What is it with people in audiences talking nonstop?

A whole new world.

Even at a rock concert recently there were two idiots behind me who talked (loudly, because concert) the whole time. Shut up and let me enjoy the fucking show!

You gotta learn to tell obnoxious kids to at least to stop. That's the easiest thing.

Oh, I tried, R3. I started out with the over-the-shoulder glare. Then turned around and shushed them. Then asked the mom to please make them stop. It worked for maybe 2 minutes, then resumed like I had never spoken up.

I scared two girls at the 9:30 Club who wouldn’t stop yapping during a Concrete Blonde concert. No idea why they were there. If you want to have a brainless conversation, don’t hold it at the 9:30 Club, bitches!

R4, I've been in the exact same situation multiple times. Thought of all the threads on DL re fraus who shouldn't be birthing crotch fruit. Always they had the gall to tell me that that's the way all children behave. Parents who don't have any manners nor consideration for others should stay at home with their offspring.

R1, Sadly you're correct. It is a whole new world.

What do you think of audience members singing along at Broadway shows?

A family of 15-20 from New Jersey totally ruined a Cirque du Soleil show in Las Vegas - they sat right behind us and never shut up once through the entire show. One of the fathers gave a running commentary on every stunt being performed, apparently he wanted everyone to know he was a gymnastics coach and was therefore qualified to recognize and analyze every acrobatic feat and somehow tie it in to his gymnastics know how. And the mothers could not stop barking at all 6 or 7 kids. "WHO WANTS A RICE KRISPY TREAT? ALICIA, JARROD, YA WANT A RICE KRISPY TREAT? WHO WANTS SOME TAFFY? I GOT A LOTTA TAFFY IN MY PURSE! JOANN, LOOK AT ALL THIS TAFFY! JEFFREY, STOP. LEAVE HER THINGS ALONE. AFTER THIS IS OVER WE'LL GO FOR A LATE SNACK, RONNIE YA WANT A LATE SNACK? WHO WANTS A BOTTLED WATER?" And of course the kids never shut up. It went on and on. And they didn't bother to whisper, they treated the place like they were in their living room. Looking over my shoulder didn't work, glares didn't work, shushing them didn't work. 200 bucks wasted, I wanted to machine gun the whole fucking family.

I was at a beautiful orchestra event lately-actually I posted it in a different thread-and this group of approximately eight people in front of us were singing along loudly and talking-completely unbelievable.

R8, Where were the ushers? Know why so many are cocooning at home rather than deal with similar aggravation.

We were at Cher concert recently and man in front of us (in his mid-20s) was on Grindr all throughout the concert. His mama was with him and he'd chat with her for a minute, check out a dick pict, send a message, waves his hands in the air for Cher and then repeat. He wasn't even trying to be discrete. He wasn't showing mama dick picts but wasn't trying to hide them either. He was tall and nerdy looking. At one point, he texted a hot muscle boy. I wanted so badly to tap him on the shoulder and say, "He's not for you."

R8, I doubt there’s a jury who’d have convicted you.

I attended a friends wedding recently. During a very moving moment of the bride and groom exchanging written vows. A row of twenty something fraus behind me would not stop talking and laughing at each others stupid jokes. I was furious. Later found out they were friends of the bride. I was tempted to tell the bride. But what's the point really. People have completely lost any sense of respecting what is going on around them. If you say something you are looked at like you are crazy.

That bitch from r7 is just too fucking much. He really WASN'T paying to hear your mother sing, bitch.

I hardly ever bother anymore.

Corollary: The people who, even as the plane is waiting to back away from the gate, are having the world’s loudest and most inane phone conversation, oblivious to all around them.

There seems to be one of these on every flight. Usually sitting right behind me.

This happens to me at movies and concerts regularly now. If you shush them they get defiant and go out of their way to be even more annoying.

Just fart at them. And tell them if they don't stop kicking the seat, you then won't stop farting.

People are assholes.

I just stay home.

There are certain things which, while technically criminal, I would not vote to convict you of if I were on your jury. Talking in theaters and certain other public places is one of them. Some people need killing.

The bald guy in R7 turned around and told the author's mother to be quiet?

There is a general decline in the amount of respect people have for one another. Theatres, airplanes, restaurants, driving, concerts, and on and on - less respect or consideration for other people’s time and space. I used to think it was a millennial/social media byproduct but more and more I see it from every demographic group.

I was at a concert and these two women were talking next to me for like 4 songs as if they were old college roommates catching up. Nonstop. I semi politely asked them to shut the fuck up. They ended up leaving! You paid all that money for concert tickets, you don't even pay attention to Stevie casting spells and then you leave?

I'm afraid it's only getting worse. Raising a child to be thoughtful and considerate of others is real work, but raising a little shit is completely effortless. As bad behavior becomes more common, older (trashy) people who quietly chafed at the rules before are now emboldened to act out more.

