My top five hates at the opera/theatre/concert/cinema

Austin Barry

Liz, well done, this is the dullest, most obvious post on Coffee House since its inception. Did you have a heavy lunch?

Verity

Gosh. How interesting.

Disraeli's Ghost

Surely groups of giggling girls are the worse?

David

'Bravo Men'

People who scream "bravo!" the moment the music has finished, not taking into consideration what the music actually is. The best performance of Mahler's 6th I have ever seen had a Bravo Man destroy the silence after it had finished. He got a great shooshing from the audience.

Simon

And your reason for sharing this with us?

Chris

Over-tall? What does that even mean? Do you get paid by the word?

Molly Air

You could have abbreviated this post by limiting it to a single 'hate' and writing 'other people'.

Murk

My pet hate is sitting in front of a small person who blames me for being six foot two instead of blaming the opera/theatre/concert/cinema venue for not thinking through their sightlines.

(glances at URL... was this really a spectatorblog post?)

Drew

Sitting near someone who likes to compile lists.

Anything involving a Lloyd Webber.

dearieme

'Bravo Men': it was the antics of these exhibitionist creeps that was the last straw for me: I no longer go to concerts.

Sky Blue Peter

Get yourself off to the Wigmore Hall. Best behaved audience in London.
(And my favorite in Manchester was the chamber concerts society at the RNCM. Maybe it's something about chamber music that brings out the considerate folk?)

Nicholas

Over tall? Can you be "over short"? Agree with Murk - as someone who is tall one of my pet hates is sitting in front of someone who is shorter than me.

Fortunately my height lets me see over the outsize chips on the shoulders of any short men sitting in front of me.

Nicholas

Oh, yeah, I forgot to ask. You weren't the snooty woman whose seat my obesity spilled over on that long haul flight and whose svelte and self-satisfied form I showered with croissant crumbs 30,000 feet over Indonesia were you?

Tyler Fox

Mine is listening to people complain about the most trivial things, what about the things that actually matter in life. Of course I’m not saying that I would enjoy “sitting beside an obese person who spills over into my seat” but then I would do what we English do best….Complain!

CS

What a contribution. What exciting new depths of philosophy will we be plumbing next week? Just because this is a right-of-centre blog doesn't mean that it's OK to copy the Iain Dale habit of occassionally plastering the place with opinions on the weather during a quiet news cycle.

Tanuki

My pet hate: air-guitarists/air-drummers who beliebe they're the reincarnations of Jimi Hendrix or Cozy Powell.

Ali Enation

Well, well, there's interesting..

patricia smith

Sitting near someone who has doused herself in scent is hell.

i spy strangers

Sweet wrappers - and especially people who try to open the cellophane e v e r s o s l o w l y so that it doesn't distract people. 'Twere far better that it were done quickly!

BTW, the Lloyd Webbers aren't all bad. I heard an organ piece by their Dad recently that was rather exciting.

Peter Wilson

'over-tall'? what's that mean? Is that English? If you mean tall people (i.e above average height) then if I'm sat in front of you (apologies - I'm over 6"3) more than likely I’ve pay the same price as you for my seat so I'm just as entitled as you to sit there.

It’s not my fault your parents were genetically inferior

Tyler Fox

I have to disagree Tanuki, i just find it amusing, knowing that they have no real knowledge of how to play the guitar or drums, however if they decide to continue for an extended period of time, I would then have to bring out the “air guitar smash” over there head!!

Augustus

I enjoyed Liz Anderson's travelogue earlier this year about Madeira. But this effort seems very uninteresting.

I can't count the times I've sat next to an Arab sheik snoring through the whole performance. The first such instance was way back during 'Hair', when they were snoring all over the place.

Wilfred

A Rainbow fan, Tanuki?

Speaking personally, I'm not happy unless I have the entire auditorium to myself. Then I can tap my foot, eat crisps and bellow Bravo/Encore/More when ever I feel like it.

dearieme

@Pat: very true, and they're even worse in restaurants.