Eventful theatre trip

I often go to a multi screen cinema in Bath where they actually sell food when you buy your ticket then deliver it to your seat … burgers, fries, tea coffee etc. I have taken to buying tickets when the film is at the end of it’s run then it is often moved to the a smaller screen. Last time I was there I had the room to myself. Comfy sofas and armchairs, lovely…… and I can munch my food to my hearts content!😂 Only joking but I do take water in in case of a coughing fit and some boiled sweets. Nothing better especially if it’s bad weather outside.

I always book seats on the back row of our lovely cinema. For some reason, the munchers don't seem to be able to make it so high.

It would never cross my mind to eat sweets in a theatre! Do like salted popcorn in a cinema though.

I am with Calendargirl. I don't understand why people have to eat anything during a performance. I went to a Neil Diamond concert a while ago and people were not only eating and drinking but walking around during the performance as well.
I agree the man was exceptionally rude but do you sit and eat sweets while watching TV at home?

I loved your response Primrose and thought the "resting" actor was being incredibly rude. However, having said that, I confess to being very old school about sweet eating in the theatre. Its OK for musicals and Panto but during a play it can be very distracting. I'm still surprised that people bring drinks into the auditorium- but not at all surprised when they need the loo half way through a performance and cause a disturbance as they make their way back and forth along a row.

The last time I was in the cinema a couple behind gobbled down a burger, nachos and a huge slurpy Coke. About 15 minutes later we were all subject to foul eruptions from both ends coming from the pair.
I once had to supervise children at the Pantomime. One very naughty little boy had a briefcase full of sweets and kept needing the loo where one of the adults had to take him. We were on the front row of the circle and he kept leaning right over and would not stop. I'm afraid I whispered very quietly to him that if he did it again I would give him a helping hand. He sat like a statue for the rest of the panto giving me dirty looks.

I once had to sit next to a person in the theatre who not only ate but had very bad BO. He wasn't elderly at all. His companion smelt musty and mouldy. Neither were dressed shabily either it was horrid. There were no spare seats to move to. The couple the other side of them did not return in the interval.

crazyH I wouldn't worry about the sound of sweet wrappers and crisps at a One Direction concert. The music will more than make up for those rustlings .

Going to the cinema is relatively cheap, and some cinema companies are either closing or on the brink of closure. I read that if it were not for the drinks and food that are sold (at rather extortionate prices) in the cinema, it would no longer be a viable operation.

While I think it can be off putting having people eating noisily and drinking next to you, they have usually made those purchases in the cinema.

As for the man reprimanding the OP for eating sweets at the theatre, I think it was incredibly rude.

I prefer to wait until the films come on Netflix then I can watch in peace without yahoos all around me.

Well done Primrose, love the "mothballs"! He's lucky he wasn't sitting next to us, as he'd have been told that at the time. Something like "keep touching me up and I'll be calling for the manager". Etc. My OH might have specially got a drink (wouldn't usually) to spill it on him.

biglouis

I prefer to wait until the films come on Netflix then I can watch in peace without yahoos all around me.

The only sensible way, for us as well.

Don't have to get dogs ready to be alone, leave home, drive, find parking, pay, see any yahoos -- just peace and quiet! Lovely.

Imight
have been less polite

Simply cannot understand why people cannot go for 2 or 3 hours without eating something. The popcorn buckets at cinemas are the worst - all that rustling and chomping, not to mention the smell! Really repulsive, it's why I don't go to the cinema any more. There should be a ban on eating in public auditoria during the performance. As somebody upthread said, what was wrong with a drink/ice cream in the interval?

Last time I went to an afternoon cinema performance the theatre was half empty. 2 adults and their 2 teenage children sat a couple of rows in front of us and started eating nachos and then crisps and sweets. The parents had their feet up on the empty row in front and later so did the children who continually used their phones which was a further distraction. What chance do we have when parents teach their children in this way?

RosiesMaw I am pretty sure they do sell popcorn and crisps, but posh ones, and they come in tubs, so no noisy bags!
Like you the glass of wine is a must.....

Well done op. He deserved that, and more. I think you were very restrained.
However, as other pps are surely aware, noisy eating and drinking in a cinema is definitely not the same as doing it during a live theatre performance.
Not only have the audience generally paid several times the price for the privilege of being disturbed in a live theatre, but the noise is also very distracting to the actors and can inhibit their performances.
(Although my response to that would be to consider the noises of the audience the bard had to play to!)

