Eventful theatre trip

Madeleine45 what a lovely memory of Glyndebourne. Makes me wish I could go.

Another household of opera lovers. My sister worked at the Royal Opera House in the 1960s and as well as getting last minute unsold tickets for various performances, she was also able to get us tickets to see Fonteyn and Nuriyev dance in Romeo and Juliet.

We went to Glynebourne for a number of years. First because a friend got discounted tickets and more recently the Glynebourne Touring Opera have done a short season at Glynebourne before starting the tour. They do evening performances in late September/Octoberwhen it is too late to picnic, and at a considerably reduced price on full season tickets.

Our worst experience was when Glynebourne Touring Opera came to Oxford and a large man who looked as if he had been dressed by hs mother in 1970 and hadn't changed since, sat in front of us - and it became rapidly clear he hadn't had a bath since 1970 either. To say he smelled rank is an understatement.

The couple sitting next to him changed places so the husband, not wife had him close and personal, and I was sat directly behind him. By the interval, I told DH that I had had as much as I could stand, we either had to see if there were any spare seats elsewhere in the theatre or we would have to go home. So we decided to seek out the house manager.

As we got to the foyer, we saw the couple who had been sitting next to him leaving the theatre. We spoke to the manager, all tickets had been sold, but 2 people hadn't turned up, so we were given their seats on the condition that we had to vacate them if they turned up. They didn't. It was a superb performance of Queen of Spades and I am so glad we did not miss it, but it was a close run thing.

I was once on a bus when an extremely smelly man got on. He looked clean and tidy and it wasn't a hot day - but the pong. It smelt like a rubbish dump with rotting fish. It was diabolical. People moved away from him until they were clustered round the front. I had to put my hand over my face. The smell was so awful.
I actually googled it when I got home and there was a medical term for it. The poor man must have had this malabsorption syndrome. Rare but probably very disabling. Nobody would employ someone who smelt so bad or enter into a relationship with him. An unexpected cruel disability.
I'm glad he was never on my bus again though.

What a rude man! Don’t blame you at all for putting him in his place. HOWEVER…..is there any need to eat noisily in a theatre? NO!

When Covid restrictions were still in place it helped sometimes that you had to wear a mask whilst travelling on public transport. I have sat close to people, usually men, whose lack of personal hygiene was off putting to say the least.
Since then I keep a mask in my shopping bag and would not hesitate to pop one on if I thought it was needed.

With regard to unpleasant body odours, I taught a child with a most unpleasant smell, despite being spotlessly clean. Years later we heard that while in hospital for adenoidal trouble, the consultant discovered a small plastic bead embedded in a nasal cavity which had festered for years and caused the odour. Once removed and odour -free she entered a new lease of life.

Poppyred

What a rude man! Don’t blame you at all for putting him in his place. HOWEVER…..is there any need to eat noisily in a theatre? NO!

I wasn’t eating noisily. All I did was open the top of the packet! The sweets inside were not wrapped individually.
I actually ate 2 tiny sweets and after he jabbed me 3 times I put them in my bag and didn’t move a muscle. However, I had to put up with the horrible smell of damp and mothballs coming off him for the rest of the evening.

moorlikeit

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 said that because people immediately in front of us and behind us were already eating sweets but he said nothing to them. Would you have just sat there and said nothing?

The theatre obviously don’t mind otherwise they would put up signs asking people not to eat andthey wouldn’t sell snacks.

Primrose53

Poppyred

What a rude man! Don’t blame you at all for putting him in his place. HOWEVER…..is there any need to eat noisily in a theatre? NO!

I wasn’t eating noisily. All I did was open the top of the packet! The sweets inside were not wrapped individually.
I actually ate 2 tiny sweets and after he jabbed me 3 times I put them in my bag and didn’t move a muscle. However, I had to put up with the horrible smell of damp and mothballs coming off him for the rest of the evening.

Sorry Primrose 53 I meant the people around you.

Gin
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!

Yes I experienced this to at a musical. The woman behind us a couple of seats along was signing away, it was like a fly buzzing around. We didnt like the musical and left at the interval (only time we have ever done this). If we had stayed I would either have spoken to her or a member of staff