To be annoyed at disruption in a theatre show?

[shouldwejust]

I appreciate that this is a nuanced topic, and that there possibly isn’t a right answer.

Recently I went to watch a show in the theatre that I had been looking forward to for months. The tickets were my birthday present and something I can’t usually afford, so definitely a one off treat.

Throughout the whole show, a man who had severe disabilities was shouting out and yelling. He didn’t stop at all and continuously made very loud and disruptive noises.

It completely took me out of the show, meant I struggled to concentrate and was just annoyed!

I fully appreciate that everyone in society has a right to enjoy things, and perhaps this man was looking forward to the show just as much as me! But, I don’t think that it’s fair that he disrupted the show for the entire rest of the audience who had also paid a lot to be there.

I don’t know what the solution is to be perfectly honest. That his carer removed him when he was being disruptive? That he attended one of the “autism friendly” screenings that are expected to have more disruption?

When I said this to my partner he was shocked and said that basically we should just accept that our show was ruined for his enjoyment, as that is being inclusive. I don’t feel that inclusivity should come at the cost of everyone else?

I appreciate that I may be told I am being unreasonable here but I’d like to hear other people’s opinions here

The previous poster, in response to two parents of disabled children commiserating over the lack of spaces their kids are welcome in as they grow older, said “why would we want them around us”? Slippery slope there.

No one can defend why their disabled relative whatever should be allowed to disrupt events they go to. Especially in places which aren't a necessity to be in. You need to go to Tesco, you don't need to go to Mamma Mia and spoil the show for everyone else.

Life is about more than just doing the necessary though.

Okay and ... Yes but why should they cause a nuisance and disruption to others?

You can't answer that. I'm perfectly capable of going to the theatre and not ruining it for a single other patron.

Nope. PPs have posted above why this is ignorant, entitled and also ableist.

There have been a lot of supportive posts here? And some really good pragmatic ones asking how we can be more inclusive while also allowing people to enjoy, say, expensive rare theatre trips.

Shifty hyperbole like this drives even the most reasonable and inclusive people slightly further away from you. This kind if talk helps nobody especially people with disabilities. Again it reminds me of another public argument taking place and you may do well to look how that one is working out in some respects.

To be clear: wee need better wats of Being inclusive and also in marking our own responsibilities in some places/circumstances.

This is about the disruption of a high value one off experience, not about the value of the rights of the individual making the disturbance. That doesn’t align with the principles of eugenics at all and it’s not very helpful to throw these kinds of accusations around.

As I’ve said many times on this thread. If I was sat next to someone screaming/shouting throughout a performance I would have to leave. I could force myself to stay and sit there banging my head and probably screaming along with them through meltdown. You must really hate me to want either of those to happen right? If I’m forced to leave then I don’t have the same access as everyone else. If I’m forced to stay and go into full self harming meltdown then that does nobody any good. So yeah your hatred of me and my disability is what it is.

No my post here was about BootsOnAshes making quite specific and repeated posts that - even outside of the theatre OP and in reference to disabled parents talking about lack of inclusive spaces generally - said “why would we want them around us”. If you can defend that then please go ahead.

In places they need to be like a shop or something, I can understand and bare with it.

In a theatre where I've paid for a show? In a library where someone is studying? Why should they cause a disruption?

And in general no one is going to enjoy being around someone just constantly screaming their heads off. That's the cold hard truth

It was polite.

It is not bigotry and hated to want to be able to hear performers on a stage in live theatre.

And it is your attitude, not the attitude of the people who are politely discussing the rights of the many in very specific situations where quiet is expected over the rights of one person to make a lot of noise, that will damage disabled people, not theirs.

A question for everyone screaming "bigotry and hated".

Person A has misophonia. The theatre is full and they can't move seats. Person B sat near them is randomly shouting out and is causing person A physical pain each time. Their whole body is involuntarily flinching.

