"on the brink of walking off"

Theatre Mark Lawson enunsiates why I so rarely attend live events. The fucking audiences:

"During the first scene of a preview of the new revival of Harold Pinter's Betrayal, Kristin Scott Thomas and Douglas Henshall were drowned out by a theatregoer taking calls on a mobile who was not only answering loudly but clomping noisily out on each occasion, while shouting the odds with their partner. The actors seemed on the brink of walking off. [...]  The Betrayal actors who had battled through the first scene then lost the beginning of the second because of the thunderingly disruptive admission of latecomers claiming seats."

They should have walked. No, in fact Kristin should have walked to the front of the stage, looked outward and told the multitude that if they didn't shut up and pay attention and make sure their fellow audience members did likewise they wouldn't carry on.

If people are going to behave like children, they should be treated as such.

Plus, indeed, what were the theatre doing let latecomers in that late?  If you're late, you're late.  Go home.