Audience Behaviour - Thread 2

[art_enthusiast]

34 minutes ago, alison said:

 

If you can find proper cough sweets in noiseless paper, please let us know.

 

If you take a few out of the paper before the performance starts, it should be fine.

 

The Olbas brand doesn't sell them individually wrapped.

[art_enthusiast]

1 hour ago, Dawnstar said:

 

The ROH used to provide free cough sweets. I can't recall when exactly they stopped but I was looking at a programme from 2009 recently & there was an advert for them in it.

 

Sort of wish they would bring that back, because the amount of coughing becomes ridiculous sometimes. (Without masks too, it's like everyone has decided to forget the world stopping pandemic years)

[Cayetana]

3 hours ago, alison said:

If you can find proper cough sweets in noiseless paper, please let us know.

What I do is to remove then from either blister or their wrapper and put them in a little metallic box padded with kitchen paper. Yes, I know.

[Scheherezade]

7 hours ago, Ondine said:

The gondolier, who had been attempting a tricky manoeuvre as he navigated the vessel under a bridge close to the area of St Mark’s Square, also ended up in the water before scrambling to rescue his passengers

 

I have been full of admiration for  gondoliers ever since, years ago, I dropped my passport into the Grand Canal and quick as a flash, as I helplessly watched it float away and sink, a gondolier coming up behind fished it out with his pole and handed it back.

[Silke H]

19 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

 

The ROH used to provide free cough sweets. I can't recall when exactly they stopped but I was looking at a programme from 2009 recently & there was an advert for them in it.

yes, ROH provided them upon request from cast sheet/programme sales ushers.  I loved the note in the old cast sheets: "Silence sponsored by Sela Cough"  They tasted nice and their wrapper wasn't a noisy one either.

[alison]

But we're not sure if Sela Cough are still produced, are we?

 

(And hasn't the sweet shop across the way from Birmingham Hippodrome vanished?)

[Scheherezade]

Sela cough sweets were one of the few that worked. I’m pretty sure that if you go far enough back, they used to provide them at the Wigmore Hall too, then suddenly they were replaced and appeared to have been withdrawn from production, for whatever reason, round about that time. 

[Ondine]

8 hours ago, alison said:

Sela Cough

 

Yes still produced and widely available it seems!

 

 

https://www.pharmacyonline.co.uk/item/290891/sela-cough-throat-chest-sweets-original-100g.html

 

[Scheherezade]

1 minute ago, Ondine said:

 

Yes still produced and widely available it seems!

 

 

https://www.pharmacyonline.co.uk/item/290891/sela-cough-throat-chest-sweets-original-100g.html

 

Ooh, that’s good to know. There was a time when it was impossible to get hold of them and that was so long ago that I’d entirely forgotten about them until Silke’s post. 

[alison]

10 minutes ago, Ondine said:

 

Yes still produced and widely available it seems!

 

 

https://www.pharmacyonline.co.uk/item/290891/sela-cough-throat-chest-sweets-original-100g.html

 

 

It does say out of stock - hopefully not for too long.  But it looks as though they've gone for noisy wrappers rather than the waxed ones now.

[Ondine]

4 minutes ago, alison said:

It does say out of stock - hopefully not for too long.

 

Do a Google,  listed by other places also.

Edited December 7, 2023 by Ondine

[Fonty]

With regard to littering, where I live I overlook a small local park.  In the summer I am appalled when people just dump their rubbish by the litter bin and saunter off.  On hot days, the mounds of stuff are dreadful.  People carry the full bottles and containers to the park in a bag of some sort; why the heck can't they use that same bag to carry their empties home with them?  I challenged a group once as I was walking home.  They said they didn't want to carry around dirty, smelly containers with them, and said it was the fault of the council for not providing big enough litter bins.  The fact that other people might have to endure the resulting smell and pest problem didn't bother them at all.

 

Also, I recently took a train to Portsmouth.  I had to change somewhere on route to get the right train, and when the train arrived, the first two carriages were completely taken over by a huge group of primary school children.  At the end of the journey I walked back through the train.  Those two compartments looked as though a bomb had hit them.  Rubbish piled high on every single table, drink and food crushed onto the table tops and underfoot, together with what looked like the result of a paper napkin fight - bits of paper everywhere.  These children must have been travelling with teachers.  What on earth were they thinking to allow children to make that much mess and then leave it behind.  

 

So, if parents and teachers aren't bothered by littering, and the idea of clearing up is not enforced on the younger generations, then a filthy dirty environment is seen by many as someone else's problem now.    

Edited December 9, 2023 by Fonty

[capybara]

There’s been an item on Sky News tonight about the deterioration in behaviour with reports of people being hospitalised following ‘in theatre’ attacks, drink-fuelled rowdyism etc. 

 

 

 

Edited December 9, 2023 by capybara

[Emeralds]

Strepsils are noiseless if you get the tube out and tear open the paper in advance- you can then slide each lozenge out noiselessly. I've used Strepsils once as a cough suppressant because I had a sore throat as well as a cough from a chest infection so bad it became a pneumonia and I had to miss Cav/Pag as well as Nunez/Muntagirov AND Cuthbertson/Clarke in Sylvia.

