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Original poster

Police called to theatre after audience sang over cast

316 replies

SnottyLottie · 08/04/2023 13:41

According to this news article, 2 people were evicted by security and there was a “mini riot” after the show was stopped 10 minutes before the end (and ultimately cancelled) because a handful of the audience were singing over the cast. Police were called (riot vans included).

https://news.sky.com/story/police-called-to-disturbance-at-manchester-palace-theatre-during-the-bodyguard-musical-after-audience-tried-to-sing-over-cast-12852504

What do we think? Over reaction or perfectly reasonable response? I’d be furious to have the show stopped and cancelled 10 minutes before the end because of a handful of disrespectful idiots!

Police called to 'disturbance' at Manchester Palace Theatre during The Bodyguard musical after audience 'tried to sing over cast'

Two people were removed from Manchester's Palace Theatre, police said, as theatre-goers tweeted to say the performance of The Bodyguard was stopped before the end because of people "singing over the lead during the final song".

https://news.sky.com/story/police-called-to-disturbance-at-manchester-palace-theatre-during-the-bodyguard-musical-after-audience-tried-to-sing-over-cast-12852504

OP posts:
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11
OnaBegonia · 08/04/2023 17:44

My DD just worked pa to season at a well known theatre and couldn't leave fast enough. Every shift they had to remove ppl from the building, ppl turning up already drunk, shouting, shoving etc

GettingThereCharleyBear · 08/04/2023 17:46

@YourVagesty this already happens. And is totally ignored. Arseholes will be arseholes no matter how many times they’re told 🤬.

CarpeDiemCarpeDontem · 08/04/2023 17:47

Hungrycaterpillarsmummy · 08/04/2023 13:54

That group were adamant they were just mimimg! I saw a sad face article on FB about it haha I bet they were singing!

I sat beside a guy who sang all through rock of ages. Very badly. It was so bad and so fucking annoying I wish I did report him.

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God rock of ages is my absolute fave show and I’d be livid!!

Lemonademoney · 08/04/2023 17:48

Off to see Elton next week and already worrying who we will be next to… sadly last time I went to a live concert precovid the group near us were hammered and it tainted the whole night as they were really obnoxious

CementTrucker · 08/04/2023 17:58

I rarely go to the theatre, but I’ve noticed this at the cinema over recent years. I only go to an arts cinema in the first place since that cuts down on bad behaviour, but even there the percentage of the audience who have to get up for a wee (presumably) during a not particularly lengthy film seems to have gone up hugely. No attempt to be quiet either - I’ve seen people actually run from their seat to the doors! First time it happened like that I assumed the guy had a medical issue but it has happened so frequently since that that explanation seems unlikely.

People just ignore instructions they find inconvenient - as anyone who has travelled in the quiet carriage of a train will know - and there is no consensus on noise and consideration for other people. See all the noisy neighbour threads on here, where many passionately argue that it’s their right to blast out music whenever they’re in their garden and put the washing machine on in the dead of night.

And here we are.

whyhelloo · 08/04/2023 18:00

BashirWithTheGoodBeard · 08/04/2023 17:40

Interestingly, the two women who got removed from The Bodyguard the other week appeared to have made some effort with their appearance, and were less casually dressed than some of the people around them who were visibly pissed off.

https://twitter.com/dawnbramhall85/status/1644632754464620544

The younger one is in jeans, but that's a going out top. They look like the performance was part of a night out on the tiles, which I expect was the problem.

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Oh wow, it's quite fitting that they were removed by bodyguards..

I was fixated on their clothes which misses the point somewhat, but did the one in white just deftly pop off both her Elizabethan ruffle cuff sleeve things in between all the manhandling?!

wherethewildthingis · 08/04/2023 18:01

FannyCann · 08/04/2023 14:36

We went to The Sound of Music at Bristol Hippodrome on a Saturday night about 15 years ago. I honestly can't remember if there was any singing along, probably not or I might remember. But I hadn't realised that it was a thing to come dressed as a nun, and there were some very drunk audience members. It was a great lesson to my pre-teen girls - they were transfixed by the sight of a group of young women piling into a people carrier cab at the end, one of the number was very drunk and in a very tight skirt. A friend or two went first, helped hitch up her skirt and pulled on her arms whilst a couple behind lifted her legs one by one and gave a great shove to her bottom to get her in.

Both daughters promised me they would never be that drunk in public, ever. I think even at that age and without me saying anything about personal safety, they recognised that some of the drunk young women we saw staggering around were unsafe and putting themselves at risk.

@FannyCann I'm assuming you mean these women were at risk of being victims of crime in some way? Likely a sexual assault? In which case its the men who are unsafe and need to modify their behaviour rather than the women.

Maerchentante · 08/04/2023 18:05

Wasn't there a thread a few years ago where someone thought they were not unreaso nable for wanting to sing along to Tina, despite signs asking people not to?
IIRC they were also asked to leave and I think it was in 2019.

ReadersD1gest · 08/04/2023 18:07

wherethewildthingis · 08/04/2023 18:01

@FannyCann I'm assuming you mean these women were at risk of being victims of crime in some way? Likely a sexual assault? In which case its the men who are unsafe and need to modify their behaviour rather than the women.

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I never understand this... Of course any man preying on drunk young women is a monster, totally to blame for their own behaviour, but the smug assertion that woman have no obligation to stay alert enough to stay out of harms way because men should control themselves is just downright odd.
Burgers are completely to blame for stealing your valuables, but we still lock our doors at night?

ReadersD1gest · 08/04/2023 18:10

*burglars...

CarpeDiemCarpeDontem · 08/04/2023 18:17

blacksax · 08/04/2023 16:10

When going to the theatre, people need to ask themselves this question before singing along and dancing in the aisles: Is it the Rocky Horror Show?

If the answer is yes, then go right ahead and do what you want.

If no, then sit down and shut the fuck up.

Simples.

I’ve seen a few people online say this is acceptable in RHPS, but is it really?? I’ve seen it multiple times and have never heard it being encouraged or seen anyone singing and dancing, the only thing is the heckling script. But even that is incredibly annoying if it’s the entire script!!

LetsGoFlyAKiteee · 08/04/2023 18:18

Thing is even if there was a announcement going by the comments on Facebook they would've been ignored by some as people have paid money to have fun..

SadOrWickedFairy · 08/04/2023 18:29

But you know l, I read so many threads on MN with posters asserting their rights to eat and drink in theatres and cinemas and not discipline noisy children and do on.

Yes @BlueHeelers it's all about them and doing what they want never mind anyone else. The excuses and justifications for being an inconsiderate arsehole and behaving like one at every available opportunity are never ending.

BashirWithTheGoodBeard · 08/04/2023 18:53

whyhelloo · 08/04/2023 18:00

Oh wow, it's quite fitting that they were removed by bodyguards..

I was fixated on their clothes which misses the point somewhat, but did the one in white just deftly pop off both her Elizabethan ruffle cuff sleeve things in between all the manhandling?!

Show quote history

She deffo shed at least one!

midlifecrash · 08/04/2023 18:56

I am thinking trapdoors under each seat - a peep out of you and you plunge down into a pool filled with alligators

YourVagesty · 08/04/2023 19:02

In which case its the men who are unsafe and need to modify their behaviour rather than the women.

In an ideal world. Which we do not live in.

Florissant · 08/04/2023 19:02

midlifecrash · 08/04/2023 18:56

I am thinking trapdoors under each seat - a peep out of you and you plunge down into a pool filled with alligators

I like that. Can those seats be installed in cinemas, too, please?

Brewskipa · 08/04/2023 19:10

I went to see it a few days before and they were VERY clear at the start of the show that it was not a sing-along, asked audience members not to sing, and said there would be time for a sing-along in the finale.

these idiots were deliberately ruining it for others.

Florenz · 08/04/2023 19:16

The thing is, there are no consequences for these people, and as long as that is the case, they'll continue to do it.

OperationUnicorn · 08/04/2023 19:31

midlifecrash · 08/04/2023 18:56

I am thinking trapdoors under each seat - a peep out of you and you plunge down into a pool filled with alligators

I'd have liked that to happen to the people crunching sweets at Swan lake last week 🙄
Most beautiful bits and they're leaning forward to their friend in front to get another sweet. Absolute twats.
And totally OTT whooping as well which I know makes me sound really miserable but you can clap and cheer at the theatre without sounding like you're at a NFL match. It becomes so 'look at me.'

sighofthetimes · 08/04/2023 19:50

Going to the theatre is so strange, aside from the getting up, eating, and talking, I find that even the well behaved people seem to have this urge to laugh really loudly at the 'funny' parts, in a way they wouldn't laugh at home. I'm talking about stuff that would raise a smile, even a chuckle at home, but it's like a weird audience participation thing where they act laughing - It's really odd. And once you notice it, it's beyond jarring.

If you do this please stop.

JenniferAllisonPhillipaSue · 08/04/2023 19:53

I feel sure that the freedom to have food and alcohol at your auditorium seat is contributing to this 'anything goes' behaviour that we now see in theatres. My memories of theatre in the 1980s and 1990s are that you have a drink on arrival (if you can bear the crush) and you pre-order a drink for the interval (if you're bothered) but that is all outside of the auditorium itself. And if you need sweets for the performance, you make a point of buying ones that don't need unwrapping ...

I was at the Manchester Palace Theatre two weeks ago for a matinee performance of My Fair Lady. People were carrying drinks from the bar down to their seat, at 3pm in the afternoon. The tickets were accompanied by the offer to download an app so that you can have food and more drinks delivered direct to your seat. I'm not convinced such changes are good.

scoutcat · 08/04/2023 19:57

I went to see Motown about 5 or 6 years ago in London and the group behind us talked ALL THE WAY THROUGH and even shouted out loud to the performers at one point! We got the attention of the stewards in the interval and they didn't shut up, just kept referring to us as c words.

WeKnowFrogsGoShaLaLaLaLa · 08/04/2023 19:59

I've been to see The Bodyguard today, the matinee performance. The signs asking people not to sing had been removed. Ushers were replaced with security guards though.

It did impact the atmosphere today and I felt I was being punished for last nights audience behaviour.

Maerchentante · 08/04/2023 20:04

In the summer, I am going to see We Will Rock You, a show I have seen eight times so far, I know a lot of the dialogue BUT will I speak along or sing along? Most certainly not. Others did not pay to hear my caterwauling.