I think that we'll reach a tipping point where shitty behavior becomes so pervasive that it'll become impossible or even dangerous to try to get one of these clowns to shut up.

In 15-20 years, when the "be a badass" generation is out and about in force, stories about the sort of public rudeness we're seeing in 2019 will feel quaint and harmless.

R22 Yeah, I don't think it's a millennial thing. I'm sure I'm going to get shot from telling people to shut the fuck up at the movie theater, but the people who chat the most are usually 45+.

I love you, R8.

I'm a 50s male ie eldergay and I have attended a couple of concerts lately to find that there seems to be groups of women who use a concert as a way to catch up with each other's life. We had three women behind us at one concert who chatted the whole time. Next concert another group were in front of us and they talked the whole time. Not to mention the numerous times they had to get up to get more tall boys of beer which then lead to multiple times getting up to use the restroom. I can sit for two hours without the need for a bathroom or the need for foods or snacks. I take care of those things before I sit down.

[quote]Raising a child to be thoughtful and considerate of others is real work, but raising a little shit is completely effortless.

YES. You hit the nail on the head. There are a lot of lazy parents out there.

Even expecting "proper behavior" in public racist, classist, and transmysoginist oppression.

But the more people stay quiet and don't say anything, the more this shit is going to happen.

I was at a screening of Sex and the City the movie ten years ago (Okay, I know, terrible example). This guy wouldn't shut up. My friend shushed him. Didn't work. Then I told him, "Could you please be quiet for at least one minute??!!" LOL I thought, oh, shit. I've done it.

But then EVERY OTHER PERSON in the cinema also barked at him to stop talking.

Chances are, there are many around you who want to say the same thing. Speak up. You've paid lots of money to be there. You have every right to enjoy the concert, movie, etc.

(And we need more ushers to enforce these rules).

I don't tolerate it. Ushers are itching to kick some ass.

[quote]And we need more ushers to enforce these rules

Yes. With tasers.

No,OP , it was NOT always like this.

There is a widespread rudeness /inability to behave in public now. It is ignorance. I also think people are so used to watching movies at home now (where they apparently talk the whole time) that they fo it in public. Plus the ignorant, not cool people who think they are cool by being loud and inconsiderate. And all the not cool "parents" who think they are cool by raising kids to disrespectful of others.

For some cultural context, this type of thing is ubiquitous in China. Movie theaters, lectures, talks, concerts -- people will talk loudly at all of them. Cellphones ring and people have full-blown conversations. There is little sense of "quieting down" during a show/talk/performance.

It's one of the things that surprised me about Chinese culture.

University students at least in my country are the same. Blah blah not even whispering during lectures. It's gone worse. And oh how they get offended if you ask them to stop.

It is physically impossible for women to be quiet for more than three minutes. They explode.

R35 if I were a professor and a student talked during one of my lectures, they’d get an unpleasant surprise when grades came back.

And then you would get an onslaught of angry parent calls, r37

[R37] I'm sure that's one reason we have to mark online and blind (student numbers only, no names). Otherwise they'd find out what we really think of them. As for the endless yapping in class, at the movies, everywhere -- what else do we expect in a culture that's taught people that nothing is more interesting than themselves?

This, in addition to certain health concerns, make me glad to be old.

I think a lot of it is due to the “iBubble.” We’re so used to being on our devices, in our own little worlds, that people forget that their conversations are not insulated from everyone else.

That, and they have no manners.

“ i’m here to listen to them, not you. Please shut your yap.”

People are rude, obnoxious, selfish, insufferable PIGS. And they're taking over, like in ANIMAL FARM!!

Oh, honey try a movie theater in Zadar, Croatia in high summer.

I did it today. I asked someone looking at a phone video in my doctor's waiting room if she would please put on her headphones. She turned it off. She could not have been more apologetic. Quite nice.

R34 I've heard of the Chinese "Little Emperor" effect/syndrome/who_knows_what_its called.

It comes about because of the 1 Child Policy. The child is being indulged by the parents, and all the grandparents. No discipline.

I also feel this ties in with R41 comments.

And my own spin on it, the Kardashisans and reality TV are part of the recipe to make terrible people.

More common at concerts. It's getting worse.

Good for you, R45, and good that she was nice.

So WHY aren't ushers doing their job? I no longer go to concerts, and watch movies at home. Nothing worse than a loud, snoring senior sitting next to me or drunks while I'm trying to enjoy a performance. Businesses must be losing $$$$ due to unhappy patrons, so why aren't they taking corrective action?

R28, Parents teaching manners when they're usually the worst culprits? I have very politely asked ushers to do something about over-the-top, cranky, whining kids at evening events only to be told, "they're children." Help.

Once was at a movie theater where a Black man was cradling his baby daughter. He told me she'd go right to sleep and would never make a sound until the lights went back on. Afterwards I congratulated him on raising such a loved child. Bet he wouldn't tolerate a brat ruining others need to relax & enjoy a performance.

