Men thrown out of top West End theatre after brawl

By Davina Hyde

A brawl broke out at a top West End theatre when several men were ejected from the audience after shouting and hurling insults at people around them.

Rodney was not the only person being called a “plonker” at the five smash hit musical, Only Fools and Horses, at London’s Theatre Royal, Haymarket on Tuesday of last week.

The men were seen drinking in the theatre bar before sitting down in the stalls, and then heard being rude to a number of women in the audience.

One mum in the audience who was sitting in front of them said: “That was absolutely disgusting”.

Another audience member said that a couple of people sitting near the seven men left the show to complain about their behaviour, and the men were given a couple of warnings.

However, they refused to go, and security surrounded them, and the audience started booing at them and shouting “leave, leave” in scenes that would have made even Del Boy stop in his tracks.

The curtain came down, and the men were turfed out, although it was possible to hear them still shouting a long time afterwards in the foyer, it is thought until the police removed them.

A few minutes later the curtain went up, and the show continued with the audience cheering and clapping their support.

Written by comedian Paul Whitehouse and Jim Sullivan, son of the late and original creator of the show, John Sullivan, the musical features the adventures of the Trotters of Peckham, but perhaps none quite so surprising as the brawl that took place there on Tuesday night.

The police and theatre were contacted for a comment but neither have been able to respond.

Pictured top: Paul Whitehouse (centre) as Grandad with members of the cast and crew of Only Fools and Horses The Musical outside the Theatre Royal, Haymarket in London (Picture: PA)