pet peeves in theatre- Page 3

[rflpfl2]

Posted: 6/14/06 at 4:08pm

Am I the only person who is pro-food in the audience?? I actually love eating and watching shows/ tv/ movies, etc.

Of course crinkling paper and chip bags is ridiculous (as is chinese food eaten with chopsticks which I experienced during TCP)- but my favorite thing about going to theater in London is that they sell icecream during intermission- and right in the theater.

I'm all for non-noisy food. Someone should invent special "theater friendly" food wrappings.

[i<3jerseyboys]

Posted: 6/14/06 at 4:16pm

i don't know if this is a "peeve" but I hate it when people talk during shows, like when I went to see the drowsy chaperone. in the beggining when its dark and bob martin starts to talk, there was a group of women who kept talking and saying"oh its so dark in here"and "i can't see a thing"though it did make me laugh.

[Candleshoe2]

Posted: 6/14/06 at 4:20pm

My biggest pet peeve is letting latecomers come in! It's very annoying to be watching the show and all of a sudden, you hear the door open and 20 people try to find their seats with an usher shining her flashlight all around the theatre! If I had my way, they wouldn't be allowed to come in till intermission, which is the way it might be in some theatres!

[ILoveMyDictionary]

Posted: 6/14/06 at 5:05pm

Getting seats that sound better then they really are. Like I got row D in the Ambassador, it was like 12 rows away from the stage. Or you think you're getting front mezzenine, but they only call it that b/c there's no rear mezzenine.

Oh yea, any kind of latecomer bothers me, especially if their seats are in front of mine.

[Kevinoes]

Posted: 6/14/06 at 5:20pm

As an usher, I guess I get ULTRA pissed off when I go to shows.

1) Shifting in seats
2) Getting up to go the bathroom during the show
3) Candy Wrappers
4) Whispering during shows
5) Listening devices (especially with people who don't know how to properly use them)
6) Women complaining of the lack of rest rooms (THANK YOU, BOB MARTIN!) and them complaining to the house manager that this is the only theatre where they've gone that this has happened...which is prepostorously untrue.
7) Seniors complaining of the distance they have to go to get to the balcony or even the front row...when they themselves requested the damn tickets.

[Weez]

Posted: 6/14/06 at 5:32pm

"I would prefer someone wearing heavy cologne as opposed to those that wear no deoderant. And it's not a "cultural" issue if the person is a white Midwesterner."

If someone's wearing no deodorant, then trying to cover it up with cologne just makes it worse. With no deodorant, at least there's just the BO smell. With the cologne, you get BO *and* cologne, and it's a seriously nasty combination. XP

Sometimes people talk in the theatre and that's really annoying, but what annoys me most of ANYTHING is when you ask them to be quiet and they say "no!" and keep right on talking. That's when I get so angry I can't even think straight enough to complain to an usher. -_-;;

[broadwayfan12]

Posted: 6/14/06 at 5:32pm

1.people talking loudly, you can make smal quite comments from time to time but when people talk loudly during the whole thing it pisses me off.
2.when people eat and crinkle bags/wrappers whatever
3.tall people in front of me
4.when people leave the second it is over
5.when people drop things onstage and ignore it, in a dance recital or somethign is when you ignore something, but if you dropped something in real life you wouldn't just ignore it you would pick it up it makes it more real
6.little kids that are too young to appreceate the show are brought by their parents and they cry or make nosies, i love kids but wait till there old enough to know how to be quite.

[GodIHopeIGetIt]

Posted: 6/14/06 at 6:00pm

I think "Invocation and Instructions to the Audience" (From the "Frogs") really sums up all my little theater pet peeves. I also hate hate hate hate hate latecomers... everyone turns around and no one's paying attention to what's on the stage.

This is random, but when you see Rent (row AA) and everyone dives to get the key that Mark drops... and when people try to grab the guitar picks that the Roger throws. It really annoys me for some reason.

When I saw Chicago for the first time, there was this girl next to me who kept sniffing, loudly. The entire show was just SNNNN! SNNN! I almost strangled her! Get a tissue!

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 6/14/06 at 6:09pm

Shownig up under-dressed- like in jeans and tee shirt, cell phones not turned off and talking and/or leaving seats during the performance.

[little_sally]

Posted: 6/14/06 at 6:12pm

I despise seeing playbills thrown on the floor and left in the theatre after the show. It just makes me sad that people don't care enough to want to keep them.

Late comers! Gah! It's not so much that they are late, it's when they're sitting by me and my view is abstructed by the people in their row trying to accomodate them. It's very rude.

Rude ushers! They have no business being so rude.

Outside food in the theatre. During "The Pillowman", the woman sitting next to me popped open a can of soda in the midst of the play. It was rather loud, and we were sitting close. She also didn't know who Jeff Goldblum was, and had a comment to make about every actor in the show.

People trying to explain a joke to their friends. During "A Naked Girl on the Appian Way", I sat beside a couple who were less than thrilled to be seeing the play. The man did not get any of the jokes, and his wife (loudly) explained them all to him. I also hate when audience members yell back to the stage or clap along to the music.

Singing along is a major pet peeve of mine. I sat in the front mezz of "Rent" and was distracted by a girl in the front row singing along to every song. Every time I looked down, I saw her.

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 6/14/06 at 6:21pm

"I despise seeing playbills thrown on the floor and left in the theatre after the show. It just makes me sad that people don't care enough to want to keep them."

This makes me sad, too can't believe I forgot to list that earlier.

