Fight at the Opera! American tourists at the Proms spark row after munching on noisy snacks including popcorn during Royal Albert Hall performance
- The argument broke out during a Dialogues des Carmélites performance
A row broke out at the Proms after a man was ‘unbelievably abusive’ towards American tourists eating popcorn during a performance, according to witnesses.
The altercation happened during a performance of Dialogues des Carmélites by Francis Poulenc at the Royal Albert Hall on Monday, after a man allegedly began kicking the chair of tourists eating ‘noisy’ and ‘smelly’ popcorn.
Jessica Duchen, a classical music critic and novelist, told The Times: ‘At the end of the row was a pair of American tourists who were munching on popcorn.
‘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 American tourists and the man were moved away from each other during the interval, according to the venue.
The altercation happened during a performance of Dialogues des Carmélites by Francis Poulenc at the Royal Albert Hall (pictured)
One concert-goer wrote on Facebook: ‘WTF is the Royal Albert Hall doing selling POPCORN during the Proms? Involved in a near fight at one tonight. Ruined the first half of a superlative evening.’
The Royal Albert Hall has sold popcorn since 2014, and it claims this has been done ‘without protest’.
But Ms Duchen wrote on Twitter: ‘Please, please, please stop selling popcorn. It’s noisy, smelly, intrusive and completely inappropriate at a concert and it causes big fights in the audience, ruining the evening for all around. Not what you want in Dialogues des Carnélites.’
The Royal Albert Hall was approached for comment.
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