When Others Walk Out of a Show — Page 2

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.

I've never walked out of a show, but I don't care if others do. Don't know why anyone would care, or chastise anyone who does it. If you don't enjoy the first act of Hamilton, there's no reason to think you'd enjoy the second. I saw it with two people and they both left at intermission, and I think they did the right thing. It actually made it easier for me to at least try to enjoy the show, knowing they weren't sitting next to me hating it.

As for seeing other patrons leaving (i.e. ones I don't know), anything that causes there to be fewer people around me is a good thing.

Updated On: 10/4/16 at 06:39 PM

I agree with Mister Matt - if you paid for it, it's your right to decide what you paid for isn't worth it, and to leave. Though I do agree you should try to do it as unobtrusively as possible so as not to disturb the experience of other paying customers who are enjoying the experience.

If someone really isn't enjoying it, it's probably for the better if they leave anyway - especially if they're closer to the front - allowing someone who IS enjoying the show a chance to snag the better seat that just got freed, and was being wasted on someone who the show didn't click with.

MyMeredithMonster said: "
The only time it's ever really bothered me is when people are walking out mid-song. Not only is it rude to the performers, it's incredibly rude to those around you. "

Would it also bother you if the person walks out of his/her seat to go the bathroom mid-song?

Dame Edna had the perfect way to deal with audience members who left at intermission, and also the ones who'd try to scurry up the aisle during curtain call to beat the crowd to the door.

Because she engaged people in the first five rows in conversation as part of her show, those rows were lit and she could easily see the empty seats (never that many), and would launch into a monologue about how glad she was those sourpusses left. "Oh my, possums, I'm so glad they are gone. They were ruining it for everyone around them with their whining and complaining, weren't they?"

If she noticed someone reading a program instead of watching her, she'd make a point of chastising them, "Oh is our little Broadway show interfering with your reading time? If you're looking to find the plot of this show, there won't be any clue in that old rag. There is no plot," as she'd reach down and insist they give the program to her.

But best was when she'd be taking her bows -- this didn't happen every show, but I went enough times to see it happen often enough -- the music would stop, a single beam of light would focus on someone trying to zip up tha aisle, and most often they would freeze -- like a prisoner caught trying to make an escape -- and Dame Edna would say, "Oh, too bad, dahling, you've left your seat much too quickly. You were going to win the car . . ."

I think that little maneuver probably cured that person from ever trying to beat the crowd again.

I once sat next to a tourist seeing Priscilla in 2012, I briefly spoke to him before the show and realised he didn't speak much English. At intermission he got up and said goodbye to me and left. Ten minutes later he came back and said to me "is there more?". Poor guy thought the show was finished at intermission!

Not really an exciting story but one moment that stood out for me was when I saw KING CHARLES III. I was sitting in the second row of the orchestra on the right aisle and as the show began, the two seats in front of me were still empty. Then about 20 minutes into the show, two young guys show up with their theatre sippy cups in hand and they appear to be very tipsy already. They actually were very quiet but kept making faces at each other of boredom and then about 20 minutes before act one ended, they left and never returned.

For me, I have wanted to walk out of a show on 5 different occasions but I usually opt to stay for one reason or another, whether it be due to not wanting to waste the ticket or maybe an aspect of the show makes me want to stay (recent example: Carmen Cusack in BRIGHT STAR)

Mister Matt said: "What if I was sick or experiencing an emergency? There are several reasons why people may choose to leave before intermission."

Well, I think you're conflating good reasons to disturb someone (sickness or emergency) with a bad reason (you're not having a good time). On the few occasions when I've had to get up mid-performance to let someone out, I've assumed the former type of situation, and have gladly gotten up to accommodate them. I'll continue to do that, of course, but if somehow I knew the reason was just something like boredom, I would definitely resent that.

This business of forcing entire rows to stand up to let someone pass, disturbing everyone in the immediate area, is a pet peeve of mine. The vast majority of the time, of course, it's because of people arriving late. I have little tolerance for that, because it can pretty much always be avoided with more careful planning: in hundreds of visits to the theater (and to the movies), it's never once happened to me.

If other audience members decide to walk out of a show, that is their own business and has no effect on me, my enjoyment of the show or anything else for that matter. Why should it?

I haven't walked out on a show yet, mostly because even in something that's just dreadful I hope it'll get better.

During "Peer Gynt" at CSC, at least 20 people left the show at varying points. Another ten or so were asleep, and while I was sorely tempted to join, I held out hope. Ah well.

Martin Short kept me in my seat for "It's Only a Play," one of the worst pieces of theater I've seen in years.

I kept hearing about a twist in "I and You" at 59E59, and my seat in the front row house left kept me feeling like I would seem like a jerk if I walked out, so I kept my muttering to myself.

At least with "Scandalous" my cousin and I had wine and decided to just enjoy the trainwreck, rather than join the swaths of people who fled at intermission.

At the end of the day, though, it's a personal issue. I can't make you stay in your seat, and forcing you to stay may make you hate the piece even more. Who knows. I just prefer that someone not make a scene if they do leave.

gypsy101 said: "AC126748 said: "If you can leave unobtrusively, without disturbing the audience or the performance -- fine. If you can't, tough it out.

For someone who claims to value decorum as highly as you, that should be a no-brainer."

THIS.

For someone always on their high horse about the old fashioned and quaint, After Eight seems to have absolutely no qualms about being rude to performers onstage or fellow audience members when it comes to leaving a performance in the middle of an act."

Memo to everyone who took the posturing troll's OP seriously: that was not its intent. As if it still needs to reprove that it is nothing but a posturing troll, After Eight posted all this to have a reason to say negative things about the most widely beloved shows of our lifetimes. That's it. This is not about etiquette. Not one bit.

He may be trolling but he makes a good point. I found that old thread he mentioned, and people really were awful to Glittergrrrl just because she left Hamilton at intermission. I'd take After Eight's brand of trolling over those kinds of childish attacks any day. He's crotchety but harmless.

The show I saw/felt the most people leave was "The Tale of Lear" at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. It was "kabuki Lear" (also using Noh style) - all men declaiming loudly with much moisture in the air. The theatre was full at the start - about 400 people. There was no intermission. The whole show was around 90 minutes. But, by the end of the show, there may have been 150 people left. Most just couldn't take it anymore. I sat through the whole thing - because the person I was with was mystified but also admiring of the attempt.

I also was at ACT's "anniversary" production of "Cyrano de Bergerac" with Peter Donat and Michael Learned reprising their roles - but since a few decades had intervened, the show started in Act Five (more age appropriate) but then a little ways in, it cycled back to the start of the show making most of it as a "flashback". The woman sitting next to us arrived a little tipsy (we could smell the alcohol) and as the the show progressed, she grumbled louder and louder - but made it to the intermission when she stood up and loudly yelled "Boo! Boo! Boo! Awful!" and did not return. But, she did wait till the intermission.