Madam, - On Saturday, October 21st, my wife and I took our three young children to see Danny - The Champion of the World at the Helix. I had forgotten what spoiled our previous outing to the Helix when we went to see a wonderful production of The Secret Garden last year. Yet again,virtually every child had come equipped with bags of sweets and popcorn which formed a cacophonic background of crackling static throughout the whole of the first act.
A group of gorging schoolgirls were behind us and directly behind me were two young girls, aged about seven, who spent their time digging and rooting into rucksack-sized plastic bags full of packets of goodies, each with its own peculiar rattle, crinkle and crackle. I also noted several parents eating popcorn from plastic bags during the first act. With all this noise it is not surprising that the actors had to shout to be heard above the racket, making their characters less than credible.
I tried to put a brave face on it so as not to spoil the outing for our children. At the interval we went out to the foyer only to see a long queue at the Helix shop for more fizzy drinks, wine gums, popcorn and other crunchable goodies in crackling plastic bags. It took the full 20 minutes of the interval for the queue to have its demands fulfilled. My wife and I resigned ourselves to the din of the second half, which proved to be even worse than the first as sugar levels increased and the young children became even more restless and hyperactive.
I myself enjoy a bucket of popcorn at the cinema and can tolerate a certain amount of background noise in an amplified cinema environment, but I expect a higher standard in a theatre, where concentration and minimum distraction are required to bring the drama alive.
I fail to understand how any self respecting venue such as the Helix can not only allow unabated eating in the auditorium but actively promote the practice by selling packaged goodies in its shop. And aside from the Helix's fundamental role in all this, why do parents now feel that theatre visits need to be supplemented with food during the performance? What about a treat for children at the interval outside or after the show?
As we walked out through the detritus of bottles, plastic bags and popcorn, strewn throughout the entire theatre, I vowed that our family would not be returning to the Helix until its policy on eating is changed and a proper standard of behaviour is maintained for both children and adults. - Yours, etc,
DAVID WALTON, Ballyboughal, Co Dublin.