16 People Who Tried to Embrace the Arts but Something Went Wrong

Curiosities
4 hours ago

Theaters, museums, and galleries are a wonderful way to spend your free time in a culturally enriching way. But sometimes the craving for art turns out to be something completely surprising. The heroes of this article have not only been culturally enriched, but also gotten into various mishaps.

  • Instead of a traditional office party, management decided to take us to the theater, with coworkers and their significant others. After the performance, I realized that the best actors were not those on stage, but a man from our department and his mistress. They sat in the neighboring rows and carefully pretended to be strangers. Gently holding his wife’s hand, he passed by his mistress several times without even glancing at her. It’s amazing what kind of humiliation a woman is ready to take, just to get a drop of love from a lowly man. © Overheard / Ideer
  • My mother was often given tickets to the theater, opera, or ballet at work. And here is a really rare case: the ballet The Nutcracker is coming. They gave my mom the seats on the front row — tickets like this are very expensive. Naturally, my mother decided that I, a 3-year-old child, simply needed this cultural program. The performance has been going on for 2 hours, the dancers are doing their best, the music stops just for a second, and I pronounce out loud, “Oh, how boring!”. © Overheard / Ideer
  • Invited a friend and her boyfriend to go to the theater with me and my husband. She agreed and asked me when I would order tickets. I suggested we do that right away. She got excited, asked about the seats and let me know that she was also on that website looking at the best seats. She wrote down the numbers of where they would be sitting and I bought 2 tickets next to each other. On the day of the show, I found out that not only had she not bought tickets, but she thought I would pay for them. My husband and I freaked out, and her boyfriend said, “Whoever invites pays, everyone knows that.” The tickets were $100 each. © Overheard / Ideer
  • I was in New York with my mom and sister. We were still in school. We decided to fulfil our dream and watch a musical on Broadway. There were warnings everywhere that you couldn’t take pictures with your phone or camera. But my sister decided that she was the smartest one and could quietly film a few moments. She just took out her phone, and then a formidable woman-controller started to shine a flashlight on us and gestured, saying, “Put your phone in your bag!” All this time, in the background, the artists were playing some funny song. I felt like I was in a stupid comedy. I was very embarrassed.
  • At our once-provincial, now globe-trotting theater, I once ran into my absolute favorite writer. He was impossibly handsome — silver-haired and charming. Turned out, he only signed books, so when I handed him a random scrap of paper from my bag, he drew a graceful-looking character on it. Said it meant “prosperity.” Later, I found out he hadn’t wished me prosperity at all — he’d written the word “butt.” © Overheard / Ideer
  • I was about 6 years old. I didn’t tell my mother that I wasn’t feeling well because we were supposed to go to the theater that day to see Cinderella. She was looking forward to it almost more than me, so I didn’t want to upset her. I liked the play, in spite of everything, I was delighted. To this day, when I feel that I start to get sick, I go to the theater to watch a fairy tale. The emotions make me feel better. Though a 30-year-old woman without children in the audience looks a bit weird. © Overheard / Ideer
  • I took a friend to a play with Korean actors. It was written in the program that all their lines would be translated on the screens with subtitles. It was only on such terms that I persuaded her to keep me company. We are sitting in the hall, the play starts, and the promised translation is not there. I panic when I see the angry look in my friend’s eyes. She grabbed me softly but angrily by the knee and hissed, “Did you trick me? I’ll bite you.” I tried to explain, but she clearly didn’t believe me. And then it turned out that they were having technical difficulties, and after some time, the subtitles appeared on the screens. My whole life had already flown before my eyes. She’s scary when she’s angry.
  • Went with my 3.5-year-old daughter to the museum of local history. The only question the child repeated a million times was, “They’re all dead, aren’t they?” There were no more questions. © Overheard / Ideer