There's a vicious cycle. Rude people are generally unobservant blockheads who can't notice anything that isn't shoved in their faces. People who are more observant get tired of the bad behavior and stay home. Without being prompted by others who tell them to be quiet, etc., the rude people get even more loud and obnoxious.

Meanwhile, venue owners see the culture changing and are probably scared shitless by the Instagram and Twitter-using mob that will complain on social media that they're being oppressed by concert Gestapo.

R51, Thank you for your post explaining today's reality. Frustrating to realize so many children and adults have never learned to stand and be quiet even during the pledge of allegiance and The Star Spangled Banner.

Yeah, r52. The five minutes that takes is when I really miss the silence.

OP, I hope you gave those people some dirty looks, if not a piece of your mind!

R54, Not OP but I've tried that trick and it definitely doesn't work at all. Most rude people are openly antagonistic when asked to be a little considerate. I can relate horror stories at lot worse than OP's.

Do tell, R55. Misery loves company.

Same thing as people eating in their cars. They think they're in their fucking living room wherever they go.

How does that bother YOU, though, r57? Not the same thing AT ALL.

R56, Israeli Independence Day at Venetian Hotel & Casino. A play area with equipment set up in the back of the auditorium for unruly brats. Talented singers for both the Star Spangled Banner and Hatikva, the American and Israeli national anthems.

Almost no one stood up besides me, and everyone was so loudly talking about nothing at all relevant that it was impossible to hear the singing. Sad because the entire program was live streamed for the elderly in nursing homes.

One child was climbing on the back of the sofa in front of me, and fell directly on my leg, screaming & crying. I'd already moved twice, repeatedly complaining to the "ushers" who claimed there was absolutely nothing that they could do.

Finally in physical pain from breaking the child's fall with my leg, I walked out. Excessive Venetian security and casino ushers claimed that there was absolutely nothing they could do. I even called the HQ of the event, and was totally blown off. Never again have I walked inside the Venetian casino. Shame on you owner, Sherman Adelson.

[quote]Shame on you owner, Sherman Adelson.

Shame on you, r59, for patronizing any Sheldon Adelson business. (You did mean Sheldon, right?)

R60, Sheldon Adelson, I stand corrected. This was when Obama was still POTUS.

Note that when the same event was previously at Bellagio, casino employees & security were a very visible presence and the audience was reasonably well behaved.

I went because both events included guest performances by local magician Lance Burton, and other then current strip entertainers.

Go see movies at a film festival. Those audiences won’t tolerate that bullshit.

I saw the Halloween premiere at Toronto last year and a woman shouted at another patron to turn off her phone. They don’t mess around.

I am over going to the theater I only go on rare occasions because as noted in this thread people don’t know how to behave correctly.

The last movie I saw was a Grace Jones documentary at the Embarcadero theater there weren’t very many people there I ordered hot food a bottle of wine and enjoyed myself.

I go to at least 40 concerts a year. The cunts who can't shut their huge gigantic holes are typically, 1- Drunk middle aged cunts who don't know they're old, fat and fugly. 2 - The same as #1 but in their 20's. 3 - Fat know it all dork guys who want to prove to the people they are sitting with they know everything about music.

My theatre loving mother is 75 and told me that she's too afraid to tell people to stop talking during a performance so she says nothing and takes in what she can, though she admits she attends theatre and other live performances less and less these days. Get this, on a recent trip to NYC, she took in My Fair Lady, and a young woman seated next to her chatted audibly and got up to head to the washroom a few times times during the show. My mother had a hip replacement two years ago so it took her a moment to get up to let the young woman in and out of the row. One time, the woman was coming back to her seat and my mother had to use the arm rest to stand which annoyed the young lady who let out a heavy sigh. My mother told her that she was trying to get up, which the young woman responded, loudly, "okay, okay," and brushed past her.

r65, cunts under 40 years old NEVER say "excuse me" when they are trying to pass by. When they don't say it I barely give them room to pass and I don't stand up. Fuck them! 99% are white entitled cunts. Grease fire!

I would have told that little cunt to go eat her shit!

.............

I tripped someone at the movies once who kept doing the bathroom runs. Sorry. Stay at home if you've got the shits. I'll stand for you once, I'll squeeze up my legs as much as possible for trip 2, but on trip 3 in a 90 minute movie, you can go the other way or you can try to squeeze by when you didn't say, "Excuse me" or "Thank you" any other time. So then you trip them.

So then you trip them. I wuv you @R69 a bitch after my own heart.

I still encounter plenty of polite and considerate people. It’s just that we are clearly outnumbered by the rude ones. I would like to ask those making too much noise in public to quiet down, but I honestly don’t trust that they won’t turn violent. I’m not willing to push my luck.

At a Bryan Ferry concert in one of those old, ornate downtown theaters that has been rehabbed beautifully, they made the announcement about no photography.

