Appalling behaviour and verbal assault in a theatre

[Fran2023]

We were at an internationally renowned theatre in Warwickshire over the weekend where we experienced the following:

The patron sitting one seat away from me, was talking to his companion and in a loud voice started talking about a person he referred to as a ‘Jew boy’ and described how his feet were so small. He then wondered, out loud whether ‘they bind their feet like the Japanese.’ (Sic) He also pointed at people standing and said in a loud voice, ‘Look at them in the cheap seats.’ During the performance of the play, he started talking several times, so I asked him to ‘please stop talking as he was at the theatre not the bar.’ He stopped talking until the interval, although during the performance he kept pushing his left hand between the legs of his female companion, stroking up and down and otherwise groping her. (This was a couple in their 50s or 60s!)

During the interval, after my husband had left to collect our drinks, the man verbally attacked me. He and his companion continued to berate me and argue for several minutes because I had asked him to be quiet during the performance. He then said that they (he and his companion) had had to listen to me laughing like ‘ a stupid horse-woman’ and then they both started making braying noises while pointing at me.

i immediately picked up my coat and bag and left to find an usher. I told the usher who called the duty manager. I explained everything, by then I was in floods of tears. Her solution was to offer us different seats or tickets for another performance, which we accepted.

My AIBU is that the couple who attacked me remained in their seats and nothing was done about them, surely they should have been asked to leave? The theatre’s argument was that there were no independent witnesses! I was left feeling that I was the problem as it was me who left!

Game of Thrones ended in September. You are right though about non-Shakespeare productions (although I'd say it is about 50%). The production currently in the Swan is an adaptation of Eliot's "Middlemarch".

Oh, dear.

And yet people from all over the world-Europe, Africa, Japan and America-seem to be able to not only work out where Warwickshire is, they actually manage to make their way there in order to attend one of the world's most famous theatres.

How gormless you must be and even more gormless to not even know that you are gormless and want to gormlessly boast of your gormlessness! 😂

We used to go to RSC a lot (moved too far away now unfortunately) and would often take a punt on randomly cheap tickets. Often these were slightly restricted view or, as on one memorable occasion, cheap because it was a matinee that had been booked out by a school.
The best behaviour I’ve ever seen in a theatre was those teenagers, you could have heard a pin drop! Worst was full price King Lear tickets, some boorish, red trouser type honking and blustering throughout the first act. Even the actors clocked it! He didn’t return after the interval…

Well said! 👏

we once went to Salisbury Playhouse to watch a performance of "Dont look now".About a blind woman being terrorised by Intruders. Very tense and full of suspense. Behind us were 2 ladies ,who insisted on talking about Strictly!Who was on ,how they would do and so on .Very annoying .Didnt say anything as they were quite elderly.

Calling her a liar? Silly billy.

It's interesting that the theatre industry has theoretically gone super progressive and diverse, but when it comes to actual anti-semitism inside an actual performance, they do absolutely nothing.

It's crazy, isn't it? Actually being antisemitic and.... tumbleweed.

lol 😂 really not the flex you think that is.

It’s blatantly the Shakespeare theatre.

You know the most famous playwright ever to exist on planet earth 😬

You're right, it's finished. Having been recuperating from an operation the last six weeks I realise I'm a bit behind.

It varies from year to year. I was having a discussion with another theatre manager about the RSC and there was one season (I think last year) where Shakespeare only accounted for a third; the next season is better in that respect.

I do think there are questions to be asked over that but that's a separate thread.

I don't know exactly what you mean by that, (super progressive, and diverse)🤔. If the staff were not made aware straight away, what do you want them to do? Nobody else said anything, so all they had was the OP's word, from what I can tell. Something is not adding up here.

I think the only thing the staff could have also done is come back to your seat with you under the guise of just checking everything was ok, but I agree they could not ask them to leave unless they observed the behaviour themselves. I can understand them
not wanting to escalate. I find people more angry and unpredictable nowadays, I don’t know why.

The only other thing I would have done is not stay in the seat on my own if my DH left, I would have gone with him. I wouldn’t have wanted to be left alone and risk them doing this. I’m not saying you shouldn’t have stayed or said something but I am a non-confrontational scaredy-cat. And as above, I don’t trust people and how they might react. I know most people are fine but some aren’t.

Stratford-upon-Avon.
Shakespeare.
Royal Shakespeare Company.

You've made a right twit of yourself, haven't you?

Agree. Off topic (kind of) really but loads of questions to be asked. I miss the old days of a repertoire of 6 / 7 plays running across the 3 theatres.
To make this (kind of) on topic, in response to the poster who said people want to claim they have seen Shakespeare in Stratford: the play in question is not a Shakespeare play.

And I would like to ask the OP what she thought of the production, so far. But was it Part 2 and had she already seen Part 1? Or did she leave during Part One but still went to see Part 2?
Interested, as I had tickets for late December, but cancelled. Now wondering if I will regret that.

Ever heard of Shakespeare? 🙄

Where was your DH in all this? Mine would have decked him.

If he was that bad surely there would have been witnesses and not just you. Also he probably had a point at your bad laugh. It can be hard to concentrate at a show if someone’s got a horrific laugh.

Nice try pal. 👋🏼

Warwickshire is kind of a big deal when it comes to the theatre!

Don't you think that if you want to talk through a performance and grope your partner you would be better off staying at home and watching the TV?

If you think both are OK then you are either being deliberately goady of have very low standards of behaviour.

This is what happens when people nearing retirement get into cocaine and start behaving like they're "all 'bout dat life"

Old boy just needed a hard, open-handed slap around the chops that will silence him until his grave, but he's gambling on the fact this won't happen in a theatre

good job for me I don't go to theatres

Ah, I was idly wondering which play OP had seen at the RSC, which caused her to laugh like a donkey (allegedly) throughout!

We go to the theatre quite a lot and only ever had one bad experience, but that experience was quite horrible so I do empathise will how much it can affect you. Some people are just horrible!

In our situation (it was dd and me) we accepted the alternative seats after the first awful man, and then got seated next to a very loud performative guffawer throughout the second half!

Hasn’t put us off going though. Although I have reverted to booking an aisle if I can.

Great; that’d have really calmed things down.