Colman Posted November 11, 2016 Share Posted November 11, 2016 Whatever about the cost - which isn't so important for once a year - the ROH menus are boring international hotel style stuff. I'll be over there with the 8 year old in the next few months and I wouldn't waste valuable time in London on a menu that uninteresting. I'd consider anywhere with about ten or fifteen minutes walk nearby enough, which includes one or two decent restaurants if I remember correctly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jillykins Posted November 11, 2016 Share Posted November 11, 2016 Tuttons is great, especially if you have a tastecard. I am always well looked after as a regular. As far as audience behaviour concerned last week at Vienna Opera House I was in box near stage, husband next to me, then a man occupied third front seat and sat child on his lap so stage fully obscured for husband. We had no mutual language to discuss situation. Such a pity he missed a beautiful performance of Liangs Murmuration. Seat hopping at ROH also becoming problem. Don't enjoy arguments around me on a special night out. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mummykool Posted November 11, 2016 Share Posted November 11, 2016 The couple next to me in the amphi last night were still chatting well after the performance had started. Dimming the lights had no effect, nor had the appearance of the dancers. A polite sh! had no effect. Fortunately the music for Chroma is so loud it drowned out their continuing conversation. He was also loudly quite indignant that there were two intervals. Surely there only needed to be one? He came for a show, not an interval. Obviously changing sets and giving the dancers recovery time was not important. I was left wondering if they were only there because seats for the triple bill were comparatively cheap. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aileen Posted November 11, 2016 Share Posted November 11, 2016 I was the one who took this thread off track. Could one of the Mods move the discussion about eating options in the ROH area to a new thread. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted November 11, 2016 Author Share Posted November 11, 2016 New topic duly started in Not Dance Aileen. I've moved the posts that deal with recommendations apart from one of mine and one of Jillykins that also cover behaviour. http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/13907-places-to-eat-near-the-royal-opera-house-in-london/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scheherezade Posted November 13, 2016 Share Posted November 13, 2016 Even Pizza Express is not that cheap as the one next door never seems to accept those wonderful vouchers. Mary, if you ask them what deals they have on they will always give you their 'deals' menu with two courses for £10 and three for £13. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted November 14, 2016 Share Posted November 14, 2016 Strada in Great Queen Street (5 mins walk away) has a "£5 pizza Mondays" offer Actually, not to mention some sort of fixed-price 2/3-course menu (also valid on Saturdays)! Mind you, the local Café Rouges do the latter as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuthE Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 PS I am in favour of ground floor open spaces and think the Lowry and Barbican are good examples of this. The Wales Millennium Centre does this particularly well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuthE Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 In fact, maybe a Friends special menu would be nice or a small discount to encourage us? ( Forum Special: macaroni cheese and a cup of tea -5 bob):-) Do they still do the little bowls of hot pasta at dress rehearsals? A tiny quantity for the £5 price tag, but usually delicious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Newcombe Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 Have not seen them lately Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anon2 Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 An article on BBC news website about the irritation caused to performers by members of the audience eating and drinking. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sim Posted November 24, 2016 Share Posted November 24, 2016 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38075544 Food for thought (pardon pun!). This is the article referred to by Jane above. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted November 24, 2016 Author Share Posted November 24, 2016 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38075544 Food for thought (pardon pun!). This is the article referred to by Jane above. Lovely picture of the Liverpool Playhouse at the top of the article! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quintus Posted November 30, 2016 Share Posted November 30, 2016 Young lady in front of me in second circle O11 tonight..... takes a good minute after lights out to turn her mobile off. Then munches on pot of peanuts during the performance and consequently has a coughing fit. Goes out, so half the row has to stand. 5 minutes later reappears with a bottle of water - half row has to stand again. Glugs water to dampen her coughs. Emerges from the interval with another pot of peanuts (!) and repeats mobile phone performance after lights out. Gets usher torch shone on her for videoing curtain call with her screen on full brightness. Bless you, sweetheart, and your parents who dragged you up; don't choke on your peanuts on the way home.. Kudos however to the very little girl a couple of rows in front who was well behaved throughout, clapped like a demon at the close and then loudly proclaimed to her mum "I was very good at making a lot of noise at the end!" 