Five minutes in the guy next to me pulls out a full-sized Nikon with a zoom lens (!) and starts snapping away. No flash but the camera window was distractingly bright.

On and on it went. I finally said, loudly, "HEY, ANSEL ADAMS, KNOCK IT OFF" and people around us chuckled nervously.

He got belligerent and said he was allowed to do so because he was with "the press." I went up the aisle and found this cadaverous old usher who got a rictus grin when I told him what was going on. He followed me back down the aisle, but "the press" had beat a hasty retreat from his seat when he realized I was not fucking around.

talkience

blabbience

annoythefuckoutofeveryoneelseience

From R7:

[quote]“Please don’t shush my mother again. This is a musical about black music from her era and it’s inevitable that someone will sing. I just wanted to let you know that it was not kind what you did and if you shush her again, I’m going to sing along with her.”

[quote]“Well,” he said, “I didn’t pay money to hear your mother sing.”

Wow, she didn't even realize that she was being owned. Perfect retort by the guy.

Anybody posting here who thinks this is a recent phenomenon is badly mistaken. I stopped going to concerts and movies 30 - count 'em, 30 - years ago because of non-stop talking asswipes, who managed to ruin concerts by everyone from James Taylor to Eric Burdon and the Animals, to a screening of - kid you not - Guccione's "Caligula."

So it ISN'T just Millennials and People Of Color who have their "entitlementses." It's epi-freaking-demic, and has been for what seems like forever.

People always talked during movies. Concerts are louder, so if people talk, you can't really hear them. However, people like to stand up during concerts, right in front of you. I don't go to movies any more, either. I don't care enough about the big screen, surround sound, whatever.

nonstop talking is weird in any setting

I did it on an interstate train with assigned seats about a year ago. The woman behind me started to watch an Instructional video at full volume with no headphones. I politely turned, after a few minutes, and she was already turning it off and ignored me, wouldn’t look at me. There was a really rough girl across the aisle who I thought might have a go at me but instead she thanked me. Didn’t expect that.

R78 gives me hope for the future.

Live tweeting maybe gives people the idea that their every thought needs to be vocalized. I have no idea what's going on but yes, it's noiser and less considerate. My only reservations about going to shows is the noise, but then, maybe I'm just old.

People are animals.

I agree with the spirit of your post but animals are delightful.

I shushed a foreign frau at a Broadway musical and she shouted out, "Nobody shushes me!" I responded, "I just did!" She shut her mush, and a bunch of people around me thanked me profusely while giving her the stank eye. I thought they were going to break out into a chorus of "Wind Beneath My Wings".

Yes.. me too! R40

My husband and I were at a Cirque show a few years ago, sitting behind parents with their four or five year old. All during the first half of the show, they had to continually point to things they thought their kid shouldn't be missing. "Oh, look honey, look there! No, look there! Look, look, LOOK!!!" They wore the kid (and everyone around them) out! They left during the break and didn't come back. We rarely go out now because of the rude crowds. Ticket prices are too high to chance having the experience ruined by rude people.

We live in a culture where everybody feels entitled to "do as he likes."

Whut-EV-uh! Ah do whut ah WANT!

R85, I had a similar experience with a mother and her kid who was about eight. She kept talking to him, " Look, honey, etc." He finally said," Quiet, I'm trying to watch." I wanted to give him a car.

Has anyone ever had any success asking for a refund in any of the above situations? Makes me happy I haven't been going out as much. Seems as if those selling high priced shows will soon be losing income if they don't do something.

[Quote] Concerts are louder, so if people talk, you can't really hear them.

NO, hon. Cunts just SCREAM TALKING as the sounds gets louder.

Forgive me if this has already been posted, but a very few movie theaters have begun to do more than just ask people to remain quiet. At the Alamo chain, if people are talking or texting or whatever, you can signal an employee by putting a piece of paper in the little coil at your table and the offender will be warned once and I think if there’s a second time the person will be thrown out with no refund. I will happily patronize places that enact similar policies.

You don't own the theater!!

On Broadway, play audiences are the most respectful. This season, I have gone to see "Network", "Choir Boy", "To Kill a Mockingbird", "The Ferryman", "The Waverly Gallery", "King Lear" and a few others. Barely any phone incidents and nobody talking uncomfortably or crinkling water bottles. At musicals, however, it continues to be an issue. Mostly tourists it seems.

[quote]On Broadway, play audiences are the most respectful.

Not necessarily. When I saw Love, Valor, Compassion, someone sitting too far away from me to say something made an enormous amount of noise chewing something. Someone closer did say something, for he stopped (I could see who it was), but it was highly aggravating. And this was in 1995. It's only gotten (exponentially) worse.

Even at an orchestra concert.

.............

Why do people need to eat at concerts and shows? Can't they stuff their rude faces at home?

r97 for Minister of How Things Ought to Be

[Quote] Why do people need to eat at concerts and shows? Can't they stuff their rude faces at home?

