LinMM Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 But why would they take the biscuits off you what was their reason ( obviously something I'm not seeing here) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted February 21, 2018 Author Share Posted February 21, 2018 No food or drink allowed in the Arena unless you have purchased it there at extortionate cost... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 Ah yes of course! Doh! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BMC Posted March 25, 2018 Share Posted March 25, 2018 A lesson for me in not making assumptions at two matinees last week: Wednesday - very respectable looking middle aged lady takes seat a few rows down at Long Day's Journey into Night. Every 10 minutes or so phone comes out for texting or general perusing, blatantly, not even that surreptitious half covering with the hand. I know the play is long but please ... Thursday - heart sinks as I get to the theatre in Stratford for Christopher Ecclestone's Macbeth to see that just about every schoolboy in the country is there. But absolute silence in the play: no rustling, fidgeting and not one telltale little (but oh so distracting) light anywhere in the auditorium. Felt the need to atone for my negative thoughts by congratulating teachers on their impressively behaved students who could certainly teach some adults a thing or two! 22 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninamargaret Posted March 25, 2018 Share Posted March 25, 2018 On Friday evening I was sitting next to a very elegantly dressed lady who was name dropping about those that she knew who were on the board etc. At the end of each ballet we were treated to very loud comments about individual dancers - 'don't like her', he's the only one worth watching', 'he's no good'. Very unpleasant for all of us around her. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 8 hours ago, ninamargaret said: On Friday evening I was sitting next to a very elegantly dressed lady who was name dropping about those that she knew who were on the board etc. At the end of each ballet we were treated to very loud comments about individual dancers - 'don't like her', he's the only one worth watching', 'he's no good'. Very unpleasant for all of us around her. I've experienced this too (at the ROH). Why ever do some people feel the need to big themselves up in this way ? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sim Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 Because they aren't really big at all. 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuthE Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 (edited) 2 hours ago, capybara said: I've experienced this too (at the ROH). Why ever do some people feel the need to big themselves up in this way ? This reminds me indirectly of the time I was at a "closed" opera dress rehearsal at the ROH, in a very good seat in the Stalls which had been given to me by a friend who was a principal cast member. I was sitting there minding my own business when the lady next to me tried to strike up a conversation with the line "So... who ARE you?!" (As in "I am not used to seeing people outside of my social circle sitting next to me at events with privileged access like this") I can't even remember what I said, but I certainly didn't name-drop my friend! Edited March 26, 2018 by RuthE 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 How bad mannered of her, Ruth. As if it was any of her business! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuthE Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 Well, quite. It came across as "Either tell me who got you your ticket, so I can gauge if you're worth my time and effort, or otherwise justify your presence here"... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 I've had that sort of thing too - but, of course, what the questioner really wants is to be able to tell you who THEY are or who THEY know. I've been asked several times, " How were YOU able to get these seats, then?" (after having looked me up and down first, of course). But there are many other forms of enquiry about one's tickets which are perfectly fine and just normal sort of chat. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuthE Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 19 minutes ago, capybara said: I've had that sort of thing too - but, of course, what the questioner really wants is to be able to tell you who THEY are or who THEY know. True. And of course, if I had the slightest interest in hearing any of it, I'd have initiated a conversation myself... (though definitely not in as brusque a fashion!) 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 1 hour ago, RuthE said: Well, quite. It came across as "Either tell me who got you your ticket, so I can gauge if you're worth my time and effort, or otherwise justify your presence here"... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninamargaret Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 Mind you, audience comments can be quite funny. Many years ago at the ROH I heard two elderly and rather hard of hearing ladies discussing the performance and the dancers. One said, very confidentially but loudly ' I do like X (no name mentioned by me) he's got such a cheeky little bottom!' I hasten to add that the owner of said piece of anatomy is no longer with us. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuthE Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 (edited) One also occasionally encounters an overbearing know-all within earshot. I must say I enjoy toying with the ones who address me directly, unsolicited, assuming I have no knowledge of the subject matter in hand (they are always older and almost invariably male)... But there was one occasion when I had a man behind me at ROH Swan Lake who was loudly - for the benefit of everybody else around him, presumably - regaling his two silent female companions with demonstrably incorrect rubbish, in fact making a complete fool of himself. I was *itching* to turn round and inform his companions that ACTUALLY the Dying Swan was nothing to do with Swan Lake, and was not going to happen in the next act no matter what their friend was telling them, but I resisted... (edited to add: I thought I may have told this story on this thread before, so I did a keyword search before posting it, but apparently not!) Edited March 26, 2018 by RuthE 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zxDaveM Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 I admire your restraint! :-) 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sim Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 So do I. I would have humiliated him forthwith!! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toursenlair Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 I was at a performance of Onegin at the Royal Opera House when the gentleman sitting next to me told me that duelling had not of course existed "in this country". 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuthE Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 Found my previous account of this anecdote in the Room 101 thread in Not Dance, along with an example of how much I enjoy playing with people who try to patronise me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bangorballetboy Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 1 hour ago, RuthE said: One also occasionally encounters an overbearing know-all within earshot. I must say I enjoy toying with the ones who address me directly, unsolicited, assuming I have no knowledge of the subject matter in hand (they are always older and almost invariably male)... But there was one occasion when I had a man behind me at ROH Swan Lake who was loudly - for the benefit of everybody else around him, presumably - regaling his two silent female companions with demonstrably incorrect rubbish, in fact making a complete fool of himself. I was *itching* to turn round and inform his companions that ACTUALLY the Dying Swan was nothing to do with Swan Lake, and was not going to happen in the next act no matter what their friend was telling them, but I resisted... (edited to add: I thought I may have told this story on this thread before, so I did a keyword search before posting it, but apparently not!) I've had something similar when sitting in the front row and I turned round and loudly told the gentlemen he was talking absolute balderdash. He said: "Well, that's your opinion" and those near me in the front row signaled their appreciation of my intercession! