Audience Behaviour - Thread 2

[MJW]

43 minutes ago, capybara said:

Rather distressing last night to see so many members of the audience from the Stalls leaving during the curtain calls.

The performance did not finish late

 and it looked and felt so discourteous.

 

I’ve always found that quite rude - I can understand when the performance is running late but not otherwise. I always hope it’s not too obvious to the dancers 

 

[OnePigeon]

1 hour ago, Benjamin said:

I can pretty much confirm. Season should run in between February to June, Most Likely March and May.

Kevin, is that you? 😆🥸🤫🤔

[Sim]

18 minutes ago, OnePigeon said:

Kevin, is that you? 😆🥸🤫🤔

😂😂

[JNC]

Likely this may make an appearance in the links tomorrow but it continues … https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2023/apr/10/bodyguard-police-fighting-urinating-seats-ugly-new-side-of-theatre-audiences

 

I feel so awful for James Norton; an absolute violation of the sanctity of theatre and respect for actors. And I feel terrible for the staff. If management want to sell alcohol and food then they need to accept the risk of this sort of behaviour increases and appropriately hire actual security (as unnecessary as that should be).

 

Or of course they could just not allow drunk punters in, stop selling alcohol (at least to drunk people!) and not allow food/drink in the auditorium (reducing said amount of alcohol consumed, at this point it would be fairly easy to hide alcohol in a water bottle I imagine). 
 

some other constructive solutions in the article as well. Hope they are actually implemented.

[LinMM]

I always stay to the end if I think the performance will finish by 10.15pm but any later than that and I will dash out unfortunately ….as I don’t like the walk I have to do when I get off the bus eventually…. if it’s after 11pm by the time I get there. 
Sometimes I will opt for a taxi but that will cost £20 plus so can’t always afford to. 
One night after a stabbing in the road next to the one I stay in I ended up having to do a long walk around just to get to the flat because of the police cordon ….for a while afterwards I was practically having panic attacks walking from the bus if even just after 10pm!! and at that time was leaving theatre performances at the second interval…..so sometimes people do have their reasons for leaving earlier than they may want to in an ideal world. 

[capybara]

17 minutes ago, LinMM said:

I always stay to the end if I think the performance will finish by 10.15pm but any later than that and I will dash out unfortunately ….as I don’t like the walk I have to do when I get off the bus eventually…. if it’s after 11pm by the time I get there. 
Sometimes I will opt for a taxi but that will cost £20 plus so can’t always afford to. 
One night after a stabbing in the road next to the one I stay in I ended up having to do a long walk around just to get to the flat because of the police cordon ….for a while afterwards I was practically having panic attacks walking from the bus if even just after 10pm!! and at that time was leaving theatre performances at the second interval…..so sometimes people do have their reasons for leaving earlier than they may want to in an ideal world. 

 

 Understood but people were leaving in droves last night.

[Jan McNulty]

1 minute ago, capybara said:

 

 Understood but people were leaving in droves last night.

 

It does my head in when people do that.

 

Sometimes a friend of mine would realise she would miss her train if she stayed for the curtain calls but she always swapped or moved seats so that she could leave discretely.

[Dawnstar]

While this pales in comparison to the ghastly behaviour in the news recently, at yesterday's matinee I saw the most selfish example of leaning that I've ever seen. I was sitting in stalls circle C24 so in an area where leaning is often a problem. Just before Act I started I noticed that the woman sitting directly in front of me in row B was leaning really far forwards, not just the slight lean that often happens but so far that if her head had been a bit lower she could have rested her chin on the seat of the row A seat. As the lights dimmed & Koen Kessels entered the woman next to her on the right said something to the leaning woman, evidently asking her not to lean forward. But the woman leaning refused to stop & continued to lean as far forward as she could throughout the act. The poor woman next to her must have barely been able to see a thing, especially as the leaning woman had very thick hair that stuck out a lot. I wasn't at all surprised that as soon as the act had finished, and the leaning woman promptly exited, that the husband of the woman whose view was blocked, whose own view must also have been compromised, went & got an usher to complain to. I was so sorry for them that once they'd explained the situation to the usher I chipped in & backed them up as to how badly the woman was leaning. The usher suggested they went to speak to the FOH managed & ask if they could be moved. When I came back for the start of Act II their seats were empty & looking round the auditorium I spotted they had been moved to the previously empty Royal box. I hope they had a much better Acts II & III. Meanwhile the leaning woman took advantage of the couple's absence to spread herself out into their space & continued to lean a long way forward for the rest of the performance. I can only devoutly hope that I never find myself next to her in the future!

 

I should have also said that those row B seats are £112 for Cinderella. That's a heck of a lot of money to pay even for the standard view restriction in that area, in my opinion, let alone to then have your view considerably more restricted by a leaner.

Edited April 11, 2023 by Dawnstar
Typos & added 2nd paragraph.

