Police called to theatre after audience sang over cast

[SnottyLottie]

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!

I have been doing security at theatres for about 20 years on and off. It was mainly introduced as a presence and bag checking after 9/11 and ramped up after 7/7, but quickly evolved into dealing with the poor behaviour of drunk guests.

People really dont know how to behave at the theatre and it has got steadily worse over the years. People turn up with take away food and pizza boxes to eat when the show is on, sing and dance when they like and get abusive when get asked to behave, and then try and fight when we try to remove them. Unfortunately the venues I have worked at rarely call the Police as they do not want the adverse publicity but good on this theatre for doing so.

It is always clear when performances are sing a long or not, or if photos are allowed to be taken or not, but in recent years people have just become so much more entitled and do what they like.

IMHO theatre managers often don't like dealing with the complaints from people who act up, amd just it to security to deal with. I have seen people ejected for genuine reasons and then theatre managers give them free tickets to future shows to avoid bad reviews.

There is not easy solution I am afraid, it seems to me to be a general downward decline in the way a more visible minority feel entitled to do what they like and bollocks to anyone else.

I have a family member who does freelance work for theatres and she also says audience behaviour is getting worse and worse. She says it's mostly due to alcohol - people arrive already drunk and there's also more alcohol available at the venues, people are encouraged to buy more drinks because it brings in more money

We watched this at Liverpool and they repeatedly announced before the show that the only acceptable time to sing along is at the end in the reprise.

And there were notices too.

But if you arrived last minute you might have missed them.

And if you'd been drinking then you probably wouldn't care.

They absolutely do this, but unfortunately people just do not give a shit and do it anyway. Then they kick off when they get asked to stop.

@Blinkery I am genuinely sorry to hear this. I have had a very mixed experience of dealing with theatre managers, good and bad, but no one goes to work to have to deal with that.

I agree with you about the alcohol aspect.

A theatre manager I knew, who was very visibly pregnant, was punched in the face by a drunk woman after trying very reasonably to deal with her appalling behaviour. I was not working that night, but it was one of the rare occasions that the venue called the Police and she was arrested.

I used to love live performances and the cinema but don't bother any longer.

From childhood we were raised to be still and quiet during any sort of performance, including film. Even sipping a soft drink was to be done stealthily and quietly. And of course at live performances, best behaviour was expected.

Now no matter where one goes it's loud, obnoxious clods who have to be talking, fidgeting, eating, drinking, arriving late, leaving their seats multiple times, etc, totally oblivious to the focus and concentration necessary for the actors/performers, let alone considerate of fellow attendees. Not to mention the slovenly attire.

People behave as though they are in their own homes. And those of us who demand decorum and etiquette are looked upon as old-fashioned and unrealistic. It's so depressing.

Shoutouts are a huge part of it, all the way through. It's accepted and encouraged and sometimes someone comes up with a new line. The people who see the show don't find it annoying. It's part of what it is. The actors usually interact with it and sometimes they even laugh.

And they do often get the audience to stand and dance for The Timewarp and for the end reprise.

But they do ask you not to throw rice or anything else on stage. And even with the shoutouts and overall madness, there are just unspoken ways you manage to keep up the atmosphere without ruining the show.

Note to self: next show, Sweeney Todd.

All jokes aside it's one of the best shows I've ever seen

Thats interesting, I have seen it 10+ times and only once was there someone shouting the full script (and I did find it annoying so some people that see it do!). I do like some audience participation though so I hope it’s a good crowd when I see it in July. I saw it years ago on Broadway and they handed up rice, a newspaper, water gun etc at the door and it was great, I do wish we could still do that.

I have been to a few “serious” plays and classical music concerts in the last few years. In those, it’s noticeable that people will bring a drink in but just sip it quietly, and are generally very quiet and respectful during the performance. However I took DD to Matilda this week - an evening performance- and was amazed by the armfuls of stuff people brought in with them. Almost every adult seemed to have a huge glass of wine (and like I say, I’ve enjoyed a drink during a show but didn’t feel like it was necessary for this show!) which were replaced at the interval, families with bags full of food including one group who all had a cream cake each - it all felt a bit much really. And the getting up for the toilet was annoying too.