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuthE Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 I wonder if it was the same person! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bangorballetboy Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 25 minutes ago, RuthE said: I wonder if it was the same person! He was being incredibly rude about the orchestra and that was the final straw for me. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 I am certain that people like this only do because they think they are knowledgeable - although most of the above posts show that they are not- but what they really are is incredibly obnoxious. I was always so thrilled to attend a performance at the ROH or any live theatre that I would never dreamed of being critical. All actors, dancers and musicians are perfectionists and I know are not satisfied with anything other than their very best. It merely makes such critical people in the audience seem unbelievably petty and rather ridiculous. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuthE Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 But criticism itself is not unreasonable. Having an opinion - or indeed observing factual negative points (such as a dancer having fallen out of a step or a singer having been out of tune) - is normal, as is discussing it with your companion. What is not reasonable is stating factual untruths and expecting them not to be challenged, as well as making the assumption that everyone else* deserves to hear your opinion, whether they want it or not. *"Everyone else" perhaps including the artists themselves; in BBB's anecdote above, it's quite possible that the person in question was within earshot of the people he was denigrating. The same applies to making negative remarks about performers on social media with their names tagged in so they have it pop up in their feed. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizbie1 Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 7 minutes ago, RuthE said: The same applies to making negative remarks about performers on social media with their names tagged in so they have it pop up in their feed. Crikey - why on earth would someone actually do that?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuthE Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 Just now, Lizbie1 said: Crikey - why on earth would someone actually do that?! In my experience there are two types of people who do: 1) naïve amateur reviewers who want to show the world the review they wrote and don't think about it until the artist calls them out on it, at which point they are generally enormously apologetic 2) idiots who revel in saying what they want online regardless of other people's feelings 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 Or I suppose we could be generous and say people who don't fully know how Twitter works and have confused/forgotten the difference between @ and #? If we're feeling particularly generous 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balletfanp Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 I sat next to a lady once in a Friends' rehearsal for the Obsidian Tear/The Invitation/Within the Golden Hour triple bill. She asked me if I had been to a rehearsal before and I confessed that it was my first one. In a condescending manner she told me that she was a regular - always there, and she knew everyone, absolutely everyone. I didn't ask who "everyone" signified as by that point I didn't want to encourage her. The McGregor started. She proceeded to tut, roll her eyes, sneer and make derogatory comments all the way through it in an audible voice, and to try to draw me into her criticisms - well, most of McGregor isn't my particular cup of tea, but I would never do that! The Invitation started. She said "Now THIS is more like it." Given the subject matter, and the traumatic ending, I had to stare at her open mouthed when she turned to me at the end, beaming, and said "Oh, wasn't that LOVELY!" Well, I can think of many ways of describing The Invitation, but "lovely" isn't the word I would use..... Then during the curtain calls - despite her assurances that she knew "everyone" - she then asked me who each and every one of the dancers were, and when told didn't recognise a single name..... 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharon Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 The above posts reminded me of another occasion when I went to see Dance Theatre of Harlem, and a friend had invited her know it all friend. As she had been invited by my friend I refrained from responding to her always wrong statements and just kept quiet, trying to blank her. It was really hard! As this woman thought she knew everything - and we knew nothing 🙄 During the interval - I walked away from my group towards an incredibly handsome man with a big smile on my face, and spoke with him for a short time. When I returned, this annoying woman turned to me and said ' who was that, a friend of yours?' I just looked at her, and said I was just saying hello to Arthur Mitchell. "Arthur Mitchell?" she asked, looking at me blankly. I looked at her then - as if I were shocked, "yes Arthur Mitchell, the Artistic Director of the company!" I'd like to say that it shut her up for the rest of the evening....but 10 mins was better than nothing. 😉 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuthE Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 One of the reasons I didn't engage with the "who ARE you?" lady was that if it had transpired that we were there as guests of the same artist, which is quite likely given adjacent house seats, that sort of person is the sort of person who will then keep talking to me all evening, usually in an attempt at a game of one-upmanship about how their relationship with that artist is more close/important/long-standing than mine. And I never have the energy to get into that sort of rubbish 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharon Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 Ooo and just read it's Arthur Mitchell's birthday today, nice coincidence 😁 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jillykins Posted April 7, 2018 Share Posted April 7, 2018 Last night packed house at Opera House, Stalls circle standing behind us breathing the most offensive smell of strong, strong garlic over our heads. It really was unpleasant. Also front row man with violent attack of heavy, loud coughing with whispering and loud unwrapping of cough sweets. They did the job. Then gentle, beautiful orchestral opening of next ballet immediate second attack and long search and rustling for sweets. Again worked well. Why didn’t he keep opened sweets handy. The music and dancing terrific. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
penelopesimpson Posted April 7, 2018 Share Posted April 7, 2018 Wonderful night at Macbeth on Wednesday, apart from adjoining mother and daughter. Mother had to get up to go to the loo after an hour of Macbeth and was let back in again. Unbelievably, same in second half. Yes, its a long opera, but... Daughter had fur coat, raincoat, hand baggage and carry-on suit carrier. Unbelievable. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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