The Bodyguard: Don’t just blame the audience for bad behaviour
The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. In previous weeks there have been actual fights breaking out at theatres, with ushers often verbally and occasionally physically assaulted by angry, drunken audience members, who according to theatre managers, feel “entitled” to act as they wish because of the high ticket prices they pay. First, let’s take that “entitlement” because of high ticket prices. Those same theatre managements which rail against lack of sobriety in the audience, not only encourage them to drink during performances, not only obligingly pour their alcohol into plastic cups so they can take drinks from the bar to the auditorium, they also save you the trouble of going to the bar at all by bringing the drinks to you. The next time theatre owners, managers and producers rail against audiences, they should first step into the foyer and take a hard look in the gilt-edged mirror.
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