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sim Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 I was in the stalls tonight and had the inevitable old lady rustlers sitting behind me. Four of them. I turned around to glare a few times but they didn't notice, or took no notice. The only reason I didn't tell them off was to spare my daughter acute embarrassment! It took a lot of restraint on my part.... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewinelake Posted December 9, 2016 Share Posted December 9, 2016 Hope they didn't bring their cattle in with them ;-) 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tatiana Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 When I was at the Nutcracker I was seated next to an elderly man who seemed cheerful and harmless enough - until he started making very distasteful remarks about the dancer playing Sugarplum and her mixed race heritage. I tried to ignore him as much as possible but he kept adding little comments in the intervals, and even through the dances! It's awfully embarrassing to have someone talk to you in the silence of the audience, and while I didn't respond I was given my fair share of dirty looks. Note to people like this: just because a young woman is sat alone, doesn't mean she wants to hear your inane opinions throughout the whole piece... 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted December 12, 2016 Author Share Posted December 12, 2016 When I was at the Nutcracker I was seated next to an elderly man who seemed cheerful and harmless enough - until he started making very distasteful remarks about the dancer playing Sugarplum and her mixed race heritage. I tried to ignore him as much as possible but he kept adding little comments in the intervals, and even through the dances! It's awfully embarrassing to have someone talk to you in the silence of the audience, and while I didn't respond I was given my fair share of dirty looks. Note to people like this: just because a young woman is sat alone, doesn't mean she wants to hear your inane opinions throughout the whole piece... That behaviour is totally out of order! It must have been very unpleasant for you. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zxDaveM Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 When I was at the Nutcracker I was seated next to an elderly man who seemed cheerful and harmless enough - until he started making very distasteful remarks about the dancer playing Sugarplum and her mixed race heritage. I tried to ignore him as much as possible but he kept adding little comments in the intervals, and even through the dances! It's awfully embarrassing to have someone talk to you in the silence of the audience, and while I didn't respond I was given my fair share of dirty looks. Note to people like this: just because a young woman is sat alone, doesn't mean she wants to hear your inane opinions throughout the whole piece... I admire your restraint - I don't think I could have avoided being very rude to him... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quintus Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 Perhaps a quiet but firm 'shhhh!' might have shut him up and dissociated you from him for those around. Unbelievable that someone could feel free to make racial remarks like that >( 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 Absolutely Quintus but Tatiana as you just happened to be sitting next to him I'm sure the looks were aimed at him and not you I think it would have been more obvious than maybe you think that you were not with him. I don't know what I would have done as it always depends on how I'm generally feeling sometimes it's the old British stiff upper lip and bear in silence but at other times ( especially if had a rough time on southern rail) I might well have shushed him or that failing said "look can you please stop talking you're spoiling the music" or some such similar. Poor you though just so annoying and even upsetting. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tatiana Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 Thanks everyone - I did 'shush' a very noisy couple in front of us in the first act, and was then spoken to very crossly in the interval, so I think I was a little fearful of shushing... Next time, I will take no prisoners 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 When I was at the Nutcracker I was seated next to an elderly man who seemed cheerful and harmless enough - until he started making very distasteful remarks about the dancer playing Sugarplum and her mixed race heritage. I tried to ignore him as much as possible but he kept adding little comments in the intervals, and even through the dances! It's awfully embarrassing to have someone talk to you in the silence of the audience, and while I didn't respond I was given my fair share of dirty looks. Note to people like this: just because a young woman is sat alone, doesn't mean she wants to hear your inane opinions throughout the whole piece... Where was this, Tatiana? I ask because the behaviour you have described is similar to that encountered by others when the Bolshoi was at the ROH last summer and 'management' was made aware of it at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tatiana Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 Where was this, Tatiana? I ask because the behaviour you have described is similar to that encountered by others when the Bolshoi was at the ROH last summer and 'management' was made aware of it at the time. ROH: Ampitheatre Right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 Perhaps a quiet but firm 'shhhh!' might have shut him up and dissociated you from him for those around. Unbelievable that someone could feel free to make racial remarks like that >( He would have got a curt "SHUT UP!!!" from me... