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Poor audience experience

 

I don't normally do anything on here but review theatre, however I needed an outlet for my anger really, and I wanted to share my experience. 

On my recent trip to see Mamma Mia, I was unfortunate enough to be sat infront of some pretty disrespectful audience members. Which sadly had quite a big impact on my enjoyment of the show and my experience of theatre all together. I am not one to complain and I struggle in social situations, so in hindsight I really should have said something even if just mentioned it to one of the ushers, but alas I didn't. 

I am a regular theatre goer and I do usually see plays rather than musicals, so I was expecting there to be more rustling in the audience than I'm used to, I was prepared for that. However I was not prepared for the people behind to have a full conversation at full volume at almost every other moment in the show. When I say conversation, they didn't whisper they just talked, quite loudly, no respect for the effect it was having on anyone around them. They were particularly chatty at the quiter moments after the songs when the actor were talking rather than singing, to the point where I could barely hear what the performers on stage were saying. I could tell the other people arund them were also frustrated as I could hear people shushing them, but to no avail, they continued through the whole show. They were talking in a different language so I was unable to astertain whether they were talking about the show, positively or negatively, or something else entirely. 

The final thing that annoyed me about these audience members was that as everyone was standing in the encore to dance and sing along, I stood up with everyone else. I then had her physical push me to one side as I was blocking her view. Luckily we were on an end so could move into the aisle, but for her to ruin most of the show for me and then her to moan when I did what most other people were doing in the final moments, really really annoyed me. However it did sort of make me glad I hadn't said anything as learning about her character I probably would have just got attacked, although possibly defended by the other audience members.

One of the most annoying things was that after leaving the theatre instead of raving about the show and how much I enjoyed it to the person I was with, I had to have a rant about these audience members as I was so desperate to get it off my chest. Another ironic thing was that a few rows infront there was a girl in a wheelchair, clearly with some sort of disability and as she came in I could sense people around me fearing that she would make a noise and ruin it for them, and I could sense this from the people behind. Yet, she was no where near as distrupting as the woman sat behind me, in fact she was simply getting excited and I was so happy to see her being able to enjoy the show as much as everyone else.  

Sadly after reading things online afterwards it appears my experience is not uncommon and is becoming more common. It is a simple issue of lack of understanding and respect for theatre etiquette. Theatre is my happy place, it is the place I go to escape, but this experience made me really uncomfortable and I am scared for my next trip, which is really disappointing. I know that this is one experience from masses of trips, but it has had a big impact on me. I really hope I don't have the same experience again on my next trip as I love theatre and I really want to be able to enjoy it, and I don't want to be scared that I wont be able to because of the people around me.  


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