A matinee of The Tempest starring Kenneth Branagh was thrown off course at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Stratford-upon-Avon theatre when a baby’s gurgling and cooing carried through the entire first half. Some audience members left annoyed enough to ask for refunds, and the mother and baby were reportedly told not to come back for the second part.
The complaint landed at a moment when Branagh’s return to the RSC carried its own weight. The production marked his first appearance with the company in 30 years, and tickets that cost up to £112 sold out within hours last year, turning the performance into one of the theatre’s most in-demand nights.
Sian Morgan, who was in the audience, said the noise never let up. She described a young woman with a baby who “mithered all the way through the first act,” adding that there was no actual screaming or crying, only “gurgling and cooing and chirping very loudly throughout.” By the end, she said, people were audibly tutting and turning around to show their displeasure.
Morgan said the atmosphere grew harder to bear as the matinee wore on. “Theatre audiences generally are very tolerant and progressive,” she said, “but it was ruining it for everyone as it made it so hard to concentrate.” She added that it was extraordinary the mother seemed unable to read the room and take the baby outside when it began making noise.
The RSC’s own guidance allows babes-in-arms into all performances, but says an adult may need to watch from the screen outside the auditorium if a child is disturbing others. It also encourages parents to choose a chilled performance, a reminder that the company does have a framework for exactly this kind of problem even if the afternoon audience felt it had not been used.
David Blunkett was among those in the house, and he too was left weighing patience against practicality. “I’m very tolerant but I’m not sure the baby’s getting anything out of this,” he told the person beside him. The dispute came just after Rosamund Pike had called out an audience member for texting during a pivotal scene in Inter Alia, a sign that theatre etiquette is already under sharper scrutiny than usual.
What remains unclear is whether the mother and baby watched the second half from outside on the monitor or left the venue altogether. What is clear is that a sold-out RSC matinee, priced at a premium and built around Branagh’s long-awaited return, was the kind of event where even a baby’s soft noises could trigger a public backlash.