 

By the time I was well enough (but still with a residual cough and sore throat) to step onto a train and no longer contagious, it was one of the last shows of Sylvia- Osipova/Muntagirov. It was a brilliant performance and I was so grateful to be able to catch that remaining show, but what I was most thrilled about was that I managed to get through all 3 acts without ever coughing during the dancing or music - only during the applause or at the intervals. I may have overdosed on an extra lozenge or two (!!), but didn't suffer any adverse effects. 🤣 

 

NB don't try this unless you've had that flavour of Strepsils before and are fine with them! 

Edited December 9, 2023 by Emeralds

[alison]

I didn't think Strepsils came in tubes.  I've only ever seen them in blister packs.

 

I came to the conclusion some years ago - after sitting in the Royal Festival Hall choir stalls watching a certain conductor who clearly had a bad cold or something - that concentration is often the key.  If you try and focus on what you're listening to/watching, rather than the cough itself, it's often possible to suppress it.  He got through each movement of the symphony or whatever it was with no problem at all, but was hacking badly in between movements.

[Pas de Quatre]

Strepsils are excellent. Years ago whenever I flew anywhere I seemed to always get a cold on the plane. I mentioned it to a holiday rep and she said to suck a strepsil on take off and landing. It works, I haven't caught anything since!

[LinMM]

That’s the advice usually suggested for people who have ear problems on take off and landing because of the pressure difference….unfortunately an older age acquired problem(I’m assuming)  for me 😬…..to suck or even better chew on some sort of sweet. The steeper the descent the more likely ear problems are likely to occur and can be worse if you already have a cold. 
I always choose olbas oil gums to chew on when starting the descent to land especially. 
I wouldn’t have any faith that just sucking on any kind of cough sweet just on the take off and landing would protect you from actually catching a cold on a plane as that can come from the re cycled air used  throughout  flight I always thought. 

Edited December 10, 2023 by LinMM

[Emeralds]

15 hours ago, alison said:

I didn't think Strepsils came in tubes.  I've only ever seen them in blister packs.

 

I came to the conclusion some years ago - after sitting in the Royal Festival Hall choir stalls watching a certain conductor who clearly had a bad cold or something - that concentration is often the key.  If you try and focus on what you're listening to/watching, rather than the cough itself, it's often possible to suppress it.  He got through each movement of the symphony or whatever it was with no problem at all, but was hacking badly in between movements.

You're right, Alison- it was Halls Soothers in tubes I was thinking of (it's been a very long time since I was that ill!) although I did use Strepsils from the blister pack at the start and during the intervals just before the curtain went up. 

 

A lot of people cough in British concert halls and theatres as a bad habit rather than because they are really unwell or have a physical cause. I've been in performances where you'd think the hall was full of people with rampant TB, yet when the same people who "had to" cough during the quiet moments go to queue for ice creams, the toilets or the bar, they are surprisingly cured of their cough during those moments but "relapse" again when the show begins!

 

Or those people who start coughing in concerts when one person starts ("oh, he got to cough so I must have my turn coughing too") but oddly enough couldn't do their coughing while the applause was happening just 2 seconds before. 

[Lizbie1]

I find most cough sweets horrid to the point that I can't use them BUT Boots blackcurrant glycerin pastilles are very palatable (like real sweets!), do the job for me and - as long as you open the inner package sufficiently in advance or even decant them into the cardboard box - are not noisy.

[Lizbie1]

51 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

A lot of people cough in British concert halls and theatres as a bad habit rather than because they are really unwell or have a physical cause. I've been in performances where you'd think the hall was full of people with rampant TB, yet when the same people who "had to" cough during the quiet moments go to queue for ice creams, the toilets or the bar, they are surprisingly cured of their cough during those moments but "relapse" again when the show begins!

 

But this is what happens when you have a cough that's on its way out (as I have now). It's not a regular or predictable thing.

 

To coin a phrase, they do not cough for their own amusement.

Edited December 10, 2023 by Lizbie1
Extra word removed

[Blossom]

LBC is currently covering audience behaviour - Paul Brand from approx 6.05pm and you can catch up online/download as a podcast. Interested to hear what callers have to say!

[Emeralds]

1 hour ago, Lizbie1 said:

 

But this is what happens when you have a cough that's on its way out (as I have now). It's not a regular or predictable thing.

 

To coin a phrase, they do not cough for their own amusement.

Not necessarily amusement, but it sure sounds like the timing is predominantly at the times they shouldn't. It's like one dog in the neighbourhood barking and other dogs start barking one by one. I certainly know about the unpredictable coughs- I stayed home and missed Simon Keenlyside, Muntagirov and Cuthbertson because my unpredictable coughs were still frequent and I didn't want to disrupt other audience members' enjoyment, despite being  offered lifts by car to London and back to avoid having to take public transport. If one is sick to the point that it would disrupt others, one should stay home. 

Edited December 10, 2023 by Emeralds

[art_enthusiast]

3 hours ago, Emeralds said:

If one is sick to the point that it would disrupt others, one should stay home. 

