I had put out a call on Twitter asking for stories of bad behaviour among theatre audiences, expecting a trickle of replies, if any. Instead there was a torrent of tales from actors, theatregoers and front of house staff detailing verbal and physical abuse, drunkenness and sheer bad manners. And this, from musical theatre actor Jonathon Bentley: “A couple of years ago I was performing in Mamma Mia The Party and an audience member pulled down her knickers, in between two tables and...” I’ll spare you the details but it’s safe to say it’s not something you’d expect in any public forum let alone the hallowed confines of theatreland.
You might, snobbishly, write this off as outlier behaviours — something that happens at a participatory “entertainment” where booze flows and audience members may not know the “normal” rules of theatre etiquette. But my Twitter request was prompted by a report in The Stage that Ambassador Theatre Group — the UK’s largest, which owns several London theatres — was adjusting its marketing for musicals to remove phrases like “the best party in town” or “dancing in the aisles” in response to audience bad behaviour.