  • My friend and I went to the theater. We took our seats, and right away, a woman behind us started complaining — loudly and rudely — demanding he take off his hat. “How can you wear a hat in a public place?!” she snapped. My friend, very politely and calmly, asked, “Are you sure you want that?” She only got louder, insisting. So he said, “Alright, you asked for it.” He took off the hat... and her eyes went wide. You see, he has long, fluffy hair — tiny, springy curls that puff out everywhere. He’d actually worn the hat on purpose so it wouldn’t block the view for the people behind him. Then he just sat back down like nothing happened. © Overheard / Ideer
  • Went to Madame Tussauds with my friend. We were both crazy Twilight fans at the time and adored Jacob. There was a sculpture of Taylor Lautner that we happily took pictures with. We posted them online. The sculpture looked very life-like, and we spent another 6 months telling everyone how we accidentally met the actor during the summer holidays in the hotel where we lived. And yes, everyone at school believed us.
  • My dad was an artist, and I’ve got zero talent in that department — I can’t even draw a straight line. When I was a kid, he took me to the art museum and told me all about the Impressionists and their painting techniques. The next day at preschool, we were asked to draw a tree. Excited for my big moment, I drew a birch using colorful Impressionist-style brushstrokes. I got a failing grade because, as the teacher put it, “All the leaves should be attached to the branches, not floating in midair.” And just like that, my inner Claude Monet was crushed. © Overheard / Ideer
  • My great-grandfather built a homemade motorized bicycle that was put in the Billy the Kid Museum in Fort Sumner NM. I went to see it a couple of years ago and when the curator found out I was related, he took me in the back and showed me a homemade sawmill my great-grandfather had also built that they had taken off display because they didn’t have room for it. © familyman121712 / Reddit
  • My boyfriend and I went on a museum tour. I thought it would be super romantic, but it was the most stressful date of my life. Apparently, just looking at art wasn’t enough for him, he wanted to touch everything, too. So I spent the entire tour holding his hands, stopping him from reaching out to stuff. Honestly, it felt less like a date and more like I’d taken a toddler out for the day.
  • We went to the Van Gogh exhibit. We took no tour, were just walking around on our own. When I stepped into one of the rooms, I saw a tour guide passionately rambling on about something totally off. She was clearly in love with the sound of her own voice, but everyone around her looked half-asleep. I had a laugh, and when I met up with my friends in the next room, I did an impression of her. That’s when a museum employee walked by and said, “Keep it down. Even I know exactly who you’re impersonating.” © Overheard / Ideer
  • I was a student, had no money. I liked a girl and I wanted to surprise her. And then I got free tickets to the theater — some foreign production. I, pleased, immediately asked her out on a date. We came to the performance, and it turned out to be some crazy arthouse play. All evening I was nervous, thinking that she would dump me, because I brought her to some madhouse. She was silent most of the time, and when the play was over, she said thoughtfully, “Listen, it was conceptual. I think they could have done more daring scenes, but the actors were good.” I thought my jaw would drop to the floor at that moment.
  • Yesterday I witnessed generosity. I work in an academic theater. As I was leaving work, I saw a woman in the foyer who was literally sobbing. It was quite unusual. An administrator sat next to her and tried to calm her down. I noticed that the woman was holding 2 crutches. From their conversation I found out that she was in a hurry to get to the performance but was half an hour late. Since the receptionist couldn’t let her into the hall, that was the rule, she compensated for the loss of her ticket by giving her a ticket for tomorrow’s performance. It seemed like nothing, but the woman calmed down and thanked her for a long time. It is a pleasure to work with people like this. © Ward 6 | Stories Anonymous / Telegram

Cultural outings are always a bit of an adventure. For some, it’s a way to gain new knowledge and experiences. For others, it’s yet another chance to stumble into an unexpected story. As you can see, even a simple trip to the theater can turn into a real adventure. What about you? Have you ever had any funny or awkward moments at a theater, museum, or art exhibit?

And here are more stories about people who found an adventure in the theater.

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