How audiences are changing

 Toronto Star - Pat, a Toronto theatre front-of-house manager and usher, has confiscated knives, been pushed in the chest by a drunken patron and once had to tell a father that his two-year-old couldn’t walk on the theatre stage during intermission. In the business for more than 20 years, Pat isn’t surprised at the recent incident at the Palace Theatre in Manchester, England, in which two audience members caused a mini riot and were ejected by police after attempting to sing along to the song “I Will Always Love You” during the climactic moments of the musical “The Bodyguard.”

“Since the pandemic, on both sides of the pond, we’re living in a sort of alcohol crisis,” said Pat. “It’s often middle-aged women who are probably under a lot of stress, and when they come for these nights out, they drink and drink and drink [before the show]. We have had to call ambulances for people who have got themselves too drunk at a show.”