not allowed to go to the Gents on their own", thereby making the queues enormous at interval time. If you did, I don't remember it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timmie Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 When I saw the cast list for R&J with Naghdi/Ball all those months ago I had a feeling it would be something special, so I treated myself to an expensive seat. As I settled in comfortably nice and early on Saturday, imagine my trepidation when four, maybe five, little girls (sub-teens) sat themselves behind me… They were as good as gold ! All I heard, twice maybe, was a whisper during a pause in the action for a bit of clarification as to what had just happened. Respect to the parents and kudos to the girls. Good behaviour is still alive and well. 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petunia Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 In praise of the first year students of the State Ballet School: today I was at the dress rehearsal of the new triple bill of Berlin State Ballet, sitting behind a group of tinies who where marvellously well-behaved. Between the ballets when the house lights were up, they were bouncing and chatting and fiddling with their smartphones and taking photos of each other but as soon as the lights went out they were completely silent. Splendid! And none of the teachers nearby! 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bangorballetboy Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 I must praise the 6-or-so year old standing next to me last night at Raven Girl. Struggling to see (looking between the shoulders of the folks sitting in the SC back row), she was pretty enthralled and, other than the lamp descending in the doctor's lab, only asked her mother what was happening at times when I think most of the adults were wondering too! Certainly quieter than some of the other peeps in SCS! 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthernAndBallet Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 I went to see '!9084' by Northern Ballet at the Lyceum Theatre at Sheffield; pretty much a full house watched in silence and cheered and whooped loudly at the end. I didn't see any children though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 I guess that must be a new ballet Welcome to the forum, NorthernAndBallet 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Douglas Allen Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 bangorballetboy - a six year old being taken to stand through Raven Girl! - She must have been very naughty at home because it seems a very severe and cruel punishment. Perhaps Social Services should be informed. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 It does seem rather inappropriate I must say! I wouldn't fancy taking any pre secondary school child standing let alone a 6 year old! Just being able to see anything at all could be a major prob. However unless the girl showed considerable signs of stress perhaps she really wanted to go and may have even driven her mother mad to let her go even though it would have been explained she would be standing etc! Perhaps mum thought if she can't cope they could just leave......or she was rather hoping a vacant seat might have turned up in SC that the little girl could have sat in! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quintus Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 At Modern Moves last night, as soon as the interval lights came up, the usher came and asked someone in the front row to delete photos from there camera. The audience watched in fascination. It was one of those events where we weren't sure whether this was actually part of the performance..... Of course these days the photos just stay in your trash folder to be recovered, so the offender still won out. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quintus Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 *their. Aaaagh, autocorrect winds me up. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A frog Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 I'm guessing things are pretty much as they ever were. I was watching a movie about annoying people over the weekend, the first example was a man arriving late at the theatre and then proceeding to very noisily unwrapping sweets. The film is from 1948. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Macmillan Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 "Spectator Sport" - a good piece by David Jays on the audience as part of the spectacle: http://www.artsjournal.com/performancemonkey/2015/11/spectator-sport.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Macmillan Posted December 11, 2015 Share Posted December 11, 2015 A choice item from New Zealand with which to revive this thread: http://wellingtontimes.ca/bruising-ballet/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JennyTaylor Posted December 11, 2015 Share Posted December 11, 2015 I had an amazing thing happen at the ROH on Tuesday. I was in row B of the Stalls Circle, right in the middle. A couple turned round and said - we've been in that seat and we'll swap round as I'm taller, and so they did. I'm 5' 1" and after years of sitting on my coat and manoeuvring around heads in front, my evening, if not my year, was made 27 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mallinson Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 Manspreading and other undesirable habits 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zxDaveM Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 what larks! Was surrounded at last night's Nutcracker at ROH by whisperers - who were only quiet when they were texting or filming the show on their iPhone. Fortunately, having the binoculars glued to eyes blocked out the light from the phones, so was happier to let them get on with that, than the whispering... Bah humbug! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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