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLOSS Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 (edited) Tatiana the behaviour which you have described is pretty appalling.The.Christmas audience is a particularly mixed bunch rather than the hard bitten ballet goers you encounter during the rest of the year. I do hope that I don't encounter your racist ballet goer but if I do I shall be prepared. I think that in the circumstances that you have described you are perfectly entitled to tell the individual concerned to "Shut Up ". i don't think that someone that ignorant would understand anything more subtle. If he persisted you are perfectly entitled to tell someone like that, that you want to listen to the music not his racist remarks. As far as the couple who retaliated to your "shushing" by telling you off, are concerned, you have to be prepared to stand your ground. .I think that at the interval before they had a chance to retaliate I would have told them that I had bought my ticket to watch the performance which for me and everyone else n the audience includes listening to the music which for this ballet just happens to be the greatest of Tchaikovsky's ballet scores and that I had not come to the theatre to listen to them talking. That approach usually works. Edited December 12, 2016 by FLOSS 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bangorballetboy Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 When I was at the Nutcracker I was seated next to an elderly man who seemed cheerful and harmless enough - until he started making very distasteful remarks about the dancer playing Sugarplum and her mixed race heritage. I tried to ignore him as much as possible but he kept adding little comments in the intervals, and even through the dances! It's awfully embarrassing to have someone talk to you in the silence of the audience, and while I didn't respond I was given my fair share of dirty looks. Note to people like this: just because a young woman is sat alone, doesn't mean she wants to hear your inane opinions throughout the whole piece... I would have told him exactly what I thought of him and suggested that he leave the auditorium quietly. Someone acting like that at a football match would be removed by the stewards. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tatiana Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 Tatiana the behaviour which you have described is pretty appalling.The.Christmas audience is a particularly mixed bunch rather than the hard bitten ballet goers you encounter during the rest of the year. I do hope that I don't encounter your racist ballet goer but if I do I shall be prepared. I think that in the circumstances that you have described you are perfectly entitled to tell the individual concerned to "Shut Up ". i don't think that someone that ignorant would understand anything more subtle. If he persisted you are perfectly entitled to tell someone like that, that you want to listen to the music not his racist remarks. As far as the couple who retaliated to your "shushing" by telling you off, are concerned, you have to be prepared to stand your ground. .I think that at the interval before they had a chance to retaliate I would have told them that I had bought my ticket to watch the performance which for me and everyone else n the audience includes listening to the music which for this ballet just happens to be the greatest of Tchaikovsky's ballet scores and that I had not come to the theatre to listen to their chatter.That approach usually works. I hope you don't encounter him either! I did speak to them both in the interval: just politely asked if they wouldn't mind not talking through Act II, (sorry, I'm a little shy!) and the man rudely responded "WAS I TALKING?" Er, yes, you were. Oh well. It was still a gorgeous performance, and since it was Christmas I splashed out a bit and bought a ticket out of the slips - I could almost see the whole stage! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 As he was making unpleasant racial comments and not talking about the price of sugar or the current state of the railways or some such I think it is probably almost a duty to tell him to shut Up if one can only be brave enough at the time....but if you are shy this is very difficult thing to do .....I'm not shy but was brought up not "to rock the boat" so it's sometimes hard to put your head above the parapet and stand up for what you believe in .....but I'm am getting better as get older!! In the end some very to the point wit can win the day but only about two in ten times can I think off the top of my head .....usually on the way home on the bus ....but a bit late then. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 It is worth writing to the front of house manager (nicki.spencer@roh.org.uk) to register that there was a serious problem and to give her the seat number(s) concerned. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 Where was this, Tatiana? I ask because the behaviour you have described is similar to that encountered by others when the Bolshoi was at the ROH last summer and 'management' was made aware of it at the time. I'm trying to see how that sort of behaviour would have applied to the Bolshoi ... do they have any racially mixed dancers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 I'm trying to see how that sort of behaviour would have applied to the Bolshoi ... do they have any racially mixed dancers? Someone on here referred to another kind of obnoxious behaviour but which also involved the making of loud comments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewinelake Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 It is worth writing to the front of house manager (nicki.spencer@roh.org.uk) to register that there was a serious problem and to give her the seat number(s) concerned. A good idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts