To eat or not to eat: That is the question

COUPLES used to try to get seats on the back row of a picture house in olden days, when some cinemas had double seats.

Well, The Electric Cinema of Portobello in London offers a totally new and luxurious silver screen experience: They have six double beds at the front and three double sofas at the back.

Seats in the auditorium are out of the ordinary, too: There are armchairs complete with side tables and lamps. HE debate on whether it is acceptable for theatre-goers to eat food during a performance was re-ignited by actress Imelda Staunton who is starring in the West End production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

She has made her views clear before: “I don’t know why people can’t engage in just one thing. I don’t understand this obsession with having to eat or drink at every moment of the day.”

Quite right, too. And this time, the theatre management agreed and have banned audiences from scoffing whilst watching.

It is a particular problem in theatres with actors attempting to ignore feasting and food smells from the auditorium as they concentrate on performance. Fans of Kit Harington, star of Game of Thrones, took along boxes of McDonald’s with fries to watch him in Dr Faustus.

Actor John Partridge was required to sit with the audience to deliver his lines in a production of A Chorus Line, only for a chap two seats away to pull out a bucket of Chinese chicken wings and offer him one.

“I am immersed in my character right now,” he explained later. “You’ve paid £80 to come and see this. Why would you want to come and eat?”

I am in total sympathy with the actors and think the same ban should be extended to cinemas, where eating and drinking is part of the big business of the multi-screen complex.

Foyers are filled with stalls offering sweets, popcorn by the bucket, nachos and dips, hot dogs, ice cream, coffee and soft drinks. Sorry, I’m interested in the film I’ve advertised programme time, serving wine, beer and champagne.

“Substantial cinema snacks are also available prior to each film,” they say.

The bar closes five minutes before the start of the main feature.

A front row double bed is £35, armchairs are £16.50 and a sofa for two at the back, handily adjacent to the bar, is £45.

By heck, I wish they’d had those in my day. gone to see without the distraction of munching, slurping and hot food aromas.

And I’m not alone in being disgruntled. A survey on the denofgeek.com website brought a response from 2,300 UK film fans and 68% said their movie experience had been spoiled by loud eating and rustling.

It was so much different in the good old days. Wasn’t it? Actually, no, it wasn’t.

Theatre audiences have been making noises, eating, drinking and throwing things at the stage since Ancient Greece and Rome.

When early theatre in Britain moved from the back of wagons into makeshift theatres in the late 16th century, food and drink were an integral part of the enjoyment. Particularly as food could provide handy missiles if you didn’t like the play. Excavations at The Globe showed Shakespeare had to contend with a crowd who were chomping away on fruit, shellfish, crabs, oysters, pies, pasties and roasted meats whilst drinking ale, mead and wine. It was a time when theatre-goers might be inclined to barrack the actors or riot if they were displeased. Cinema was different because there were no actors to annoy: Just other customers.

I am in total sympathy with the actors and think the same ban should be extended to cinemas

Plenty of snacks are on offer at cinemas, but Imelda Staunton (pictured) objects to the trend. Fans of Kit Harington (also pictured) took along boxes of McDonald’s to watch him in Dr Faustus