Is no-WC un-PC at the Royal Court???

The Royal Court Theatre, famed for its shocking and politically provocative taste in new writing, got a taste of its own medicine on Friday night, audience members report to Whatsonstage.com this morning. During a preview of the Court Upstairs' current play, Christopher Shinn's Where Do We Live, a disgruntled punter took to the stage in a literally show-stopping moment. The man - offended by an usher's insistence that, if he left the auditorium to use the toilet, he could not return - drove the actors offstage and then began to shout abuse down at the stalls. When threatened with the police, he beseeched director Richard Wilson for justice. Ten minutes later, during which time the man ranted at the audience calling them racist, he was hauled out by four men (security and audience) and the play resumed. The incident seems particularly poignant that Shinn's play is an exploration of social conscience, community awareness and neighbourliness. Though both company and audience were visibly shaken, the actors coped admirably well, this being the second disturbance of the evening after an earlier fire alarm held the curtain.

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