Coughing at opera: should management intervene?

The cougher should have gone to la boheme where she'd have fitted right into the narrative and enhanced the atmosphere of the production.

Totally sympathise, and this is exacerbated by the fact that opera is generally very expensive; for me it's an occasional treat that I really look forward to. One time I've spent a fortune (by my standards) on a front stalls ticket only to have a woman behind me cough constantly which really ruined it. I was very young and quite poor and I'd really saved up hard, so it upset me to the point of being heartbroken. I'd have really welcomed an usher intervening and suggesting that they were too ill to be there, but you always risk negative headlines by doing something like that, of course.

It's a tough one as the others say. Certainly in this instance I'd have expected/would have as FOH approached the person and asked if they were ok, could we get them some water/something to help as they were clearly having difficulties. However FOH couldn't directly ask the person to leave- it IS a fine line because if someone was say, drunk and causing a disturbance the House Manager could/would remove them. But while I sympathise that the disturbance is the same, it's a bit more difficult when it's a person coughing, and that patron is in a wheelchair...you can just see the headlines already.

I'd say the conductor could have gone 'over the head' of the ushers etc and asked for the person to be removed,but of course the above difficulties still stand.

I started this thread with the following post:

'I have just sent this message to ATG, who run the Theatre Royal in Glasgow:


"I attended the performance of La Traviata on November 28.

This was married by the persistent coughing of a woman in a wheelchair in the stall. These were huge racking coughs that went on and on throughout the performance. The conductor was infuriated: after one aria he shouted "Be quiet" and in one interval he told people in the front stalls to track down the offender and tell them to leave.

I am not saying that people should be excluded for an occasional cough. But this coughing was so loud and persistent, so racking and reverberating, that it seriously marred other people's enjoyment. There should have been management intervention to require her to leave. I hope the fact that she was in a wheelchair was not the reason for non-intervention: all credit to theatres that facilitate visits by people in wheelchairs, but disabled people have no right to ruin the enjoyment of others.

I stress: this was not an isolated throat-clearing. The coughing was a sort of ongoing obbligato." '

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I have now received a reply from the manager:

'My apologies for taking a while to reply to your email.

I am sorry that your enjoyment of La Traviata was impaired by the coughing of another audience member. During the pause in act one I spoke to the lady concerned to see if there was anything that I could do to make her feel more comfortable and to hopefully alleviate her coughing. The lady concerned explained to me that she has a medical condition which compromises her respiratory system. She also informed me that she had her own medical supplies with her and that there was nothing that I could give her which would help to reduce the instances or volume of her coughing. Unfortunately given her medical condition if I had asked her to vacate the auditorium this would be deemed as a discriminatory act and, from unfortunate experience, I am aware that this could have left the theatre vulnerable to prosecution.

I am sorry that there was not more that we could have done on the night however I hope that you appreciate the rationale for the decision that was taken.'

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I have responded as follows:

'Thank you for your reply.

I can see that you were in a very difficult position, because while I doubt that, at the end of the day, disability legislation requires accommodation of disabled people whose condition entails a significant disruption of the performance for the rest of the audience, disputes are time-consuming and wearing. What a shame the woman at La Traviata did not have a stronger sense of social responsibility. It is often stressed to us that disabled people are to be treated, not in a ‘Does he take sugar?’ way, but as fully-fledged persons in their own right; but that goes with taking on the normal responsibilities to be considerate.

I am considering booking for Eugene Onegin, but I do find myself very apprehensive about the investment of £40 or £50 in case she exercises again what she seems to regard as her right to be disruptive.'

I agree - it's a really difficult balance between keeping peace on the night/ensuring everyone has as good an experience as possible, but also avoiding future fallout. He's right that kicking her out could have had comeback in terms of discrimination etc so his hands are tied there. Obviously he also couldn't go around loudly apologizing to everyone else for the same reasons!

I do think there is an element of personal social responsibility to be had. We could give the lady the benefit of the doubt and say it turned out to be a worse day than others coughing wise and she thought it wouldn't be disruptive. On the other it may not...obviously without psychic powers it's hard to know!