When Others Walk Out of a Show

So you really want us to argue with you about Sweeney Todd, right?

I thought about this myself once, when I read reviews on here about First Daughter Suite and how there were a lot of empty chairs at intermission.

Because I was interested in the show but never actually caught it, I wondered how I would have felt to see others walking out (most likely due to Amy Carter's Fabulous Dream Adventure). And the conclusion I came to is that I would have been really bummed out...out of pure sympathy for the company. You know, when you do a show, you put your blood and soul into it (hopefully), and to have to hear that people walked out must be so disheartening.

As long as they wait till intermission I'm indifferent.

I tend to wait for reviews to see shows so I usually know what I'm getting into. When I see a truly dire show it's usually because I'm friends with someone in the cast. Then I look at the departing audience members with envy.

Updated On: 10/4/16 at 10:10 AM

I'm completely indifferent, and it does not bother me at all.

I saw several people walk directly past the stage during "Show/Buy/Date" last week to exit in the middle of the show. Even though the show was only 90 minutes, they couldn't take any more of it. The lady didn't know her lines, kept stopping to read the lines from her book in front of her, and her story was very presumptuous and off-putting. Absolutely terrible performance that I wish I left.

"However, walking out while the actors are on stage shows that you have little respect or appreciation for the weeks or months (or in the case of the authors/composers, years) of hard work that have gone into creating the show."

All due respect, but your "weeks or months" of work really matter only to you; no matter how much time writers, directors, and actors spend, if an audience member feels that their time and money are being wasted by a lack of talent and ability, that's their decision to make; the artists aren't owed anything other than the price of the ticket. The only people audience members owe "respect" to are the other audience members - if walking out disturbs them (who have also paid to be there), then that is rude.

I think that if you are not enjoying the show, you do have the right to walk out. However, it absolutely infuriates me when people have sat there for the entirety of the show and walk out during the final number of the night or when they are doing bows. I understand you may be in a rush to get out since you have something else to do afterwards, but after giving 110% for you, all they ask for is a simple act of gratitude at the end of the show. If you can't be bothered to give them that, you might as well not have bothered to see the show imo

I've left a couple of shows myself, but always at intermission. The night I saw Plenty (from standing room as it was a huge hit from downtown), people walked out in droves, especially during the second act. That was the only time I actually heard people talking out loud as they left. "What the hell is happening?", "How are you supposed to know what's going on?", things like that.

A friend and I went to see Copenhagen. At intermission, I was just enthralled by this show, he, well, not so much. He decided he couldn't sit through another act of it so he left. Different things appeal to different people. We have still attended theatre together, though neither of us have left at any intermissions.

i love going to book of mormon and guessing who around me may walk out during or after "hasa dega ebawai" There are almost always one or 2

I think its fine to walk out at intermission, or during a scene transition.

To walk out during dialogue or a song is rude to both actors and paying audience members



ive only left at intermission for Lestat and the recent tour of Phantom.....

I responded on the other thread about shows I've left- AT intermission. When you're trapped and cannot leave without calling attention to yourself (and distracting others who may actually be enjoying it) you have to tough it out.

I survived the interminable 90 minutes of "The Blonde in the Thunderbird" so I could probably make it through anything.

No ticket-buying audience member should feel obligated to endure something they are not enjoying simply to appease the actors or other audience members. Nobody HAS to "tough it out". If you feel the need to leave a performance at any time, for any reason, it is 100% your right to do so, regardless the high-horse moralities of others being projected onto you. Hopefully, you would do so quietly and unobtrusively, but waiting until intermission or through the entire bows is nothing more than a personal choice. Those who find it rude or disrespectful are free to martyr themselves by committing to endure something they don't want to see (which may seem like material for great storytelling, but doesn't impress me), but NOBODY is under that obligation. If you believe I should pay for my ticket and not have the choice to leave when I want because I find the production to be intolerable for any reason, then feel free to reimburse me the amount of the ticket in exchange for my own personal freedom of choice due to the personal demands you wish to place on me. Because it's not a contract of the ticket purchase, nor should it be. As for being "disrespectful" to actors...please. As a professional actor, I could care less if people walk out during a scene or during intermission. If my ego is so fragile that I 1) register the exit of a person in the audience or 2) demand total devotion to my performance in addition to the price of a ticket, then I would not last long in the industry (and would probably require intensive emotional therapy). And sometimes, the actors' performances are the REASON for walking out. Giving "110%" (which is unattainable anyway) is the actor's job whether the audience stays, goes, cheers or boos. It is absolutely not my responsibility as an audience member to make them feel good about seeing something I find to be awful.

For the record, I don't sit and read the end credits to movies, either.

Unrelated but was in London for a wedding about 9 years ago and took in "Chicago". Unfortunately the 8 of us got so drunk during dinner, and were pretty tired from the wedding and time change, that we all fell asleep in the 3rd row in a line during the first act. I was one of the ones who snapped out of it to enjoy act 2, the performers kept staring at us and my sleepy clan, it was weird.