Whatever happened to theatre etiquette?

Once when going to the theatre in San Francisco I read a booklet that had a guide to theatre etiquette.

It was full of sound advice, such as suggesting patrons not wear heavy perfume or beehive hairstyles.

I wish I had a copy of this booklet as I believe it should be given out as compulsory reading to all theatre and concert-goers.

You often get the impression when you go to the theatre these days that most of the audience have never been before.

Why would they talk to each other throughout a performance if they knew that it was extremely rude and unthoughtful?

I went to a dance performance recently and the couple in front of me blocked the view the whole time as they kept moving their heads towards each other to whisper sweet nothings or something.

Another night at the opera a man near me was commenting and talking the whole way through. Now opera goers do not like to be disturbed. They’ve paid up to $200 or more for their ticket and they want to hear the damn music. So this man was very loudly and forcefully asked: “Are you going to talk the whole way through this opera?”

That shut him up for awhile. But then he got the noisy lolly wrappers out and continued to non stop unravel lollies and eat them.

Others may not mean to disturb their fellow audience members – but why do they have to clap whenever they think they should and so ruin the aria for somebody else?

Leave the applause to the end. It goes on for long enough then anyway.

A friend told me that she once sat behind a woman with extremely thick hair that was left out and therefore also blocked her view. She eventually had to ask this person to tie her hair up, which obligingly she did.

What are your pet hates? And what should be done to improve the situation?