Person A's presence is not damaging anyone else's enjoyment of the show. There are many people who are clearly being affected by the shouting of person B.

Which one should leave, because one of them has to?

You’ve completely lost people after your ‘eugenics’ comment. Hyperbole at its best.

I’ve seen your measured responses all over this thread and you’ve either been ignored, or told basically ‘tough shit’ because the disabled person who can’t help but make noise in a theatre apparently has more rights than you 🙄

Thing is disabled or not, I would expect you to remove someone who was disruptive to a performance.
I’ve already mentioned on here my, frankly, awful experience with someone ND in our audience, that caused an issue for me, the actress. I didn't mention that I had weeks of physical therapy and then an operation afterwards because spilling those sweets had caused me a broken ankle.
Anyone who disrupts a general performance needs to leave. Drunk, noisy sweet eaters, screaming at hugely dramatic moments: there is a reason we have “pissed up panto”, relaxed performances and general theatre etiquette.
I am currently rehearsing our latest show; this is a child friendly show (bit out of the box for the group but still) and we have the rights to do 1 relaxed performance and 1 signed performance. We will not be doing a signed performance because we cannot find someone who is willing to sign, but we will do the relaxed performance. I have already been told I will be one of the performers to introduce myself at the start of the show, as I will remind everyone that sweets and spills cannot go on the stage. I will also call a halt if anyone puts anything on the stage that does not belong, I’ve been burned before.
Thing is, I’d much prefer it if someone has the balls to remove themselves and others around them to try and help the PERFORMERS. Remember we have been doing this for over 6 months, you have come to watch us, not listen to someone else scream or shout or sing or swear over our performance. We have invested time, energy, our Sunday evenings and the whole week beforehand. We have sacrificed sleep, our skin and our general health into doing this show for you. Our voices are all sore (we will all be on vocalzones) and we are exhausted, and the worst thing is that someone who clearly doesn’t have the mental capacity to understand that they should be quiet sits in our audience and screams or yells. From an acting perspective, it’s off putting and can lead to dangerous slip ups. During the show I spoke about before we had a really tricky set piece that involved our lead actors, a massive moving furniture piece and several smaller props. A totally silent moment as the furniture and actors are moved into place was broken by the ND individual yelling and scraping the table across the stage. Due to the shock of it several stage crew nearly dropped the stage furniture and it would have killed people. Safety is paramount, above everything else.

If your voices are sore, you're misusing them and you'd be advised to spend some of your society's money on someone coming in and giving you all some vocal techniques. And if you've been rehearsing a frankly ridiculous six months and it's affecting your general health, your sleep and you're "sacrificing" your skin (whatever the hell that means) then something is very wrong with your society full stop.

I say that as someone who has not only spent twenty years running professional venues but acting and directing amateur theatre for over thirty.

If a ND person is just screaming their head off do they even understand the play and what's going on? Do they have the mental capacity to truly appreciate the play? If they do, why are they just screaming?

Completely irrelevant to the point made by PP..no one wants a screaming person ruining the show..

Yes, but not irrelevant to that specific posting. She's clearly hurting herself with her hobby.

Translation: 'I'm going to try to discredit you as a performer, since I can't respond to any of the larger points you made.'

When this has come up on here previously and on Facebook, those of us who have difficulties with loud noise are told to suck it up

Too much noise is a migraine trigger and I can't hear that well if there's a lot of noise

Not really, if you look back I've made a lot of contributions to this thread and pretty much been sympathetic to disabled patrons while agreeing it's not possible to accommodate everyone at every event and why (finance has a bit part in it), because I've run venues so am responding from inside, not simply as an audience member. You've made just one previous contribution to the thread.

Misusing your voice can actually cause it long term damage, so that's why I was flagging that up and some amateur directors do more harm than good to their actors. SW

IdentifyingAsAWoollyMammoth

Are you not extinct?

No, I merely identify as one. If a man can identify as a woman if he likes, why shouldn't I identify as a woolly mammoth?