Irish Stage Actor Rages At Audience Members And He’s Dead Right

James Fenton

Treading the boards in a critically-acclaimed musical is something most people can only dream about. For those that do achieve the honour, it only takes one or two individuals to spoil the moment.

That’s what happened to Wicklow-born actor Niall Sheehy, who is currently starring as Frederick Barrett in Titanic: The Musical over in the U.K. While appearing in Nottingham on Tuesday night, Sheehy and his fellow actors were distracted by two women who were watching the World Cup penalty shoot-out between England and Colombia, which was taking place simultaneously, on one of their phones.

Not only that but the women are also alleged to have shouted “yes!” as each goal went in over in Moscow.

Niall took to Twitter to express his disappointment at the women, calling them ‘the most ignorant audience members I have ever had the misfortune to perform in front of…’

To the two women in the front row tonight who not only followed the penalty shootout on their phone, but also said “yesss” on each goal scored, you are the most ignorant audience members I have ever had the misfortune to perform in front of.

— Niall Sheehy (@niallsheehy) July 3, 2018

Niall also claimed that the women refused to put the phone away when a cast member signalled for them to do so…

And when a cast member signalled “put your phone away” during the bows and you smiled, gave a thumbs up and replied “I know – we won!!”, I think you may have let us all know you are the stupidest woman on the planet. Please avoid attending any future theatrical productions.

— Niall Sheehy (@niallsheehy) July 3, 2018

According to this BBC article, Niall’s fellow actors were also annoyed with some calling for audience members to stay at home if they want to watch the World Cup, which is a completely fair point. Why ruin the viewing experience for other people who have paid for a decent night out as well as the actors themselves? Baffling.

Niall apparently received some abuse for his post but took to Twitter again to thank those who supported his view, saying ‘it’s the rest of the audience that we would like to be able to listen to what they paid to see.’

Thanks for the support (and massive amounts of hate lol).

To be clear; we aren’t telling ourselves this story, so it doesn’t upset US that we can’t concentrate – it’s the rest of the audience that we would like to be able to listen to what they paid to see.

— Niall Sheehy (@niallsheehy) July 5, 2018

Let’s hope the culprits know better next time, if they’re ever let back in.

(header pic: @TitanicOnTour on Twitter)