 

Exactly! I understand that it sucks not going to a performance you are really looking forward to, but it's about showing consideration for others. I was totally gutted about having to miss Vadim's Prince Rudolf last year. I ended up giving my ticket to a friend who did enjoy it (their first ballet, so a bit of an unorthodox choice but well received). I would much rather not go than disrupt the performance for others, and spread germs. It's not like Covid happened 10 years ago!

[alison]

5 hours ago, Lizbie1 said:

 

But this is what happens when you have a cough that's on its way out (as I have now). It's not a regular or predictable thing.

 

Exactly.  I remember having to dash out midway through a performance of Winter Dreams some years ago (I was standing, fortunately) when a tickle became totally uncontrollable, several weeks after I'd had a bad cold or something.

[Ondine]

57 minutes ago, art_enthusiast said:

It's not like Covid happened 10 years ago!

 

It's still around. A friend has just been quite ill with it. Caught in her office where people had been going in with 'a nasty virus', 'a bad cold' etc.  She was the only one who bothered to test. Her husband, like many others, is immunosuppressed so she has the test kits still.

 

Long covid is no joke, either.

[alison]

Talking about lateral flow tests (and sorry for bringing the subject up), but a lot of them will expire next month.  And a family member who also needs to test recently noticed that the liquid in some of the receptacles had started to evaporate.

[Linnzi5]

On 09/12/2023 at 23:01, Emeralds said:

Strepsils are noiseless if you get the tube out and tear open the paper in advance- you can then slide each lozenge out noiselessly. I've used Strepsils once as a cough suppressant because I had a sore throat as well as a cough from a chest infection so bad it became a pneumonia and I had to miss Cav/Pag as well as Nunez/Muntagirov AND Cuthbertson/Clarke in Sylvia.

 

By the time I was well enough (but still with a residual cough and sore throat) to step onto a train and no longer contagious, it was one of the last shows of Sylvia- Osipova/Muntagirov. It was a brilliant performance and I was so grateful to be able to catch that remaining show, but what I was most thrilled about was that I managed to get through all 3 acts without ever coughing during the dancing or music - only during the applause or at the intervals. I may have overdosed on an extra lozenge or two (!!), but didn't suffer any adverse effects. 🤣 

 

NB don't try this unless you've had that flavour of Strepsils before and are fine with them! 

This was me for my last Don Q and Dante. I sucked soothing cough sweets, not Strepsils (though I had those for the interval as they are amazing!)  during the performance as they're too noisy to get out of the packaging, but blackcurrant ones with gooey honey centres - can't remember which brand they are, but they are in a paper tube. I only coughed during applause and sipped water too. I had tested negative for Covid, so saw no reason not to go. However, suppressing my cough did not serve me well, I don't think, as then a got a secondary infection in my sinuses and now have the ear problem. I think I should have stayed at home (and did for the Insight  as I knew if I coughed it would be so much more obvious and I didn't want to ruin it for people around me). I seriously overdosed on those cough sweets and Strepsils though! 

[Fonty]

Talking of coughing fits, I find that even if I don't have a cough before I go in, there is something about the atmosphere in theatres that sets me off.  I had a terrible couple of minutes when I went to see Witness for the Prosecution recently, and I was really embarrassed.  No idea what caused it.  My water bottle was buried deep in the depths of my bag, so it took some frantic rummaging to retrieve it, which seemed to solve the problem.  

 

Does anybody else have this problem?

[alison]

Absolutely.  I have been able to make it go away on occasions - when I remember - by concentrating hard, as I mentioned above, though.

[Linnzi5]

6 hours ago, Fonty said:

Talking of coughing fits, I find that even if I don't have a cough before I go in, there is something about the atmosphere in theatres that sets me off.  I had a terrible couple of minutes when I went to see Witness for the Prosecution recently, and I was really embarrassed.  No idea what caused it.  My water bottle was buried deep in the depths of my bag, so it took some frantic rummaging to retrieve it, which seemed to solve the problem.  

 

Does anybody else have this problem?

Yes. My friend and I are regular West End musical visitors and she always has coughing fits in the various theatres. She always has water with her and that helps. I wonder if it’s dusty or she has some sort of allergy? However, we both cough if dry ice comes our way! 

[Linnzi5]

5 hours ago, alison said:

Absolutely.  I have been able to make it go away on occasions - when I remember - by concentrating hard, as I mentioned above, though.

I do that and my eyes water and my heart rate increases with the desire to suppress the cough. The more I try not to cough, the more my eyes water and the worse the desire to cough gets! 😱 Fortunately, that rarely happens to me as I don’t often get nasty coughs.

[MJW]

6 hours ago, alison said:

Absolutely.  I have been able to make it go away on occasions - when I remember - by concentrating hard, as I mentioned above, though.

 

Unfortunately yes. I'm asthmatic so and quite sensitive to dry air/perfumes etc. I always have a water bottle with me and tend to take some mints with me to suck just to keep my throat from drying out. 

[Jan McNulty]

I came across this article while culling the links:

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/theatre-audience-behaviour-hamlet-scott-b2472720.html