Geoff Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 An update: tonight's Evening Standard has a diary story about people bringing chicken nuggets into a performance at...yes, the Duke of York's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 Oops. I've got through to the property section already, so I guess I missed that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Picturesinthefirelight Posted July 17, 2016 Share Posted July 17, 2016 Going way back to the post about the special sweet wrappers at Symphony Hall in Birmingham. They were called Sela-Cough & when I worked there we actually used to give them away (just a few per patron) They then decided to start selling them though I don't remember glass bottles. I don't know if the rules have changed but there was strictly no food or drink at all inside the auditorium. We stewards were allowed to take a small plastic cup of water only to a patron if for example they felt unwell, had a bad cough or were disabled & found it difficult to go out during the interval. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sim Posted July 17, 2016 Share Posted July 17, 2016 I loathe going to the Coliseum to see anything, and when I went to see Australian Ballet's Swan Lake on two successive nights last week I was reminded why. People rustling sweet wrappers, opening and eating ice creams, switching on mobile phones, opening and closing fizzy drink bottles, drinking out of plastic cups that then made noise if they were stepped on....gggrrrr, it was more like going to the local cinema. I am always amazed at how many people can't last 45 minutes without having to eat. If I hadn't loved the production so much, I wouldn't have gone back the second night! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonty Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 Apologies if this link has already been posted elsewhere, but this is one actor's response to the various issues we have been complaining about. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-36792702 "I am afraid that if the theatre is going to die of anything it will be from exactly this type of stereotyping and prejudice aimed towards a new and younger generation of theatregoers." So, Mr Harrington believes that, does he? Those of us who would prefer to actually hear the actors on stage are old fogies, living in the past. As far as I am concerned, if anything is going to kill live theatre, it is the regular, long term visitor giving up in despair because they can't stand the noise resulting from that kind of behaviour. And I haven't found it is necessarily the younger generation who are responsible for this. I've sat next to quite a few older people who have slurped, crunched and whispered noisily through performances I have attended. I gave up going to my local cinema years ago because of this. I would hate to think I would have to stop going to certain theatres for the same reason. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankH Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 Friday evening at the Coliseum for The Australian Ballet "Swan Lake". The audience in my area - centre right Dress Circle - behaved in an exemplary fashion. That included many young people, and some children. No loud sweet-papers and popcorn, as far as I could hear. Someone had a loud coughing fit somewhere else in the auditorium, but that's forgivable. It's probably pot-luck these days what you get. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted July 18, 2016 Author Share Posted July 18, 2016 I was in the stalls on Saturday afternoon and there was no disruption near me at all (Coliseum, Aus Ballet). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sim Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 Clearly I was unlucky then....the first night I was in the Dress Circle, the second I was in the Balcony, and I had it in both places. Mind you, Sadler's Wells is just as bad. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankH Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 Clearly I was unlucky then....the first night I was in the Dress Circle, the second I was in the Balcony, and I had it in both places. Mind you, Sadler's Wells is just as bad. You've been unlucky, but I may have been very lucky. I have certainly come across the sorts of obnoxious behaviour you, and others, have described. I've just not (yet) come across it in a ballet context - but then I've been to a much smaller number of ballet performances than will have most of the posters on this forum. I suspect there may be a sort of spectrum of behaviour: (worst) films - plays - opera/ballet - classical music concerts (best). I put concerts as best, because I can't see why anyone would go to hear music only to drown it out with eating popcorn etc. But then it's also hard to understand why anyone would misbehave at any artistic performance, but sadly, it's clear that all too many do. For semi-medical reasons, I always try to book a seat at the end of a row. I realise now that this halves my chances of getting an obnoxious seat neighbour! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLOSS Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 (edited) Behaviour at opera performances in my experience is generally better than that at ballet performances and almost on a par with that at concerts.This, despite the fact that the management at the Coliseum seem intent on lowering standards by making it possible to take drinks into the auditorium in plastic beakers full of ice cubes during opera performances.This is almost as annoying as those enormous charm bracelets that were so popular forty years ago. They used to clank and tinkle as their wearer shifted in her seat and acted as a sort of acoustic after shock when the wearer sneezes=d or coughed. I'm afraid that my experience of ballet audiences at the Coli is pretty poor. I always seem to have a couple of people who are so important and have such urgent information to impart that they have to speak. They normally choose the overture and seem to believe that it is there for the express purpose of allowing the audience to talk after all they know that unless there is someone moving on stage a performance is not taking place. Edited July 18, 2016 by FLOSS 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 (edited) those enormous charm bracelets that were so popular forty years ago. They used to clank and tinkle as their wearer shifted in her seat and acted as a sort of acoustic after shock when the wearer sneezes=d