He should have been more polite but the excuse that “everyone was doing it” sounds like children I have taught and is a very poor excuse indeed.
I am totally with M0nica - eat before you go in and give full concentration to the performance. I feel very sorry for actors and more considerate audience members having to endure the incredible deterioration in behaviour in recent times.
I have decided not to go to any play with a celebrity actor as fans seem unaware of how to behave and ruin it for others.

I had not been to the cinema for years because the sound is too loud but went last week to a complex that is quite new. The big armchair seats were for taller folk than me, my legs did not reach the ground and if I sat back I was gazing at the ceiling. I was amazed by the swing arm tables for food and drink, it is obvious they want you to buy food for the place to be economically viable. However, no noisy eaters as fortunately the place was almost empty. Michael Caine does not have the pulling power he once had!

The only time I have been rude to a fellow theatre goer was at a musical when the dear girl next to me decided to sing along with the cast to every song. She got a sharp dig and told until she learned to sing in tune she had better shut up as it was like sitting next to next to a stuck pig. Not another sound was uttered!

I don't no why people cannot last a couple of hours without eating.

I actually won an essay competition once, describing this sort of thing (but during a film). That having been said, I would not have put my sweets away (I don't like sweets, but it would have been nuts) just because an entitled pompous git told me to do so. I would have told him that my sweets smelled better than he does...

I love going to the cinema, but we usually choose a matinee these days - they’re always quiet in every respect. We had a private viewing of one film last year.

When we retired we got into the habit of going every week to the Senior Vue screenings - I think they were £4, including tea or coffee and biscuits. I never saw anyone refuse them. We enjoyed films we probably wouldn’t have thought of going to normally. Sadly our local Vue never reinstated them after lockdown.

pascal30

I always try to book a seat at the end of a row. I don't like people on both sides of me.. great retort btw Primrose53 must have been very unpleasant smell, not mention behaviour...

We booked seats nearest aisle. Daughter on end, then me, then our sharp elbowed thespian.

As a singer and someone who has been in plays and operas and various performances I am very anti people eating in the theatre at all whilst watching. fine for the intervals etc but I find it quite insulting that when we have put in so much work and effort to produce a good performance people have to rustle, rattle and make no effort to sit quietly and spoil other peoples enjoyment. Even worse the wretched people who have seen it before and want to tell you what is coming next!! In general I do not go to either theatres or cinemas very often as this constant racket and selfish behaviour spolis what was mean tto be a pleasant occasion. The only things that I do find tend to be worth while is when cinemas put on an opera direct from Verona or such. I have had some wonderful evenings watching those as usually the rest of the audience are keen music lovers too and are quiet and respectful. so you get some wonderful modern touches where they use drones to take you into the amphitheatres etc. Have been to many of the places in the past and it really does get the sense of the place well. Thank goodness my one wonderful trip to Glyndebourne was years ago and a day that I treasure and will never forget. Everyone there was there because they loved the music. They all wanted to be there and you had the joy of wonderful performance (it was Cosi Fan Tutti) the great picnic in the beautiful gardens and surrounded by people all taking about the performance and other people they had heard in the operat etc. I had bought my mother a ticket for her birthday as she had sung all her life but not professionally and it was a day to remember with no phones ringing or people eating in the performance. Everyone was there to enjoy themselves but without spoiling it for others. what a great memory to have and definitely why I no longer go to things where the boxes are filled with people who are not very interested in the actual situation whether it is the Grand National or the FA cup or whatever, when it is all corporation entertainment and so you have lost that pleasure of enjoying a special occasion with others of a like mind. Sad to see that go but thats how it is now.

When we lived in London we used to go to Covent Garden regularly and at in the Grand Tier. A little way along the row from us one couple sat through the first dance, a different couple for the second and yet another for the third. They all continued to talk as the house lights went down which I found very annoying because I like to compose myself, ready for the performance.

After we moved to Suffolk and were short of money we used to stand at the back of the stalls. An excellent view of the stage, no heads in the way, a comfortable padded rail to lean on and able to get to the bar before everyone else. All for £4 each.