A storm has brewed over a mother’s decision to bring her baby to a sell-out performance of Shakespeare’s The Tempest starring Sir Kenneth Branagh.
A “bohemian” woman and her baby repeatedly disturbed keen theatregoers with “cooing” and “gurgling” at the matinee showing of the Royal Shakespeare Company play in Stratford-upon-Avon.
The pair were later told to watch the second hour on the monitors outside after a flurry of complaints from audience members.
One audience member, Sian Morgan, 53, from London, told the Daily Mail: “I’ve been going to the theatre monthly for over 30 years and I’ve never seen anything like it.
“There was a young woman with a baby in the audience — and it mithered all the way through the first act. Thank goodness there was never any actual screaming or crying but it was gurgling and cooing and chirping very loudly throughout. It never let up.
“They were sitting in the highest tier, the second circle, but it’s a very compact theatre so everyone in the room could hear it — no doubt including Sir Kenneth and the rest of the cast.”
Ms Morgan added that “queues of people” lined up to complain during the intermission about the noise, with even the ushers being “barracked” about the commotion.
Some theatregoers refused to return to the second half if the baby was admitted again, according to Ms Morgan.
She described the woman as a “bohemian middle-class type”, who seemed to think everyone was “unreasonable” about not permitting her to watch the second half from inside the theatre.
Ms Morgan also accused the woman of being “extraordinarily entitled” and said the behaviour was “a weird arrogance when it was plain she had massively overstepped the mark.”
Other audience members said they had paid £400 for four tickets and made a six-hour trip to watch Sir Kenneth play Prospero in Shakespeare’s renowned tragicomedy, but this was “ruined” by the woman and infant.
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Audience members included former Labour Home Secretary Lord Blunkett.
When asked about the performance, he said: “I said to the person sitting next to me: ‘I’m very tolerant but I’m not sure the baby’s getting anything out of this.’ ”
Sir Kenneth reportedly took the disruption in his stride, giving no indication that he’d heard the noise.
The performance, which sold out in hours, is one of many bouts of bad manners to have rocked the thespian community.
Last month, Rosamund Pike slammed an audience member at a West End performance of Inter Alia after they were caught texting.
Weeks before that, Cynthia Erivo brought her performance of Dracula to a halt when she noticed an audience member filming on her phone.
Dame Imelda Staunton, Andrew Scott, Daniel Craig, and Patti LuPone have also pleaded with audiences to follow theatre etiquette.
The Royal Shakespeare Company permits babies in all performances, but does advised that an adult “may need to watch the show from the screen outside of the auditorium with the baby” if the child is disturbing other audience members.
The company does host “chilled performances” which has a less formal approach to theatre etiquette.
In London’s West end, the majority of shows have strict “no babes-in-arms” policies.
Sir Kenneth’s performance in The Tempest has received rave reviews since its opening night last month.