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ARTS

Proms performances interrupted by rows over noisy snacks

One audience member started kicking a woman’s chair because she was audibly eating popcorn

High passion, shrill voices and hints of violence are expected during a night at the opera, but usually only on stage.

However, they were also on display among the audience at the Royal Albert Hall this week as Proms ticketholders clashed volubly over popcorn.

While the singers in a production of Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmélites prepared to act out the beheading of 16 nuns on Monday night, a portion of the audience became distracted by an altercation over noisy snacks.

A man described as resembling “a posh Jean Paul Gaultier” began kicking the seat in front of him and made aggressive remarks in one of several popcorn-related incidents this Proms season.

Although the hall’s bars have been selling popcorn during the Proms since 2014, regular visitors have noticed more and more people taking it into the auditorium. The snack is now presented in large glass containers in the foyers.

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Jessica Duchen, classical music critic and novelist, said that Monday night’s drama took place during a moment of on-stage passion in the semi-staged production by the Glyndebourne Festival Opera.

“At the end of the row was a pair of American tourists who were munching on popcorn,” Duchen said. “I couldn’t hear or smell it but behind them was a guy who was unbelievably abusive to them. We thought he might pull a knife on them.

The row on Monday took place during a performance of Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmélites
The row on Monday took place during a performance of Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmélites
SISI BURN

“My friend turned round and gave him a dirty look and at the interval he laid into her.”

She said that it was her second encounter over popcorn etiquette after the First Night of the Proms in July, when she politely asked the person sitting next to her to stop eating, which she did.

“I think that popcorn does encourage people to behave as if they were in a cinema.

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“The tourists said they’d never been to an opera before and they thought it was OK because it was on sale in the foyer. They were really upset by the aggressive man.”

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Both the American couple and the complaining man were moved during the interval to sit away from one another.

Henrietta Foster, a film-maker and former Newsnight producer who was sitting next to Duchen, recalled the man raising his voice.

“He started shouting at the moment when the old abbess is dying — at precisely the most dramatic moment. He was an odd guy in his fifties looking like a posh version of Jean Paul Gaultier.

“He started shouting at the [people in the] box behind for talking and then he started shouting at this American couple, who say they’ve never been to an opera before.

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“This guy starts kicking the woman’s chair. Her husband got quite upset.

“I turned round and gave him my best axe-murderer’s stare and he looked like he wanted to kill me. He then starts calling me ‘Miss Vinegar’.”

Royal Albert Hall in London, England in the late afternoon
The Royal Albert Hall has been selling popcorn and other snacks since 2014
GODRICK/GETTY IMAGES

Foster said that the hall should discourage visitors from eating noisy snacks. “It’s very simple. Why sell popcorn?”

Foster said that in previous years she had seen people bring in ice cream. “They do bring their drinks in now more than they used to. Popcorn is not quiet — shovelling your hands in. It’s also smelly, disgusting. I’m not being snobbish about it.”

She said that she understood why the hall would serve popcorn at events such as Cirque du Soleil productions but it gave the wrong impression for newcomers to the Proms who were not accustomed to classical music etiquette.

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“I have been to several Proms events this year and each time there have been people walking in with popcorn and there have been various fights and skirmishes.

“I remember going to my first opera at Covent Garden at 14 and I had a bracelet with two charms. I remember a man bawling me out. Luckily my music teacher happened to be behind me and said: ‘How dare you speak to her like this?’

“I think lockdown has made audiences worse because people don’t have the continued experience of going to concerts.”

James Ainscough, chief executive of the Royal Albert Hall, declined to stop selling the snack but said that staff would monitor the situation.

“We’ve sold small packets of popcorn, along with crisps and sweets, in our bars since 2014 without protest,” he said. “There were some words exchanged between two audience members at a Prom on Monday, and both parties then asked to move seats, which was arranged, but the incident seems to have been blown out of proportion on social media.

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“Different people enjoy different shows in different ways, so we always hope audience members will be considerate of those around them and polite when they speak to each other. We will continue to monitor the situation as we want everyone to enjoy this amazing Proms season to the utmost.”

Audience members said the fight took place during the most dramatic moment of the opera
Audience members said the fight took place during the most dramatic moment of the opera
SISI BURN

Duchen called for a popcorn ban to “stop creating this poisonous atmosphere”.

“I’m not really in favour of bringing stuff to eat to something where people pay quite a lot of money to go into a performance to hear something. I think it’s incredibly disrespectful to the performers to go on crunching and munching through it. And you’re stopping other people from enjoying their evenings.”

Rebecca Franks, classical music critic for The Times, said that classical music fans were notably intolerant of distractions.

She recalled an ill-tempered argument at the Barbican this year arising from a clash over filming during a concert.

“I was surprised how heated it was. A young couple were chatting to each other during the concert and filming on their phone, and someone behind them got very disgruntled.

“He told them off and sort of shoved one of them on the shoulder. After the interval the couple and disgruntled concertgoer got into an argument — and yet another audience member joined in, loudly, saying the couple’s behaviour wasn’t acceptable.

“In the end the pair left, almost derailing the performers, who entered playing their instruments from the back of the hall and had no idea this argument was going on.”

She added that music critics were not immune from intolerance.

“I’ve personally been told off for writing too loudly at a song recital before,” she said.

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