Because today people are massive sloppy fat ass pigs!!! That's why!!!! I went to a Disturbed concert and a family of 8 sat near me and each one had a hot dog and nachos with them. Then 2 other people show up with BOXES of pizza and drinks in hand for everyone. WHO FUCKING DOES THAT AT A CONCERT? Yes, all were FAT ASSES but still. Can you imagine what their toilet looks like? Plus all that farting in the seats during the concert??

People need to eat popcorn at the movies because it's hard to obtain popcorn outside of a movie theater.

Right, r100.

Went to see a play yesterday. Okay it was an urban area, part of the audience were HS kids going to see live theatre for one of the first times in their lives. The usher (from the same background as the kids, and nearly the same age) preferred chatting to the people she knew in the audience, instead of doing her job. The kids behind us started the performance with gulping down "quietly" some very smelly french fries. Their friend a few seats below had her fast food box with her.

One of the actors on stage was a well-known rapper. He berated a kid in the first row for sleeping throughout the first half of the show.

Not that the kids would have known it, but the director is one of the biggest names in this area right now. Still, aside from the fries and the sleeping kid (which didn't bother anyone but the actors), the audience was surprisingly well-behaved. I wasn't happy with the usher, but sadly this is common when venues can't hire people with manners.

R51 I've solved this problem by going, as much as I can, to concerts and shows by artists that are as non-mainstream as possible. I saw Matthias Goerne and Leif Ove Andsnes in February and the audience was impeccable. Matthias Goerne is a fantastic singer.

If I need to see a movie other than at home, I always try to go during the week, at 2 or 4 pm if I can (2 is better). I don't work full-time, so I can afford to do that. Going to the movies on a weekend or in the evening with the crowds is asking for misery.

I was joking, R101 .

I saw 'Get Out' a while back in a packed theater.

A very large teenager (not just tall, but pushing maximum weight) sat next to me, pulling food from outside that was in his pockets. That part didn't bother me so much but what did was when he was consistently on his phone. I would understand if it was a sudden emergency, but you would obviously leave if this was the case. He was on snapchat. He was with a girl on the other side who didn't say anything, so finally I told him to 'please put your phone away, thank you.' I was as polite as I could be (it was difficult to do so) and he glared at me and said, 'Jeez' with a heaving sigh as though I had the problem.

But the phone remained in his pocket the rest of the movie.

Do you guys think we'll go the virtual reality route in the future? Obviously it's not the same as psychically being there, but when the technology gets better it might be something to try. Anything to get away from trashy, rude people.

[Quote] I'm in LA: it's rudeness x100 out here.

Me too and I'd say it's x1000

Why would someone pay to see a movie or play and be on their phone? It's ridiculous.

Having said that, that cunt Madonna was on her phone during Hamilton. The nerve!

I don't understand the need for complete and total silence in public places. You're not home in your living room. I grew up hearig people speaking to each other in movies and at pop concerts. But I grew up at a time when there was one tv per household. You trained yourself to watch/hear the show while people around you were opening & closing the fridge, flushing a toilet, talking on the phone, having a conversation in the living room between mom and dad. I don't remember having to demand complete silence to watch tv or movies or at pop concerts.

The last time I went to the movies was years ago because I can't stand the ear shattering hisses of people in the audience, shushing someone nobody else can hear. We could not hear whoever it was being shushed aisles & aisles away, but we sure could hear the hissers. They interrupted the movie constantly. It was like being stabbed in the ears repeatedly. I'd rather hear someone rustling a candy wrapper than hissing like a deranged rattlesnake.

Another thing I don't understand is why people can't sit through a movie without getting up at least twice. Where the fuck are they going? To pee? You can't hold it for 2 hours? You can't buy your snacks before the film starts and settle yourself in like a big boy or girl? That soda didn't quench your thirst? The bucket of popcorn wasn't enough to tide you over through the whole film? You need another so soon?

Now I watch films at home.

Oh, poop on you, r110.

No, it was not always that way, OP. But it sure is now.

r34, that doesn't surprise me. The Chinese are incredibly rude in so many ways. Culturally, they are uneducated.

In my experience, the Chinese are the group second most likely to use speakerphone on public transit.

R99 reminded me of the time I saw Lily Tomlin do her one-woman show on Broadway in 1985. She paused at one point and told the audience how at another performance someone sat in the front row and ate pizza from a box. Lily wondered how that got past the ushers and though she was laughing about it, I bet someone got fired over it.

At least they didn't bring their fucking dogs with them.

I'd far rather sit by someone who has his dog with him than someone who is talking

Dogs > movie talkers

I won't go to a movie theater or play or concert- with the exception of chamber music like a strong quartet; the audience is generally over 70 and well-behaved. People in general drive me up the fucking wall.

