Woman claims her partner was 'dragged' out of musical for 'putting his hands up'

10 April 2023 , 10:03

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Police were called to the Palace Theatre in Manchester after crowd members were "causing a disturbance"

A woman who claims her partner was dragged out of a Manchester theatre while watching The Bodyguard musical says he was treated "like a piece of meat".

Chaos ensued at Palace Theatre in Oxford Street on Friday night after unruly crowd members were said to have been singing over the cast and causing a disturbance during the show.

The show had to be halted due to what theatre bosses described as "disruptive audience members".

Footage from the night showed a member of the audience shouting over the I Will Always Love You song.

Police were called to the theatre and two women were recorded being dragged out of the upper circle seating area.

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Sarah Werakso was in the audience and claimed her partner Joe was taken out of the theatre after simply raising his hands, the Manchester Evening News reports.

One audience member said members of the force "manhandled" her partner because he was singing (MEN MEDIA)

The 58-year-old from Chorlton said: "Me and my partner went and we sat by an aisle in the stalls, we didn't hear any singing and then they came and dragged some people out from the middle row, don't know what they'd done, there was no singing.

"My partner Joe, we're not singing because obviously they are telling you not to. And then he put his arms in the air, just as a little 'woo hoo' with no voice and the security came over, said to him 'we want a word', took him to this door and I followed him.

"He's 60 years old, there's three of them dragging him and manhandling him up the stairs and I'm shouting 'get off him'. It was three of them dragging him up the stairs like a piece of meat.

"I said I'd paid for drinks for the interval, I showed him the receipt and they said 'that's not happening have a good night'. There were people outside saying what a horrible atmosphere they found it inside.

Signs telling people not to sing were put up in the theatre

"This was only about half an hour into it and honestly we heard no singing, nothing. And then to top it all, the security as they shut the door on people who were outside, they opened the blinds and stuck their finger up at us. It was like being in a prison."

However, the Palace Theatre bosses claimed some customers ruined the performance for others.

A spokesman 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."

The show in Manchester had to be stopped and police called due to a number of disturbances (PA)

According to Sarah, security workers were "marching" around the venue, which made people uncomfortable and she reported the incident to the force.

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She added: "It was like they wanted to provoke aggravation. Literally Joe just put his arms in the air, he wasn't singing and they dragged him out.

"We're not idiots, we're not troublemakers and we'd only had a couple of drinks. We saw no bad behaviour, the bad behaviour came from the security.

"It was very uncomfortable, it felt awful and the atmosphere was horrible. I don't know what happened after we left, but certainly while we were there it was the security who were the aggressors.

"They were walking round like prison guards, and they were almost laughing at people."

A person "screaming" over a song at The Bodyguard musical led to the police being called

A Greater Manchester Police spokesman said the events which unfolded last week are "being reviewed".

Another theatre-goer, Karl Bradley, described the scenes in the theatre as chaotic.

He said people were "screaming" and chanting "out, out, out" as some audience members sang over the performers.

"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," he explained.

"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."

Describing what happened when the show was stopped, he added: "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."

Ashlie Blakey