or coughed.Gosh, I just had a flash of a wonderful scene from a film - but which film? The joke centres on a woman dressed up for I think a funeral - anyway something solemn, religious and quiet - with large bracelets on her right arm. She slowly makes the sign of the cross: as she raises her arm to touch her forehead, the bracelets clatter down her arm. Then she lowers her arm to continue the cross - and the bracelets clatter noisely back towards her wrist. And so on. Can anyone remember this scene and where it is from? Billy Wilder maybe? Feel free to write me a message as this is of course way offtopic, apologies! Edited July 20, 2016 by Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loveclassics Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 There's a funeral scene in Wilder's 'Fedora' but I don't remember much detail. The film is rarely shown these days but is very thought-provoking and unusual. It's based on a short story by Tom Tryon and I think I have the book somewhere so I'll check it out. Linda 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferrylights Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 Ended up leaving Cinderella last night at the Coliseum during the first interval to a combination of 4 very young children (approx. 6 years old) in the front row of the Upper Circle, directly in front of me. They were very sweet and did their best but just too much whispering, popcorn rustling and water bottle plastic popping to allow for me to get into the ballet. Combined with the 4 teenage girls behind me eating sweets and their mobiles vibrating throughout, I just couldn't get into the ballet and decided to cut my losses and go home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dance*is*life Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 Well my son had rather the opposite experience, which he was a bit upset about.. He brought his three children to see our end of year junior performance and he said his little girl sat quietly and beautifully throughout (she's not yet three and this was her first show) but at one point she said in her clear little girl voice That was lovely! and someone turned round and glared at her! Poor little thing - she was only enjoying the show and it was a school performance. I was quite surprised when I heard the story! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 Ended up leaving Cinderella last night at the Coliseum during the first interval to a combination of 4 very young children (approx. 6 years old) in the front row of the Upper Circle, directly in front of me. They were very sweet and did their best but just too much whispering, popcorn rustling and water bottle plastic popping to allow for me to get into the ballet. That's a shame, ferrylights. Couldn't you have asked to move? In my experience, the ushers are generally sympathetic. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferrylights Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 That's a shame, ferrylights. Couldn't you have asked to move? In my experience, the ushers are generally sympathetic. Thanks Alison, maybe I will if it ever happens again. I just felt a bit awkward about asking the ushers, because the children were really doing their best (they were even shushing each other) and obviously enjoying it. I don't have many excuses regarding the people behind me with their phones. I guess I just wasn't able to get completely immersed in the ballet for various reasons, and after a long day at work decided to go home. It was the first time as a regular ballet attendee where I'd noticed any issues in the audience that were distracting. I also don't go to the Coliseum very often. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barton22 Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 4 teenage girls behind me .... their mobiles vibrating throughout, I just couldn't get into the ballet and decided to cut my losses and go home. There is an issue with people leaving their mobiles on vibrate in the ROH as well. It is rare for me not to hear them during a performance there. For some reason people seem to think their phones make no noise when set to vibrate, but when all is quiet in mid-performance the vibration is quite audible from several seats away. Actually texting or updating Facebook or otherwise having the screen lit up seems much less common an occurence at the ROH than I find it at the Coli or Sadler's Wells, but the vibration seems to be more of an issue at the ROH than it is at those other theatres. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Q Fan Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 I think I have said it before but I think the bad behaviour of some theatre goers puts the case for theatres having the equivalent of a train Quiet Zone where only patrons/serious fans who actually want to see/listen to a performance can sit separately to the other less serious rabble. I doubt the sweet paper rustles and drinks will stop until theatres stop selling them, but this will only be limited as people would bring their own anyway. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 Well, nobody actually respects Quiet Zones in trains either, in my experience The number of times I've had to ask people to take their phone conversations outside ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coated Posted July 22, 2016 Share Posted July 22, 2016 Well, nobody actually respects Quiet Zones in trains either, in my experience The number of times I've had to ask people to take their phone conversations outside ... I'll never forget the utterly flummoxed expression on a guy's face in a quite zone on a train when I insisted that he takes his phone call outside or hangs up....he ended the call and then informed me that no one else had ever said anything to him. Glad I was able to fix that for him. It's worth a try in the theatre though. I nominate Stalls Circle, upper slips and Front Amphi as "utterly quiet zones for fully dressed and washed people" at the ROH. *dreams on* Talking about upper slips: I'm still not quite over the horrid woman in the second row recently, who not only took her shoes off to display her verruca riddled feet, but then decided to stretch out her legs and wiggle them about 2 inches away from my face. I nearly retched, my friend glared at her so hard that verruca woman sputtered 'what am I doing wrong now?'. I wish they would board up the the space in front of the second row, I'm not that fond of being kicked in the head by people wearing shoes either... 