A woman has claimed three security workers 'dragged' her partner out of the Palace Theatre after he 'waved his arms' during a performance in The Bodyguard musical.
Chaotic scenes unfolded at the Oxford Street theatre on Friday night as the show was halted due to what theatre bosses described as 'disruptive audience members'. People reportedly repeatedly sang over the cast and 'caused a disturbance' - despite producers asking them not to sing and installing signs around the venue.
Video footage captured one audience member 'screaming' over the song I Will Always Love You, while other 'confused and angry' theatre-goers spoke over the music and questioned what was happening. Police were called to the scene and two women were captured on video footage being dragged out of the upper circle of the theatre.
READ MORE: Palace Theatre issues statement on 'disruptive' audience members after Bodyguard show cut short
Bosses at the Palace Theatre said 'disruptive customers refused to stay seated' and 'spoilt the performance for others'. But Sarah Werakso, who was at the show, said security workers inside the venue acted like 'prison guards' and made people in the audience feel 'very uncomfortable'.
In full, the statement, released on Saturday, said: "The performance of The Bodyguard at The Palace Theatre, Manchester was stopped at 9.40pm last night and not continued. We are disappointed that the last 10 minutes of the show needed to be cancelled due to disruptive customers refusing to stay seated and spoiling the performance for others.
"We are grateful to our venue teams for dealing with these difficult circumstances in a professional and calm way, and to Greater Manchester Police for their assistance. Future performances will continue as planned and we ask that customers are considerate towards the cast, fellow audience members and theatre team so that everyone can enjoy the wonderful entertainment on stage."
The 58-year-old, who lives in Chorlton, claimed her partner Joe was asked to leave the theatre around half an hour into the show after he 'put his arms in the air'. She said three security workers 'manhandled' him and 'dragged him up stairs' before they were forced to leave.
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, Sarah said: "Me and my partner went and we sat by an aisle in the stalls, we didn't hear any singing and then they came and dragged some people out from the middle row, don't know what they'd done, there was no singing.
"My partner Joe, we're not singing because obviously they are telling you not to. And then he put his arms in the air, just as a little 'woo hoo' with no voice and the security came over, said to him 'we want a word', took him to this door and I followed him.
"He's 60-years-old, there's three of them dragging him and manhandling him up the stairs and I'm shouting 'get off him'. It was three of them dragging him up the stairs like a piece of meat.
"I said I'd paid for drinks for the interval, I showed him the receipt and they said 'that's not happening have a good night'. There were people outside saying what a horrible atmosphere they found it inside.
"This was only about half an hour into it and honestly we heard no singing, nothing. And then to top it all, the security as they shut the door on people who were outside, they opened the blinds and stuck their finger up at us. It was like being in a prison."
Sarah said security workers 'marched around' the venue which made people feel 'really uncomfortable'. She added: "It was like they wanted to provoke aggravation. Literally Joe just put his arms in the air, he wasn't singing and they dragged him out.
"We're not idiots, we're not troublemakers and we'd only had a couple of drinks. We saw no bad behaviour, the bad behaviour came from the security.
"It was very uncomfortable, it felt awful and the atmosphere was horrible. I don't know what happened after we left, but certainly while we were there it was the security who were the aggressors.
"They were walking round like prison guards, and they were almost laughing at people."
Sarah said she reported the incident to Greater Manchester Police. A force spokesperson said the events that unfolded at the theatre on Friday evening are 'being reviewed'.
Another theatre-goer, Karl Bradley, described the scenes in the theatre as chaotic and said people were 'screaming' and chanting 'out, out, out' as some audience members sang over the performers. He said the chaos started around half an hour into the first act.
He said: "We got about half an hour in and that was when it first all went black on the stage and everyone was a bit confused as to what was going on. I thought it might be the interval and I was thinking surely not so soon in.
"And then it became apparent once there was an announcement and there was a bit of a kerfuffle in the audience, they said they had to hold the show due to audience disruption."
He said the 'screaming' over I Will Always Love You came from the upper tier in the theatre. "It was like people knew what was going to happen and we're sort of counting down to the woman screaming in the upper stalls", he said.
"Once it happened it was laughed about up top, everyone else was a bit more angry and confused about what was going on.
"The stage then just went black again and that's when it really started to kick off on the higher tier, you could really hear screams and audible gasps. Everyone starting standing up and looking over.
"There was chants of 'out, out, out' to get them gone, then once they'd left it was an awkward silence on stage. Even the actors were looking around to see what was actually happening."
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