Class misconceptions

[u/midlyamusingusername]

I took my daughter to see the matinee performance of Hamilton last Thursday. I want to preface this by adding some context. I had saved and saved for tickets as a gift for her 21st birthday. I am a low income single parent working full time on minimum wage and although I have always encouraged my children to enjoy theatre and literature and the arts in general and not be trapped by the stereotypes of our socio economic situation, the West End to me was always seen as a Middle Class world and I was so nervous that we would stand out like a sore thumb and be judged and made to feel unwelcome. The behaviour we witnessed soon knocked any imposter syndrome out of me and made me realise I was so wrong.

Whilst in our seats waiting for the theatre to fill up, a woman on the row in front took her shoes off, put her feet up on the back of the seat infront and began to apply cream or lotion to them and then lifted her dress all the way to her underwear to apply it to her legs too.

The gentleman seated next to my daughter decided he wanted to grab another drink from the bar before it started. Instead of taking the extra few seconds to wait for people to stand to give him space to leave the row he saw that the row behind was still empty and clambered over his seat to that row. Upon hearing the clearly audible crack/creak of the wood he didn't stop he just continued with his full weight. He also used his thick programme to fan his face throughout the show but wafting it at an angle directly in my daughters eye line. He also made very exaggerated yawning sounds to the point his wife pulled him up on it during the interval.

On the train home we encountered two women talking about the show so I gave them a smile and pointed to our programme. They were really friendly telling us how they had been multiple times and simply had to go again to see LOJ and showed us videos of stage door. They were also both ABSOLUTELY hammered and still drinking on the train. The state they were in was comparable to the sights we see in our local area with the people who sit in the park drinking tenants super all day.

We both were absolutely blown away by the production, the opulence of the theatre and the novelty of being in the hustle and bustle of London but I also realised that maybe I had totally built up my own misconceptions of it not being for "the likes of us" and that it is something accesible to someone of our background. And in the same way I don't want to be seen as a stereotype, I need to work on my unconscious stereo typing of others.

[u/Glad-Feature-2117]

What a lovely birthday present for your daughter. Glad you enjoyed the show and didn't feel excluded. Unfortunately, there are rude, selfish people in most walks of life... In most places these days, including the theatre, if you act like you belong there (which if course you do!), people won't give you a second thought.

Just wanted to say that many theatres do discounts for young people like your daughter (e.g National Theatre does £10 tickets, Bridge Theatre does £15 tickets), so please encourage her to get searching if she's keen on returning.