Union calls for alcohol restrictions to spare theatre staff from harassment and violence

"Speak clearly and don’t bump into the furniture" - so goes Noël Coward’s timeless advice to actors. But for those treading the boards of Britain’s theatres, there is a new peril: rowdy, smartphone-wielding audiences.

- Nadia Khomami

From heckling and screaming to livestreaming and even copulating during shows, theatres have been faced with rising levels of disruptive behaviour.

The problem is so grave that venues are now being urged to limit how much alcohol is served to audiences, after a survey revealed that more than three quarters of ushers have experienced violence, aggression or harassment from theatregoers over the past year.

The union Bectu, which published the statistics, said it had identified a “shocking scale of poor audience behaviour” and partly laid the blame on “at-seat alcohol”.

The survey comprised more than 5,500 creative workers. Of those working in theatre and live events (1,051), about a third (31%) said they had experienced antisocial behaviour, violence, aggression or harassment in the past year, including 29% of those based in theatres.

The union said front-of-house staff were bearing the brunt, with 77% saying they had experienced bad behaviour in the past year.

Meanwhile, a majority of respondents across front-of-house, technical, backstage and admin roles said things had worsened in the past five years.