There is nothing wrong in principle with protesting at the opera. I’ve very occasionally booed shows I hated, and I want to be free to do so again if I choose.
Why..? You've a column in the 'Guardian' to rip it to shreds the next morning, why ruin everyone else's enjoyment?
Booing and whistling at the opera or theatre can sometimes be healthy and necessary protest.
Really? I'm not an opera goer, so it never even crossed my mind that this might be a thing. I've been to theatre performances I thought were rubbish, but I just left before the end...
What happened at Covent Garden on Tuesday evening, however, wasn’t booing but heckling.
Oh, really? Trust a 'Guardian' writer to be able to draw a distinction...
The target was Malakai M Bayoh, a 12-year-old boy soprano...
That's not the most stand-out thing, though, is it, Martin?
I’d add for the record that, as far as I could tell, the heckling was not racist (Bayoh is a black boy from south London), although it may have been.
Maybe the chap should be given his own column in the paper to tell us why he did it?
But there is a wider issue to consider here. Expressing one’s dissent against a production or a performance is often unattractive and sometimes (as here) unmerited. But it can have its place. Not always, but sometimes. It’s a tricky line to draw and to police. But I hope theatres do not start making it a requirement of attendance not to boo or protest, let alone make booing punishable by a lifetime ban.
"If I do it, it's necessary and needful. If you do it, it's wrong!" That ought to be the 'Guardian's' new strapline.
What a boorish thing to do. Who knows what effect this moron's actions will have on the confidence of this (black) child (racial hatred or child abuse?).
ReplyDeleteWhy weren't opera goers protesting outside the Guardian's offices, glueing the locks, throwing tomato soup all over the reception area, or spraying it orange? You know, something the tunnel visioned Lefties could identify with.
Penseivat