Why actors like Imelda Staunton are advocating for a ban on food and drink at cinemas Actress Imelda Staunton described how she told off a man when he dared to open a packet of crisps before the start of a film

Taking your seat to watch the latest blockbuster or a much-anticipated theatre show is, for many, one of life’s great pleasures. But the pong from hot snacks, the sound of chomping on crisps, slurping on soft drinks and crackling confectionery packets can distract from a stage or screen performance.

The etiquette of eating and drinking in public entertainment spaces came under the spotlight this week when actress Imelda Staunton railed against cinemagoers who “can’t be without food for five minutes”.

Ms Staunton described how she admonished a man who dared to bring a packet of crisps to a screening. “A bloke came in with a big packet of Doritos and I just said to him: ‘What are you doing? You can’t eat those’,” she told the Radio Times magazine. “You either eat them now, before the film, or afterwards.”

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The Bafta winner didn’t lay blame solely on her hungry seat neighbour – she also criticised venues for selling noisy food and drinks in the first place. “Why are you selling crisps? I just do not get it,” she said. “And the drinks! Plastic glasses falling on the floor when there’s a quiet moment.”

‘Polite request’

It is not the first time she has called for a food amnesty of this kind. In 2016, she said she’d welcome a ban on eating and drinking in theatres, adding: “I don’t know why people can’t engage with just one thing.”

The following year, during her turn as Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in London’s West End, ticket holders were emailed a “polite request” not to eat during the performance “out of consideration for the actors and fellow audience members”.

Actor John Partridge supported Ms Staunton’s proposal, and shared his beef with patrons who produce snacks in plastic containers and unwrap confectionery.

“You’ve paid £80 to come and see this. Why would you want to come and eat?”, he told the BBC.

‘Stereotyping’

Four years ago, theatre critic Richard Jordan described the “worst West End audience” during the final performance of Dr Faustus at the Duke of York’s Theatre.

“The couple to my left ate their way through a tub of popcorn during Act I, while the couple to my right chomped through a packet of crisps,” he wrote in entertainment industry magazine The Stage. “Further down my row, a couple saw nothing wrong in producing a box of chicken nuggets and a large side of fries.”

After witnessing some theatregoers snap photos and shoot videos, Mr Jordan said the audiences’ behaviour had left him “despairing”.

Actor Kit Harington, who performed in the title role, later defended the young attendees and warned the criticism could kill theatre, saying: “I am afraid that if the theatre is going to die of anything, it will be from exactly this type of stereotyping and prejudice aimed towards a new and younger generation of theatregoers.”

‘Escapism’

In recent years, theatres have established various initiatives to ensure their longevity, such as cheap tickets aimed at the under-25s and those from hard-to-reach demographics. But for the most part, ticket sales generate only a small portion of a playhouse or cinema’s income, as venues have come to rely on concessions for extra money.

While an outright ban on the sale of food and drink is unlikely, a leading etiquette expert believes a happy trade-off can appease purists and new patrons.

William Hanson, executive director of The English Manner, a protocol and etiquette institute, said eating sweets in cinemas is permissible, as long as they are decanted into a sandwich bag to avoid disturbing the audience.

“Theatres and cinemas are forms of escapism – for those 90 minutes, you’re supposed to focus on the performance and be removed from the realities of life and irritations of the general public. It is a communal experience and someone eating sweets or playing on their phone is prohibiting escapism for others,” he tells i. “Eating nachos during the adverts before the film starts is fine. Popcorn is relatively quiet, I have no issue with that. Open your fizzy drink bottle before the credits to avoid the ‘hiss’ sound disturbing the audience.”

Seafood and wine

Eating in British theatres stretches back centuries – studies show that Tudor theatregoers snacked on seafood, fruit and nuts, and drank wine and ale.

Audiences at Shakespeare’s and Marlowe’s plays tucked into sturgeon steaks, peaches, figs, walnuts and hazelnuts, archaeologists found in 2010 after analysing the site of the Rose Theatre, now on London’s South Bank.

Ushers at most British theatres sell ice creams during show intervals and eating noisy food is generally not accepted. The same, however, does not apply to picturehouses. Consuming food and drink during the silent movie era – from 1894 to the late 20s – was a no-no because venues didn’t want to encourage littering or loud eating.

But attitudes changed in the 40s when popcorn enjoyed a war-time boom, thanks to its relative cheapness in the wake of sugar rationing. For the cash-strapped, the cinema was a cheap entertainment and vendors would sell popcorn outside venues, enabling people to smuggle them in – a practice that endured for decades.

Commandments

Today, the sophistication of home entertainment systems, ubiquity of streaming platforms and food delivery apps have prompted some cinemas to overhaul their offering in order to retain their clientele.

Some boutique picturehouses have launched in-seat dining, where audiences are served three-course meals and fine wines as they relax in reclining armchairs.

It is not a trend Mr Hanson believes will catch on: “The cutlery would make an awful lot of noise and you wouldn’t be able to focus on cutting the beef bourguignon and watching what’s happening on the screen,” he says.

In 2010, film critic Mark Kermode and broadcaster Simon Mayo drew up a code of conduct for cinemagoers on their hugely popular BBC Radio 5 Live show in a bid to preserve the purity of the experience of cinema-going. Commandments included: “No eating of anything harder than a soft roll with no filling”, “Nachos cause special offence and are of the devil” and “No slurping of drinks. You’ve already drunk a five litre flagon of pop, you really don’t need the melting ice, too. You are not six years old.”

‘A quiet word’

And what to do if you fall foul of a noisy neighbour? Mr Hanson, whose nationwide tour Teacups and Tiara: A History of Etiquette, begins in March, advises having a quiet word with anyone committing a faux pas: “You’re perfectly within your rights to ask them to stop.

“But don’t go in there all guns blazing – a short and quiet, ‘Please can you stop that?’ will suffice.

“When I watch shows on [New York’s] Broadway, the audience tends to self-police whereas in Britain, we’ll sit there, silently plotting the culprit’s slow and painful death in our head,” he adds.

“Maybe we only have ourselves to blame.”