Somebody asked if audience etiquette at the theatre and cinema is declining and received a resounding round of applause

13.

‘The last couple of gigs I’ve been to there have been numerous people having loud conversations during songs. I don’t get it.’
–tmr89

14.

‘I went to see West Side Story and the man next to me kept going on his phone every five mins to check the football – screen full brightness. When I told him to turn it off as it was distracting I got shushed by the woman in front of us, who turned out to be part of his group. I still haven’t fully bounced back from the injustice of that. Nonetheless the man’s face when I told him to put it away was like I was the crazy one.’
–redpanda6969

15.

‘My worst was a few years back in Glasgow for the Bodyguard. We were up in the Gods. There were a lot of obviously drunk people on the audience. About 15 minutes in there was this godawful puking sound followed by a shout of ‘aw that’s fuxking disgusting’. We looked over and one of the drunks had vomited copious amounts of red wine flavoured stomach contents over the head of the blonde in front of her.

They left the auditorium and we settled down to enjoy the performance. Not for long. As the minutes passed, the number of people leaving increased. By the intermission , there was a huge circle of empty seats around the site of the crime. We were gagging and had our scarves over our noses. At intermission, we left to get some fresh air (theatre staff had arrived to clean up) and use the loo. That didn’t happen because the loos were closed for cleaning – the same group had created an unholy mess in there too.’
–Lessarocks

16.

‘I went to the opera recently, and the number of phones going off, people talking, sweet wrappers rustling was unbelievable. A couple next to me kept talking and I eventually asked them to be quiet, which mercifully they did (after some grumbling). I don’t get it – if you want to chat through the whole thing, just watch a version on YouTube in the comfort of your own house.’
–blue_cherry

17.

‘No I’ve noticed this too – even at quite ‘upmarket’ (for want of a better term) events. I was at the Proms last year in a box, and had to lean over into another box to tell the woman to stop taking flash photos during the performance. She looked really outraged that I’d called her out, I thought it was unbelievably selfish given how much people pay for tickets.

Similarly had to tell a young woman off for scrolling through her phone at the cinema – she was literally just sitting there mindlessly going through Instagram during the film.’
–throwawayra202407

18.

‘I’ve noticed it so much recently, and mostly noticed it’s older people who you’d expect better from. I went to see Elton John about three years ago, we had cheap seats so quite far back/high up and the amount of people who were just strolling in and out, even just two or three songs in. You’ve paid good money for these tickets, why are you unable to sit and watch the show?! I find it completely bizarre.’
–No_Consideration7466

19.

‘I do amateur theatre as a hobby, and granted its not the high end theatres, but I’ve still noticed this. Especially on evening performances, guests normally turn up drunk, fidget and shout out. Kids are another level but thats to be expected, it’s the adults which we find disrespectful.’
–PopperDilly

20.

‘I went to see Jersey Boys in Manchester opera house a few years ago (post covid) and four SEPARATE fights broke out in the audience. During one big one quite close to me, they had an early impromptu interval where they just stopped the show and put a safety screen down to protect the cast. The poor minimum wage teenage looking theatre attendants struggled to throw out a bunch of middle aged (mostly) women, they really needed bouncers.

I am in my early 30s and I went with my parents in their 60s, I was one of few people there that wasn’t 50s-70s, and it really disappointed me and soured me to towards the older generation tbh. No respect, no manners. I will now only go to a show on a matinee, no way am I going on a Saturday evening when most of the crowd has already been on the piss for a few hours EVER AGAIN.’
–Wrong_Duty7043

21.

‘ I think it started in lockdown, but has continued since. Without wanting to always blame social media and mobile phones, in this situation it’s their fault…. it seems everyone has become more entitled, more selfish, and less able to behave in social situations when the focus isn’t always about them.’
–tanoshimi

Source r/AskUK Image Screenshot