Last Friday, I decided to go to see the musical Spamalot! It was a very unique experience and one that I am glad I had earlier in the semester as opposed to later. First, when I walked in, I went to the box office and talked with the attendant. She recommended that I get front row on the upper deck, and that the posted restrictive view message was only because there was a railing, which it is okay to lean over. This encouragement swayed my opinion so I purchased the tickets.
As I proceeded to the bar, I was a little hesitant looking around. First, the upper level bar was small, and almost had a sense of foreboding. On top of that, the theatre goers in there seemed very stiff and unfriendly. Nevertheless, once I took my seat, the culture shock really set it.
I introduced myself to the people on my left (who I later found out were brothers from Scotland) and we started talking a little bit, commenting mostly on the theatre. They were extremely easy going, but what took me by surprise was their comments on the lady below us. They were appalled that she was playing games on her iPad before the show (there was about ten minutes until curtain). Their reasoning was that you go to a theatre to see a show, not play some game which you could play at home, in the car, or honestly anywhere else. This caught me off, because I don't believe that in America one would hear the same opinion. I attributed it to the general attitude of Brits and going to the theatre.
There was a couple who sat on my other side, and the girl was Irish. When they sat down, she went up for a drink and when she came back, the guys on my left started teasing her about carrying two drinks (because she was Irish) and not giving me (who they turned to calling their distinguished guest from New York) a drink. These playful words were cut short by the show, but during the interval, everyone chirped up like there wasn't a first act.
During the interval, the two gentlemen along with the man of the couple all went up for drinks, so I chatted with the Irish girl. Once everyone came back, it was back to teasing. They were picking on each other based upon where they grew up, which I found to be quite odd. I almost felt like it was a racist thing- but it wasn't. It seemed to be in all good fun. What I mean by that is that they had preconceived notions of who these people at the theatre were, and felt no shame in saying them (For example, she was a drunk; the two brothers were sheep farmers; etc). In America, joking about that would seem rude, but everyone was having good fun with it, so I tried just to fit in.
The strangest part was after the few quips back and forth, they got on the subject of oil drilling on the Welsh coast, along with other environmental issues. Again, this caught me by surprise because the diversity of the conversation was such that they went from discussing their hometowns to government issues. Everyone was contributing to the conversation too. It just seems that the people I was with were interested in the show, but also were interested in the social aspect of going to the theatre, which is not, at least in my experience, how it is at home.
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