[Jan McNulty]

That's awful Dawnstar.

[capybara]

Agree that the behaviour described by Dawnstar is awful, but shouldn’t the Usher have dealt with the miscreant directly?Referring the immediate victims to the Front Desk helps them but not others who might be affected.

[art_enthusiast]

49 minutes ago, capybara said:

Agree that the behaviour described by Dawnstar is awful, but shouldn’t the Usher have dealt with the miscreant directly?Referring the immediate victims to the Front Desk helps them but not others who might be affected.

 

Exactly, and what if there had been no other good seats available? Then what? Presumably they would have made some half-hearted attempt and left it at that.

I had a similar-ish situation at one of the R and J performances last year, I was front row of the SC probably in A 25. Elderly couple a few seats ahead kept leaning forward. Very rude and belligerent when I attempted to correct them. I went to the usher in the first interval, was backed up by an audience member sitting behind me. I have no idea if they spoke to them or not. There wasn't a massive difference after that but I think I must have been able to mostly blot them out. (it was a brilliant performance - the only one from Natalia Osipova/Reece Clarke for that year after Núñez/Bonelli replaced them due to Covid, so I had been desperate to get a return seat for it)

[Dawnstar]

51 minutes ago, capybara said:

Agree that the behaviour described by Dawnstar is awful, but shouldn’t the Usher have dealt with the miscreant directly?Referring the immediate victims to the Front Desk helps them but not others who might be affected.

 

The usher said to the couple that he'd speak to the woman but I don't know if he did as I left the auditorium then & didn't return until just before Act II. If he did speak to her then it clearly had absolutely no effect!

[Benjamin]

9 hours ago, JNC said:

do you have some insider information or are you just making a good guess?

No insider info, I wish. But I’m like over 90% percent sure. 

[Benjamin]

7 hours ago, Sim said:

In what way can you 'pretty much confirm'? Have you been given advance official information?  Or are you saying it's so obvious that Swan Lake will return that you can confirm it as a feeling of yours and are hazarding a guess as to when it is performed?  

I’m over exaggerating again. Like I can’t confirm and I don’t have any insider info. But It’s the usual protocol Swan Lake every second year, 2018, 2020, 2022 (2024?) So I’m pretty sure, I don’t know why they wouldn’t?

[Benjamin]

7 hours ago, OnePigeon said:

Kevin, is that you? 😆🥸🤫🤔

No. But I wouldn’t blame him if he logged on here using a secret identity.

[Guest oncnp]

41 minutes ago, art_enthusiast said:

 

Exactly, and what if there had been no other good seats available? Then what? Presumably they would have made some half-hearted attempt and left it at that.

 

 

Having been in the Royal Box recently (on the tour) they are not great seats. 

[zxDaveM]

14 minutes ago, oncnp said:

 

Having been in the Royal Box recently (on the tour) they are not great seats. 

 

to be seen, rather than to see

[Sim]

1 hour ago, oncnp said:

 

Having been in the Royal Box recently (on the tour) they are not great seats. 

Many of the boxes have restricted views. 😩

[Jan McNulty]

8 hours ago, Benjamin said:

No insider info, I wish. But I’m like over 90% percent sure. 

 

Which is unnecessarily over-positive speculation.

 

8 hours ago, Benjamin said:

No. But I wouldn’t blame him if he logged on here using a secret identity.

 

Kevin O'Hare has no need to log on with a "secret identity" - the Forum is public and can be read by anyone.  You have to be a member to post.

 

We are well aware that many people in the dance industry read the forum.

[capybara]

I’m sorry, Benjamin, but your posts which suggest that you are ‘in the know’ or speculate as to whether Kevin O’Hare reads this Forum don’t come across to me as helpful - rather the opposite.

I admire your enthusiasm but maybe we could calm down for the few days which now remain before the official announcement about the RB’s 2023/24 season.

 

Of course, everyone’s proposals for the ‘wish list’ are great to read - so educative!

[Benjamin]

3 minutes ago, capybara said:

I’m sorry, Benjamin, but your posts which suggest that you are ‘in the know’ or speculate as to whether Kevin O’Hare reads this Forum don’t come across to me as helpful - rather the opposite.

I admire your enthusiasm but maybe we could calm down for the few days which now remain before the official announcement about the RB’s 2023/24 season.

 

Of course, everyone’s proposals for the ‘wish list’ are great to read - so educative!

Maybe a bit too enthusiastic but I digress. I’m a bit confused about me saying that Kevin O’hare possibly reads this threads, probably just my horrible wording and lack of re-reading. Also It’s not my fault that there’s loads of people that have replied to this thread, but don’t blame it on the people replying, not that I know what to blame it on. Ok that’s it.

