London's Royal Opera House has banned a man for heckling a 12-year-old actor performing in Handel's Alcina. On opening night this week, the child actor, Malakai M Bayoh, was singing when the man apparently yelled "Rubbish!" and began to boo.
After Bayoh completed his song, the audience cheered wildly and drowned out the heckler.
From The Guardian:
The Guardian's Martin Kettle said the choice of Bayoh "caused barracking from one single person that was quickly – and rightly – drowned in cheers from everyone else", while the Financial Times associate arts editor Josh Spero called the incident the "nastiest thing".
"A 12-year-old boy was sweetly singing his lines when a man in the audience yelled, 'Rubbish!' and booed him," he tweeted.
"Who would do that to a child?
A jackass, that's who.
The following day, the Royal Opera House tweeted that they "are appalled that a member of the audience behaved in this way and steps have been taken to ensure the audience member in question does not return to the Royal Opera House."