I went to see Burn This and two women behind me started preparing their feed options before the play started. Throughout the play they ate and chuckled and repeated their favorite lines and chomped popcorn and slurped out of what I can only guess is a Slurpee vat they smuggled in. Fucking people can't go two hours without eating. Without being witnessed. I would pay extra for a quiet showing: no food, no drink, no narrating to your stupid kid.

R108 Do I need to point out I was also at The Grove for this movie?

I'm not sure if the entitlement factor goes up in this particular area, but I'll agree with that extra zero.

People who talk during a play, concert, orchestra, etc. need to be killed, and not in some easy way, in some hideous torturous way, with their loved ones watching.

If they can't shut their stupid fat mouths for a performance, then stay the fuck home and watch Married With Children reruns, trash.

I like The Deadman's approach to hushing an excitable crowd.

r110 has not been to a concert in 10 years.

I've been to many concerts where people are SCREEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAM TALKING throughout the entire show.

The magnificent French actress Isabelle Huppert apparently owns a cinema in France and when asked if people would eat food or use their phone in her cinema, she said something to the effect of "they wouldn't dare."

Another reason to love her. I want to go that cinema (although I do enjoy popcorn during a film).

I’d pay a sizable premium to go to that theater, R125.

The local independent movie theatre in the college town in which I live has what they designate "Crybaby Matinees"--specific, designated showings (usually around 11 a.m. one morning a week) when parents are encouraged to bring their babies and toddlers, lighting is different (not pitch black), and so forth--the idea being that parents caring for small children can get out of the house and see a movie, and everyone in the audience knows what the atmosphere will be like. They schedule it for a time when they wouldn't ordinarily screen a movie, so it's win-win.

Try being a tour guide on a bus with an audience of 50 people all on their phones. They aren't interested in learning- they are just interested in buying junky souvenirs. It is a pleasure when most of them are asleep.

[quote]The bald guy in [R7] turned around and told the author's mother to be quiet?

No, she wasn't the author of the musical, she was just the racist author of the inane article.

I've observed it rarely occurs to many black people that shutting up is even an option, or that their "revival meeting" shout outs might not be welcomed by other audience members not wishing to be part of their "dialogue" or sing-along!

The authoress from The Root seems to be able to conjure cultural reasons why no rules ever apply to her (because of her blackness!), or her poor mother who, at age seventy-five, doesn't sound like she's ever been taken to a damn Broadway show before, so she could learn that the audience is NOT part of the performance! "Oh the Caucasity" as she would say!

Appallingly stupid frau!

I agree about farting. I’ve used it to clear a couple of loud rows

This is a racist thread. African Americans have a tradition of Call & Response. They want to- no, NEED to- engage fully with the screen and/or stage for an enjoyable entertainment experience. You are oppressing and constricting a longstanding cultural tradition!

We. Are. Not. Your. Slaves.

I don't know what movie theaters you all frequent that have ushers capable of quelling a disruptive person/group. My experience is seeing young teens or elderly retirees who mainly take tickets, work behind the concession counter and check the restrooms. Most don't have the authoratative presence or gumption to do anything about the problem. Looking back the last decade or so, I can't recall seeing an usher in the theater before or during a movie. Once in a while someone comes in at the at the end of the movie to deal with the trash. Regardless, there's got to be some fear in saying or doing anything so as not to trigger an angry if not physical response from these assholes.

And folks in the business wonder why ticket sales are abysmal, with the exception of a major blockbuster/super hero film.

And, with the current in such a rage hethe amounAnd I can't recall in the last decade or even seeing would rather stay home and watch a movie on my 65" TV rather than hassle with the loud amd overall

if you are in the audience, you shut up and watch. Audience participation is only tolerated when specifically requested. If you can't keep your mouth shut for 2 hours stay home.

Why don't theater try Quiet Showings to see what happens? If quiet cars on trains charge a bit more, then that can be the model. I'd pay a premium for a quiet screening. Same for a no-kids flight.

I'm an old guy and I wouldn't dream of talking during a play. I turn my phone off (sometimes I leave it at home). I don't even bring water back to my seat. I always thought I was a model theatergoer.

However...

At a performance of NEXT TO NORMAL (not a quiet show, I might add), the woman in front of me turned around at intermission to politely ask that I stop playing with my Playbill during she show. It was sitting on my lap and apparently I was absent-mindedly thumbing the corner. How she heard it over the loud music was a mystery to me, but she must have.

I

WAS

MORTIFIED

I apologized profusely, and thanked her for bringing it to my attention. Now I put my program under my seat lest I do it again.

Bless you, R136.

At a screening of "Sleepy Hollow" these 2 teenage girls would simply not shut up. I was in the second row behind them, stood up, leaned forward, spread my arms out kinda like I was gonna scoop them up and throw them, and shouted "SHUT. THE. FUCK .UP!" and hovered over them for about 10 seconds. I'm not a small guy, and the ignorant fucks were statue quiet for the rest of the movie.

Damn!

It's the advent of cell phones. People think they have a right to speak as loudly and as often as they like in public.