What do you mean by shouting the full script?

I've seen it about five times and there was definitely shouting out all the way through...accepted and established shoutouts are all the way through it and I always learn a few new ones! Not yelling over the actors while they're speaking, just the unscripted punchlines and feedlines at the right points.

It's so much an established part of the show that I wouldn't have thought anyone who didn't like it would go to see it.

Maybe we should complain when people aren’t ejected

People are selfish twats basically. My 6yo understands she has to be quiet and not sing along. If she can manage it during frozen (and I imagine most little girls have sung let it go more than grown ups have tried to sing I will always love you) an adult should be able to. There is no excuse. The audience was warned and they chose to be selfish and ignore the signs. Shame they weren’t evicted sooner.

Apparently the performance had been paused already in the first act due to singing along

its been confirmed these signs were everywhere and there were many announcements made about no singing

i went to an acoustic sat down show and had a drunken idiot in front of me singing along badly and loudly. After a few songs I asked him to be quiet and got told to 'shut up for fat slag' behaviour has got worse over the last year or so

Absolutely you should, and I would do if I had paid for a ticket to see a show and it was being ruined by some arsehole who didnt know how to behave.

To be fair I haven't yet seen anyone wearing a dressing gown (as some people seem to think appropriate for grocery shopping or indeed for the school run, even saw someone at a railway station last week) but it's only a matter of time.

Two sides of the same coin as far as I'm concerned. A football match near here was called off 15 minutes in with a fan taken to a major trauma centre. Society is falling apart.

@wherethewildthingis

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.

Don't take it from me. My daughter is currently reading this book: "The Right Amount of Panic - How women trade freedom for safety". I just had a brief leaf through and it looks interesting. It seems many/most women understand the need to keep themselves safe and adopt a variety of strategies to do so. I assume not stumbling around drunk is one of those strategies but I haven't read far enough yet to confirm that.

Or take it from Sylvia Plath, quoted in the frontispiece.

In any case, even if all men were Knights in Shining armour who could be counted on to protect a damsel in distress, staggering around drunk also puts one at risk of walking/falling in front of a moving vehicle. That goes for drunk men too.

Thankfully I no longer have to do late night pick ups for the daughters, but I find driving through town in a Saturday night very stressful worrying about the drunk pedestrians all over the roads.

And don't let's forget that men are often victims of male violence too, and alcohol is a major factor in these instances as well.

We went to a concert a few years ago. There were a group of about 7 women who sat a few rows behind us.
It was obviously a girls' night out.

When the show started, they decided to continue on talking, guffawing, swearing and hysterical laughing.
There were young children sitting close by.

I complained and after the break a member of staff came and told them to be quiet. They didn't listen.

The next day I emailed the management and asked for a refund as they had completely ruined the night.
They said they'd checked with the staff on duty and denied there had been any disruption.

Well these two were definitely women. So we're the ones chatting through a Liverpool Philharmonic concert I went to. There does appear to be a particular issue with drunken women at Jukebox musicals. Maybe men find different places to be drunkenly obnoxious.

Am so with you on this AND when are theatres also going to crack down on alcohol sales? I have literally seen theatres selling whole bottles of wine for people to take into the auditorium with them!! How does that help?!
People need to learn to restrict their eating and drinking to pre-show, post-show and interval. Why are refreshments even allowed in the auditorium? It’s not the cinema. These are live performers. It is SO rude and yet theatres are not helping themselves.

People saying police was OTT, from Twitter video it seems that they were called after a poor staff member got punched and it looks like a full on fight broke out.

Being extremely drunk renders you vulnerable in many ways. You could be mugged, you could choke on your own vomit, or you could simply trip and fall.

In terms of sexual assaults, yes men need to change their behaviour but until we actually do live in such a utopia it is necessary to keep oneself safe.

@Angelil - well theatres are helping themselves. They obviously do it to make money. But they can't then complain when people get drunk and behave badly.

Maybe theatres should operate an alcohol and food free section. I'd happily pay more to avoid sitting close to people incapable of sitting quietly for a couple of hours without slinging copious amounts of alcohol and food down their throats.