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted July 22, 2016 Share Posted July 22, 2016 Uggghhh ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pulcinella Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 I was at Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Wednesday and before both parts there was not only an announcement about not using mobile phones, etc but also not to eat and rustle sweet papers. If only other theatres followed this practice. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Q Fan Posted July 24, 2016 Share Posted July 24, 2016 I was at Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Wednesday and before both parts there was not only an announcement about not using mobile phones, etc but also not to eat and rustle sweet papers. If only other theatres followed this practice. Excellent!!! How was the show I am thinking of going to see it - I haven't read all the books but assume I would still be able to follow? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bangorballetboy Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 Excellent!!! How was the show I am thinking of going to see it - I haven't read all the books but assume I would still be able to follow? Good luck with that; tickets have been sold out for ages! However, there are 40 tickets per performance each week released at 1 p.m. on the Friday of the previous week: link. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 Well, as far as I could tell, the audience in the Upper Circle at the Coliseum seemed to be perfectly well behaved when I went to see Cinderella the other day - barring one person who took a flash photo, once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pulcinella Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 Excellent!!! How was the show I am thinking of going to see it - I haven't read all the books but assume I would still be able to follow? I would certainly recommend this, especially if you are a fan of the books and/or the films, the special effects are superb and the story is both a sequel and brings in things from the books. There are synopses of all the books in the programme (£5, I was expecting it to cost more). As far as getting tickets is concerned I gather that more tickets for performances next year will go on sale in August. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blossom Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 ROH tonight - when did it become acceptable to take photos during the curtain call- when a note on the cast list says specifically no photos??? Lots of flashes from all levels of the auditorium... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 People've been taking photos of the curtain calls for years - I'm not sure anyone tries to stop them any more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 I have been sent curtain call photos from last night by many friends. I have admonished all of them!!!! During the performance, my seat was being persistently 'kicked' from behind. Turning round, expecting to see a child, I found instead an adult leaning right back in his seat with his feel raised high on the back of mine. As the 'kicking' coincided with his clapping, it was difficult to complain - especially as there was a language barrier. After all, he was having a lovely time, albeit rather at my expense. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindsay Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 Could I just ask why people object to the taking of photos at curtain calls? The dancers seem to like it, given the number of them who use the photos for their own social media later. And the non-photo-taking public can still applaud and see the dancers bow. I am at a bit of a loss to understand what the "mischief" is? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bridiem Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 Could I just ask why people object to the taking of photos at curtain calls? The dancers seem to like it, given the number of them who use the photos for their own social media later. And the non-photo-taking public can still applaud and see the dancers bow. I am at a bit of a loss to understand what the "mischief" is? As far as I know it's not currently allowed, in which case that should be respected in any case. But my own objection to it stems from what happened a few months ago when the man in front of me stood up to take his photos (often difficult to take decent photos from a seated position) and completely blocked my view of the calls, until eventually I asked him to stop/sit down. Also, he should have been clapping!! If he enjoyed the performance enough to want photos of the curtain calls, he should have been expressing his thanks and appreciation not spending the whole time taking photos. Those are human beings down there who have given their all in the performance, not objects to be photographed. Very rude and ungrateful I thought, and inconsiderate in respect of those sitting behind him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colman Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 A quick shot or two of the curtain calls seems inoffensive enough - we often do it - but without disturbing other people. Sit. Clap. Take a couple unobtrusively saying in your own space. Clap some more. No flash - pointless anyway - obviously. Doesn't the note on the programme generally say something like "no pictures during the performance"? I'm fairly uptight about these things but I'm pretty sure "rude" and "ungrateful" are waaaaay over there somewhere. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bridiem Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 A quick shot or two of the curtain calls seems inoffensive enough - we often do it - but without disturbing other people. Sit. Clap. Take a couple unobtrusively saying in your own space. Clap some more. No flash - pointless anyway - obviously. Doesn't the note on the programme generally say something like "no pictures during the performance"? I'm fairly uptight about these things but I'm pretty sure "rude" and "ungrateful" are waaaaay over there somewhere. The problem was that he took photos the whole time and didn't clap at all - that was what was rude and ungrateful. No feedback/thanks for the performers at all, he was just interested in getting his souvenirs. An unobtrusive shot or two whilst sitting down wouldn't fall into the same category. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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