Many years ago at a matinee I was in front of two yakety old bitches who wouldn't stop chattering about the most inane subjects.

At intermission, as they got up to go to the lobby, I turned around and said 'Could you two please speak up? I'm having a terrible time following your conversation with that annoying play going on'.

They did not return after intermission.

Yes, r136, bless you. I've long been of the opinion that ushers should hand playbills out as patrons are [italic]leaving[/italic] the theatre.

If I ever get called for jury duty, only to find out the person on trial shot someone dead at a concert/movie/play/musical because they wouldn't shut the fuck up or turn off their cellphone, there would be no way in hell I would convict them.

Same here, r143. Some people deserve killing.

Dear R102 Your use of the words 'urban' and 'usher (from the same background as the kids' make me think you're trying to be Politically Correct.

I'm an Anglophile and a classical music snob.

I believe an audience must be absolutely silent while the orchestra's performing. And I abhor those American jazz concerts where the audience breaks into applause DURING the song or at the commencement of a song or even before the singer has uttered a note! It smacks of self-congratulatory self-absorption.

[quote]Blah blah not even whispering during lectures.

I'm going back to school and this guy was full on eating a salad or something out of a ceramic bowl during a lecture and you could hear the "cling", "cling", "cling" every five seconds when his fork would hit the bowl. He even scraped the bottom of the bowl and set it down loudly a couple times. The teacher just continued her lecture while ignoring him. I wanted to smash his head into the desk because you couldn't hear her speak over the "CLING, CLING, CLING. CLONK! CLING, CLING. CLONK! CLONK!" of the ceramic and metal.

This is after he goes up to her and asks her for an extension on a simple as pie assignment in front of the class. What. A. Fucking. DICK.

Also, he's probably gay and possibly reads this.

Bear in a comic book t-shirt, looking like he has eyeliner on, eating salad or cereal or just banging a bowl with a fuckin' tuning fork while I'm trying to listen to someone explain how CSMA/CA works.

Oh, and his phone rings during class and instead of just muting the ringer he dashes out of class and answers it before the door even closes.

Marry me, R141.

R141 you're my hero. I'll remember that. And I bet you're dashing and said it with a tight smile.

This is somewhat different but just as obnoxious. I went to a City Ballet performance a couple of years ago when I hadn't been in years. The audience was appreciative and enthusiastic but in the wrong way.

The constant cheering wolf whistles and applause drove me nuts. It's as if somebody would lift a leg and they would go bonkers. A finale note couldn't end without somebody screaming Bravo! So overdone. Audiences used to be appreciative and enthusiastic and sometimes lose their mind and cheer but when it was over and there was a moment of breathless silence.

Never again. I don't go for the show the audience puts on.

AMEN! It’s gotten so bad that I don’t go to any public events anymore. Most people are blubbering idiots going on and on about inane topics. I hate people so much.

I went for a massage recently and the so-called quiet room was full of the loudest, shrillest, most giggly gaggle of frauen, all there for a “girls’ day” and all on their 3rd or 4th mimosa. I wanted to shove their champagne flutes up their fucking nostrils.

I have a subscription to a theater matinee series and the THOUSANDS OF TIMES the elderly bitches in the audience ZIIIIIIP, and UNZIIIIIP their purses (pocketbooks) is astounding!

Just WHAT THE FUCK are you digging out of there during Act 1 that simply cannot wait? You've already opened all the cellophane wrapped hard candies ever produced! AND if you think you need to re-excavate your purse, why not leave the fucking thing OPEN!

Why is it only ME who notices what a racket people are making!? Don't get me started on those rummaging around with plastic bags! I might have to go kill myself. I can't fucking take it anymore!

Unfortunately it's not all younguns; I've seen more than a few middle-aged people, men and women, yakking away at concerts and movies like they're in their fucking living rooms.

By the way, I used to work with someone who was something of a concert pal. We were both new to the area, liked the same bands so we went to some shows. She was about 5', 100 lbs and goddamn fearless about telling people to be quiet, not backing down or caring if they got mouthy. She was pretty quick to go get security (actually get someone to come do something) if they didn't STFU.

I have a friend who routinely stands up when he sees or hears some of the shenanigans listed here as soon as there is a break, and will go over and tell the people to shut the fuck up. It helps that he is 6'6. I can't do it myself, but I'm always glad when he does it. I think he often uses the line " I didn't pay (fill in the amount ) to listen to you talk through the performance". If it's a movie theater, I just get up and move to another location far away from the talkers. (However, with the new stadium seating, it's a little trickier)>

The world's but a stage, and we are it's performers~~~

" it's"

It is biologically impossible for a female to be quiet for more than two minutes.

I was trying to enjoy a cup of coffee outdoors this morning at my local coffee shop and a couple with a toddler was sitting a couple tables away. The kid was playing some annoying nursery rhyme game at top volume on an iPad and screaming answers at the top of his fucking lungs. The parents obviously thought it was adorable, oblivious to the glares all around them.

