Royal Opera House bans audience member for heckling child actor

The Royal Opera House has banned an audience member for life for booing and heckling a 12-year-old actor during a production of Handel's opera Alcina.

Malakai M Bayoh was met with cries of "Rubbish!" while singing his lines, on Tuesday, opening night, in London.

Onlookers shushed the heckler, who left soon after, and loudly applauded Bayoh.

The ROH said it was "appalled" at the outburst and praised the classically trained youngster for his well reviewed portrayal of Oberto.

In a statement shared with BBC News, a spokesman said: "Malakai is astonishingly talented, bringing great acting and beautiful singing to the role - a huge accomplishment for such a young singer.

"Unfortunately, the opening night of Alcina featured an audience member who disrupted the show and Malakai's excellent performance.

"We are appalled that a member of the audience behaved in this way and our support is with Malakai and the cast and creative team of Alcina.

"Steps have been taken to ensure the audience member in question does not return to the Royal Opera House."

Financial Times associate arts editor Josh Spero broke the news, tweeting the "nastiest thing happened" at the production.

"A 12-year-old boy was sweetly singing his lines when a man in the audience yelled, 'Rubbish!' and booed him," he wrote.

"Who would do that to a child?

"Once the boy was done, the audience responded with wild applause and cheering."

Rebecca Franks, of the Times, reported "vile behaviour from one audience member at Alcina at the Royal Opera House".

"He booed and heckled the young boy singing (in a lovely way) Oberto," she posted.

"Thankfully, the rest of the audience drowned the heckler out with extra-loud, heartfelt applause. But, seriously, who boos a child?"

Others soon shared this disdain online, with one tweeting: "Paying for a ticket doesn't give people the right to act however they want."

Bayoh, who trained at the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School, features alongside Lisette Oropesa, Emily D'Angelo, Mary Bevan, Varduhi Abrahamyan and Rupert Charlesworth in Richard Jones's production of Handel's fantastical 1735 opera seria.

He was praised by critics for his excellent performance under difficult circumstances.

In a four-star review for the Guardian, Martin Kettle wrote: "Jones's dramatically poignant choice of a child alto (here a reedy Malakhai Bayoh) to sing the lost boy Oberto caused barracking from one single person that was quickly - and rightly - drowned in cheers from everyone else."

The Telegraph's Nicholas Kenyon also gave four stars, referring to a "shameful heckle" while noting Bayoh "received a huge ovation".

"The evil spirit of Handel's enchantress Alcina evidently infected one audience member at Tuesday's premiere of this new production," he wrote.

"The young Malakai M Bayoh, making his debut in the role of the boy Oberto, was shamefully heckled in the middle of an aria that he was singing skilfully and exuberantly."