[Fonty]

I am not sure if people have seen this in the Evening Standard last night?  The sentence that had me frothing at the mouth was the one about the "racist dimension".  Certain shows will make an audience laugh out loud at something funny, oo and ah at something wonderful, gasp at something startling, cheer and applaud loudly at some spectacular moment by a performer....this is all part of audience participation.  You are  likely to get more of those sorts of response from a live audience in a musical or drama than in a ballet or opera, because that is the reaction the creators wanted to get in the first place.  Surely audience response has nothing whatsoever to do with race (or social class, if there is still such a thing) and everything to do with the type of production and the content. 
 

https://www.standard.co.uk/comment/palace-theatre-riot-mausoleums-audiences-rowdy-control-b1073365.html?itm_source=Internal&itm_channel=section_trending_article_component&itm_campaign=editors_picks&itm_content=2

[Sim]

What a totally ridiculous article.  Anyone of any colour or class or age is allowed to make noise and participate when invited to do so.  Why is it 'racist' or 'classicist' to want to listen to someone singing for you without being disrupted?  Why it is 'racist' or 'classicist' to want to let the artists onstage entertain us and move us, without having to listen to or see disruptive behaviour?  If people want to be rowdy in a theatre, fine...just choose the appropriate venue and performance.  I don't pay my hard-earned money to listen to a drunk trying to sing or dance.  If I want that, I can go to karaoke, a club or a pub.  

[Fonty]

15 minutes ago, Sim said:

What a totally ridiculous article.  Anyone of any colour or class or age is allowed to make noise and participate when invited to do so.  Why is it 'racist' or 'classicist' to want to listen to someone singing for you without being disrupted?  Why it is 'racist' or 'classicist' to want to let the artists onstage entertain us and move us, without having to listen to or see disruptive behaviour?  If people want to be rowdy in a theatre, fine...just choose the appropriate venue and performance.  I don't pay my hard-earned money to listen to a drunk trying to sing or dance.  If I want that, I can go to karaoke, a club or a pub.  

 

I was so annoyed by it.  There seems to be this narrative creeping into the various articles on the subject that in order to be more "inclusive" we should expect behaviour that is different.  The old idea of good behaviour  is seen as old fashioned, snobbish, elitist.  They don't actually say that, of course, but it is as if we are all being groomed to accept rowdy behaviour as the new normal.  This is to be seen as a good thing as it will encourage more people to attend, who wouldn't normally go.

 

Edited to add that if Boris Johnson had sat behind me audibly muttering, I would have had no qualms whatsoever in turning round and telling him to be quiet!  I did once chastise a Prime Minister for turning up late to a performance.......

 

Edited April 12, 2023 by Fonty

[Sim]

10 minutes ago, Fonty said:

 

I was so annoyed by it.  There seems to be this narrative creeping into the various articles on the subject that in order to be more "inclusive" we should expect behaviour that is different. 

 

I agree, and find that attitude incredibly patronising.  

[zxDaveM]

1 hour ago, Sim said:

If people want to be rowdy in a theatre, fine...just choose the appropriate venue and performance.  I don't pay my hard-earned money to listen to a drunk trying to sing or dance.

 

I remember when I first went to ROH, I was uncertain of the etiquette, or how I should 'behave'. So I just followed the prompt of those around me. There was no way I was going to be a trend setter and set up my own behavioural 'norms' - as per my upbringing, I wanted to be courteous to fellow audience members

[alison]

So did I, way back when ...

[Jan McNulty]

From London Theatre Reviews IG.  Notice at the Aldwich Theatre:

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cq2X_7XoFOW/

 

[JNC]

7 hours ago, Sim said:

I agree, and find that attitude incredibly patronising.  

indeed that and the class dimension which newspaper columnists always make much more of than the audience, or than I’ve ever seen! I’ve often seen the clearly wealthier audience members drinking lots and thinking they can sneak food/drinks in and talk whenever they want and they’re the ones wearing the expensive clanking bangles! It cuts across class in my experience, I wouldn’t say one is more likely to behave a certain way than another.

 

Shame as the rest of the article makes some valid points on bad behaviour. 

[Sophoife]

More brass than class.

[Pas de Quatre]

I always feel it is somewhat patronising/condescending when people say standards should be relaxed (in anything) to be more inclusive. It implies that the people they are trying to attract are somehow the lower orders and nothing  better can be expected from them.

[Scheherezade]

3 hours ago, Pas de Quatre said:

I always feel it is somewhat patronising/condescending when people say standards should be relaxed (in anything) to be more inclusive. It implies that the people they are trying to attract are somehow the lower orders and nothing  better can be expected from them.

Incredibly patronising and equally untrue. The most wonderful ‘gentleman’ I ever knew came from an extremely poor Irish family and could have shown anyone how to behave: kind, tolerant, courteous, considerate and non-judgmental. Real class in my view. 

[Pas de Quatre]

Exactly Scheherazade, that  proves the point, you may have misunderstood my post.