I prefer the Tori Amos approach

[Wednesday] night [12/12] at her San Diego show, Tori Amos showed two girls that she doesn’t mess around. Two girls were seated in the front row and I guess they kept coming and going as they pleased. While playing “Code Red”, Tori stopped halfway through and told the girls “Get the fuck out of my show! It’s a privilege to sit in the front row and I reserve those seats for people who appreciate music, get the fuck out!” A dude then came out and escorted the chicks from the front row.

“Next up was Code Red. Now, there were two girls who were front row center. They’d been getting up to get drinks every few songs, texting people, putting their cameras on the stage and taking pictures of Tori, as well as snapping pics of each other and just generally talking really loudly. I spoke to one of them during the Professional Widow interlude, and she mentioned her friend was a fan and she was along for the ride.

The girls seemed nice but also probably should not have been front row center if they were going to eff off like that. I was worried something bad was going to happen after one of them tried to yell over to me during Virginia. Maybe she was trying to ask what song it was or something, I’m not sure. Tori noticed this girl was being loud and she looked like she was about to say something, but bit her tongue. The girls kept talking, and one went up to get a drink. Then she came back before the start of Code Red, and I could tell Tori was distracted and pissed.

They kept on snapping pictures of each other and yapping loudly, so finally Tori stopped Code Red and told one of the girls to get the fuck out of her show. Then she got up and basically charged the front row and pointed to her. It was surreal and frightening. Then she went back to the mic and said something along the lines of, “Sitting in the front row is a privilege. Those are my seats and I give them to people who like music.” Smitty ran down and lead one of the girls out. Then Tori looked at the other girl and said (not into the mic but just right to her face): Are you with her? You can get the fuck out,too.” It was definitely the angriest I have ever seen her at a show. Ever. She started Code Red over again and snarled her way through it. Then she came back and growled through Precious Things, Space Dog, and Bliss. As my Nana would say, she was madder than a wet hen!

It's hopeless, my own mother is one of these people, if you try to get them to explain themselves, they just give you a blank look or get huffy, and then do it again anyway.

There is some strange thing very wrong with them, but they can't seem to help it.

Pre-roid Cavill was certainly beautiful enough. Would he have had the acting chops?

^ Sorry, wrong thread.

R163, it made it to the right thread, too. I just read it there.

Maybe more performers need to be like Patti Lupone, when she stops mid-number to evict misbehaving audience members

Brenda

R165 Patti rocks.

[quote]I was at a screening of Sex and the City the movie ten years ago (Okay, I know, terrible example). This guy wouldn't shut up. My friend shushed him. Didn't work. Then I told him, "Could you please be quiet for at least one minute??!!" LOL I thought, oh, shit. I've done it. But then EVERY OTHER PERSON in the cinema also barked at him to stop talking.

Yes, sometimes it seems people are just waiting for someone else to tell an offender to shut up, and then they will join in. But it really bothers me that I almost always have to be the first one to speak up. And, frequently, I'm the ONLY person to speak up. Once, someone behind me in a theater was loudly crinkling a plastic bag through the first few minutes of a show. I turned and asked them to please put the bag under their seat, which they did -- and then the person next to me turned to me and said, "You're my hero."

Similar situation a couple of days ago. I was walking to the subway, and there was a street person sitting in the middle of the sidewalk near the subway entrance, with his hands down the front of his filthy pants, fondling himself. I saw dozens of people walk by without saying anything, but I told him what he was doing was disgusting, and he had better stop right now or I would call a cop. So he stopped, pulled his pants up, and left. As I continued into the subway, some guy who had witnessed the whole thing turned to me and said, "Thank you." I said, "You know, I really wish it wasn't always me who has to be the world's policeman." He didn't have an answer for that, so he just said, "Well, I appreciate what you did."

At least you didn't have to watch your subway guy for two hours, r168. I congratulate you in your efforts to make the world a better place in which to live.

How do you feel about audible footwear?

Neither the young parents nor their kids ever had to go to church or mosque or synagogue, or dinner with grown ups, and ordered to not speak for a certain amount of time.

Showing of Fellowship of the Ring , 3 young guys, I think Brazillian, talk full voice for at least a half hour, probably more. Crackling food wrappers, laughing, etc, the theater was their personal living room.

Finally a travelogue moment comes up, hobbits are running, and I do it. Loudly. "SHUT UP. For the sake of all things holy, SHUT UP. We want to hear the movie, not you."

Guy in front of me turns around and whispers, "Thanks, thank you" But I'm not done. "You're welcome. Feel free to tell these jerks to SHUT UP. And if there's anyone else in this movie theater who wants these guys to SHUT UP, please feel free to tell them to SHUT UP."

By this time the audience was at full giggle with a smattering of applause.

Well they shut up, and at the end of the movie I bolted from the theater.