[meggsison]

Posted: 6/14/06 at 6:35pm

Children who bring their GAME BOYS into the show and sit RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME and PLAY THEM 15 minutes into the first act AND stand up and look over the mezzanine and DO NOT SIT DOWN. I mean, their parents paid $100-ish dollars for them to play GAME BOYS the entire first act? Okay, so it was Tarzan, but they should have been more interested because, what kid doesn't like a Disney show?! I was so pissed off at the parents. When you are sitting in the mezzanine and the person behind you kicks your chair or pulls your hair on accident.

I just hate the mezzanine, really. I also hate it when people sing along, which doesn't happen much, but once during The Producers this guy was like, singing the ENTIRE show and I was about to strangle him. He was sitting right in front of me.

I dislike latecomers also.

See, I'm not against underdressing, which I try to look somewhat nice, but it doesn't always happen.

[little_sally]

Posted: 6/14/06 at 6:45pm

I just thought of another one; people who laugh way too loud. It's distracting and annoying. I sat in front of a man during "The Producers" who laughed loudly at EVERYTHING.

[GodIHopeIGetIt]

Posted: 6/14/06 at 6:46pm

Oh god, I forgot food! In 'Jaques Brel', there was a woman sitting next to me who had stuffed pretzels in her pocket, and was eating them through the entire thing.

"People trying to explain a joke to their friends. During "A Naked Girl on the Appian Way", I sat beside a couple who were less than thrilled to be seeing the play. The man did not get any of the jokes, and his wife (loudly) explained them all to him."
Same thing happened to me the second time I saw 'Avenue Q'... and then they kept talking about how horrible the show was afterwards. If you kept your mouth shut, maybe you'd enjoy it a bit more, eh?

Meg- Though it's disgusting that those kids brought their Gameboys, I don't think anyone should be made to sit through 'Tarzan'

[Cenoern]

Posted: 6/14/06 at 6:55pm

I was at RENT and had 3rd row seats. Two girls behind me wanted to have Matt Caplan's children. Unfortunately, they didn't even know his name - they were SCREAMING at him from their seats during every applause break (MARK WILL YOU MARRY ME OH MY GAWD) and they sang along (poorly) to every song.

At one point I just turned around and went beserk: "DO YOU TWO EVER SHUT UP? CAUSE REALLY, YOU HAVN'T STOPPED THE ENTIRE SHOW. SHUT THE F*CK UP."

Yeah, they stopped.

But obnoxious fangirling is my number one pet peeve in theater.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 6/14/06 at 6:55pm

C is for Company: Some people have to eat during shows if they're hypoglycemic and were too excited to eat a proper dinner (like me ;_

But, yeah, if they're doing it just for the hell of it... not cool.

My pet peeve are people who see Les Mis and think it's about the French Revolution!

Oh, and cell phones. And people singing along and GETTING UP AND DANCING as was the case when I saw RENT. Ugh!

[little_sally]

Posted: 6/14/06 at 7:08pm

Seriously, I don't understand how people can't get through three hours without eating. Eat before the show as I usually do.

[brandonm]

Posted: 6/14/06 at 7:10pm

i hate it when someone repeats a line that they find to be funny........it's annoying

[dramaqueen2]

Posted: 6/14/06 at 7:18pm

a.)
when people come in to a show LATE! i can't even believe they allow them in.. i think they should at least wait until a scene change.. i think it's so rude. and these people that came in late had KIDS and the kids were loud, and they were sitting in the front mezzanine, god, it was terrible.

b.)
if you're at a show with school groups. sometimes, it's a non-issue. other times, kids are immature and have no knowledge or any form of theatre ettiquite, it drives me crazy.


c.)
this only happend to me once, but it was terrible. when i saw DOUBT for the first time, apparently it is up to that cast on whether or not to use a mic system..[the stage manager told us] and they chose not to. BIG MISTAKE! you could hardly hear them! and the theatre wasn't terribly large, either! i would seriously advise them to reconsider this decision. and because they were hard to hear.. and there were many senior citizens at this show, they kept getting up to get hearing aids so they could hear the cast! how awful!

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 6/15/06 at 12:46am

Grumbling at understudy slips.

[elphaba432]

Posted: 6/15/06 at 7:45am

My pet peeve is when the person sitting next to you is wearing too much deoderant/perfume! You have to smell flowers the whole show!

[Sant]

Posted: 6/15/06 at 10:37am

Cellphones, eating, talking and restless kids.

[madbrian]

Posted: 6/23/06 at 1:22pm

As a tall person, I am soliciting suggestions from those who seem to be peeved at my presence at a show. I am 6'3", and believe me, sitting in a theater for 2-3 hours in seats designed for those 5'10" and shorter is far more uncomfortable for me than for someone sitting behind me who has to look around me. So, don't ask me if I can slouch, because there is no room for my legs. I have long, thick, wavy hair that I pull back before I enter the theater. So, be careful, because if you ask me to slouch, I will let my hair down and you'll see little of the show.

[mejusthavingfun]

Posted: 6/23/06 at 1:29pm

Pretentious theatre people.

I’m sorry but an industry trying to pass off a musical version of an Adam Sandler movie or paint Patti Lupone as some kind of star, surely warrants less snobs.

[uncageg]

Posted: 6/23/06 at 1:34pm

I guess I have 2 new ones. While at The History Boys on June 10th (The matinee) the two ladies to my left (who, by the way, were very nice) had the hearing impaired headphones. They were up loud enough that I was getting the dialouge twice. It was very annoying. And there were two guys behind me and the younger kid was translating to the older guy during the scene done in french. He was also explaining everything. Annoying.