This is the moment an audience member 'screamed' over a song at The Bodyguard musical at Manchester's Palace Theatre before police were called.
The clip was captured during the performance of hit song I Will Always Love You at the show on Friday night. In the video, a member of the audience could be heard shouting the lyrics over the track, while other 'confused and angry' theatre-goers spoke over the music and questioned what was happening.
It was filmed shortly before the show had to be halted after audience members reportedly repeated sang over performers, despite the show's producers asking the public to not to - and installing signs around the auditorium. Police were called to the Oxford Street venue when 'staff reported a number of people in the audience causing a disturbance' and two women were captured on video footage being dragged out of the upper circle of the theatre.
Karl Bradley, who filmed the video clips, described the scenes in the theatre as chaotic and said people were 'screaming' and chanting 'out, out, out' as some audience members sang over the performers. He told the Manchester Evening News the chaos started around half an hour into the first act.
He said: "We got about half an hour in and that was when it first all went black on the stage and everyone was a bit confused as to what was going on. I thought it might be the interval and I was thinking surely not so soon in.
"And then it became apparent once there was an announcement and there was a bit of a kerfuffle in the audience, they said they had to hold the show due to audience disruption."
He said the 'screaming' over I Will Always Love You came from the upper tier in the theatre. "It was like people knew what was going to happen and we're sort of counting down to the woman screaming in the upper stalls", he said.
"Once it happened it was laughed about up top, everyone else was a bit more angry and confused about what was going on.
"The stage then just went black again and that's when it really started to kick off on the higher tier, you could really hear screams and audible gasps. Everyone starting standing up and looking over.
"There was chants of 'out, out, out' to get them gone, then once they'd left it was an awkward silence on stage. Even the actors were looking around to see what was actually happening."
Karl said an announcement was then made to say the show had been halted due to 'audience disruption'. He added that there were 'a lot of signs' around the theatre which advised people not to sing along.
"We didn't actually get to see the ending and you feel bad for the cast", he said. "I'm sort of new to the world of theatre but I've been to a few shows, nothing's ever been that bad."
This morning, Greater Manchester Police issued a statement on the incident and said two people were removed by security staff. Evidence is now being 'reviewed' before a decision will be made on whether any further action will be taken.
In full, the GMP statement said: "Officers were called to the Palace Theatre last night (7 April 2023) after staff reported a number of people in the audience causing a disturbance.
"Two people removed by security staff were spoken to by police and a decision about any further action will be made once the evidence has been reviewed." The spokesperson added that riot police were not deployed to the scene, as previously reported.
Melody Thornton, who plays the lead role of Rachel Marron, said she was 'very, very sorry' the performance had to be stopped early and that she 'fought really hard' to finish. She said she was 'grateful' for those in the audience who had bought tickets and 'respected' those on stage throughout the performance.
Ayden Callaghan, who plays bodyguard Frank Farmer in the musical, also took to Twitter following the drama.
The former Hollyoaks actor tweeted: "Theatre pulled the show at the end tonight because of disgusting behaviour. We wanted to carry on but it had become a major incident. I’m really sorry to what was 99.9% a brilliant audience that a few badly behaved individuals ruined it."
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Palace Theatre said: "The performance of The Bodyguard at The Palace Theatre, Manchester was stopped at 9.40pm last night and not continued. We are disappointed that the last 10 minutes of the show needed to be cancelled due to disruptive customers refusing to stay seated and spoiling the performance for others.
"We are grateful to our venue teams for dealing with these difficult circumstances in a professional and calm way, and to Greater Manchester police for their assistance. Future performances will continue as planned and we ask that customers are considerate towards the cast, fellow audience members and theatre team so that everyone can enjoy the wonderful entertainment on stage."
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