Fights, vomiting and abuse: Theatregoers have
forgotten how to behave, staff say
Drunk audience members projectile vomiting, used
condoms being found in the stalls, and ambulances being called are now all
common occurrences in London's West End.
By Katie
Spencer and Jayson Mansaray
Saturday 9
December 2023 09:11, UK
Front-of-house
workers at leading West End theatres have told Sky News audiences have
"forgotten how to behave" - claiming assaults and abuse are a common
occurrence.
Agreeing to
talk to us anonymously, we heard accounts of drunk audience members projectile
vomiting in the auditorium, used condoms being found in the stalls, and
ambulances being called to treat bleeding audience members after fights.
One theatre
worker - who was fearful speaking out could cost him his job - said he was
concerned that top management at some venues are putting "profit over
safety".
He told us
how, despite a life-long love of theatre, his job has become intolerable after
the COVID pandemic.
"I had
a friend who is barely 5ft 2in punched in the face by a man who was 6ft 9in.
She's in her 20s."
He said he
was assaulted by a man who had arrived late and wouldn't accept that he had to
wait for an appropriate moment in the show to take his seat.
"I'd
moved myself in front of the doors and he basically slammed me against the wall
and then walked in, calling me a f****** w***** for doing my job... security
pulled him out and he was made to apologise... but he was allowed to watch the
show. I've just been assaulted and I'm shaken but that's a common experience in
the West End."
Denise
Welch waves to fans as The 1975 perform on the main stage during BBC Radio
1's Big Weekend at Camperdown Park in Dundee. Picture date: Saturday
May 27, 2023. PA Photo. See PA story SHOWBIZ Radio1. Photo credit should read:
Euan Cherry/PA Wire
Loose Women
star Denise Welch to star as late Queen in Diana musical
As well as
hearing countless examples of how audience members are routinely drunk and
disrespectful, another worker even showed Sky News one theatre group's internal
incident reports.
"There's
a huge amount of people that come to the theatre and it's just a magical
experience for them" we were told - "but there is this small minority
of people that have forgotten how to behave".
Workers
told us how incidents are more frequent at jukebox musicals that clearly pitch
their tickets at stag and hen dos - advertising "a raucous night
out".
"They
bring in the crowds and the crowds spend money... there are offers at the bar
and it's money after a lockdown... we've got to do bag checks, ticket checks,
get them to their seats before the show starts and they all want to go to the
bar. I've had bar staff being shouted at... some horrible abuse goes on."
As an
example of how little audience members seem to care, one theatre worker
recounted: "I brought the person into the foyer and explained that we had
received complaints about them being noisy, that they'd been vaping, to which
they replied 'So what?'"
Speaking to
Sky News back in October, musical composer Stephen Schwartz - who has worked in
theatre for over five decades on countless Broadway and West End hits from
Godspell to Wicked - spoke of how mobile phones are becoming a real problem.
"What's
exasperating is the cell phones, people being on their phones and you want to
say to them, you know, just go out in the lobby and text on your phone and let
everybody else get on and watch the show!"
Theatre
union BECTU recently surveyed its members about this. Some 90% of the 15,000
theatre staff who responded said they regularly witnessed bad behaviour - with
half saying they were thinking about quitting as a result.
Head of
BECTU, Philippa Childs, said some of the stories they heard were "quite
incredible".
"People
being threatened with violence, people being told somebody would be waiting for
them outside of the theatre at the end of the night... the results were really
shocking and what we've been saying to theatres is that they need to take some
action to make sure their staff are protected."
While Ms
Childs says it's understandable that theatres want to make up for the earnings
they lost during COVID lockdowns, she wants to "make sure theatres aren't
encouraging people to arrive tanked-up".
She adds:
"Theatres were the last to open so it's inevitable that they want to try
to claw back some of that lost revenue by selling more alcohol, but I think
that is a contributing factor."
None of the
theatre owners Sky News approached wanted to comment for this piece.
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