In the stillness of London’s Harold Pinter Theatre, as David Tennant crouched on stage to deliver a pivotal soliloquy in Macbeth, chaos erupted.
A patron, incensed after being asked to wait before returning to his seat after a loo break, began shouting indignantly from the wings. Demanding immediate access, he disrupted the performance with his cries of, “two hours without a loo break! I paid £250 to see David Tennant in Macbeth and I was really looking forward to it!”
Macbeth chaos
Staff intervened, but the situation escalated when the man shoved security personnel. Frustrated, fellow theatergoers began slow-clapping and chanting “out, out, out!” until he was forcibly removed, booed all the way to the door.
The incident spread rapidly across social media, sparking debates about audience etiquette. One commenter encapsulated the frustration many felt:
Some people just do not know how to behave in public, and at the theatre, they feel they should be able to get up and move around, talk, and even look at their mobiles. They behave as if they are at home.
Others, however, sought to clarify the sequence of events, pointing to a misunderstanding that framed the outburst. Another user explained:
The disgruntled ticket holder caused a furore when he was told he would have to wait to return to his seat after returning from the toilet. He wasn’t refused re-admission completely, just asked to wait for a suitable moment to retake his seat. All this person’s rage was because he couldn’t sit back down immediately – he HAD to wait a few minutes.
This raises a troubling question: How could such a minor inconvenience – a short wait for an appropriate pause in the performance – escalate into such aggression? And why does this kind of behaviour seem to be happening in theatres more frequently?
An epidemic of antisocial audiences – not just at Macbeth
The Macbeth incident is part of a broader trend of escalating audience disruptions. Theatres across the UK have reported an increase in violent, aggressive, and antisocial behaviour since the pandemic.
Earlier this year, a performance of the Bodyguard at Manchester’s Palace Theatre ended in chaos. Audience members, determined to sing over the cast during the final number, sparked a confrontation so intense that the production was stopped and police were called, arriving in riot vans.
Disruptions have ranged from heckling and shouting to physical altercations and even instances of public urination in seats. One front-of-house worker described to the Guardian how, since the beginning of the pandemic, she and her colleagues have faced escalating violence and abuse, breaking up fights and enduring verbal attacks on a weekly basis.
A recent survey by the Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph, and Theatre Union (BECTU) found that 90% of theatre workers had experienced or witnessed unacceptable behavior from audiences, with 70% saying such incidents have worsened since the beginning of pandemic.
What’s driving this rise in impatience, aggression, and disregard for others? The answer may lie in the lingering neurological effects of Covid-19 (coronavirus).
Covid-19 and the brain: an insidious loss of moral reasoning
Initially dismissed as a result of post-lockdown awkwardness or direct sales of alcohol to audiences at theatres, this behavioural shift now appears to have a biological component. Covid-19, widely understood as a respiratory illness early in the pandemic, is now recognised as a vascular disease that affects multiple systems in the body, including the brain.
Even infections whose symptoms appear ‘mild’ can lead to long-term neurological changes, with symptoms such as emotional dysregulation, impulsiveness, and aggression becoming more common.
Neuropsychiatrist Dr. Adam Kaplin of Johns Hopkins University describes a phenomenon he calls “Covid-induced disinhibition,” in which individuals exhibit drastic personality changes after infection.
According to Kaplin, it is not the virus itself but the immune system’s inflammatory response to Covid-19 that can alter brain function, particularly in areas governing impulse control, empathy, and emotional regulation. These changes can manifest as uncharacteristic aggression, a diminished capacity for social norms, and a skewed sense of entitlement.
Covid isn’t just changing how we feel physically, it’s reshaping how we think and act.
A neurological drama
Impatience, like that exhibited by the audience member who refused to wait for an appropriate moment to return to his seat, might seem like a minor issue. But in the context of Covid-19’s neurological impact, it represents something much larger: a fundamental shift in the way we think, process emotions, and interact with the world.
One person’s impatience at a play can be irritating, but in other contexts it can be lethal.
A 2024 study published in Neurology revealed that Covid-19 survivors were 50% more likely to be involved in car accidents compared to those who had never been infected. Researchers compared this increased risk to driving under the influence, linking it to heightened impulsivity and reduced attention spans.
Traffic fatalities in the U.S., which had been steadily declining for decades, have risen sharply since the pandemic. Between 2018 and 2023, speeding-related deaths increased by 21%, while fatalities linked to distracted driving climbed by 16%.
Brain imaging studies have revealed that Covid can thin the gray matter in the frontal and temporal lobes – areas critical to moral reasoning, impulse control, and empathy. Thinning of these areas doesn’t necessarily result in cognitive symptoms or forgetfulness in the early stages. Instead, it often manifests as disinhibition, with individuals exhibiting uncharacteristic impulsivity, poor judgment, or aggressive behaviour that might not seem immediately related to intelligence or memory.
Damage to these regions of the brain can induce what has been called ‘a slow and insidious loss of the capacity for moral rationality’. What begins as disinhibition – minor lapses in patience or self-control – can escalate over time into more sociopathic behaviour, with profound consequences for society at large.
A call for prevention and accountability
This crisis extends beyond theatre etiquette; it is a public health issue. If the whole of society are experiencing cumulative damage to our nervous systems, the consequences for society, even geopolitics, are cause for alarm. Theatre can lead the way, not only with protecting performers, crew, venue staff and audiences, but in modelling how governments and institutions can prevent further damage to the nation’s health and intellectual capital.
Advocacy groups like Protect the Heart of the Arts argue that addressing these disruptions requires tackling their root cause: COVID itself.
Theatres can lead by example by adopting measures that prioritise clean air and accurate on-site testing.
In 2021, the National Theatre in London upgraded their ventilation with HEPA air filtration. In April 2024, this may have allowed performances to continue when Michael Sheen, the lead actor of Nye, fell ill. Instead of the illness spreading to the rest of the cast, Sheen was replaced with understudy Lee Mungo for several performances.
By contrast, David Tennant’s Macbeth was cancelled for four consecutive performances and returned with the support of six understudies. Other venues can follow suit, combining air quality improvements with on-site molecular testing, like PlusLife, that delivers PCR-level accuracy in minutes.
Audience masking, though politically contentious, is a cost-effective measure that could protect both patrons and performers.
But the responsibility extends beyond theatres.
It’s not just Macbeth that’s a tragedy
Governments, institutions, and individuals must recognise Covid’s connection to anti-social behaviour and invest in policies which will curb transmission, including face masks in healthcare settings and on-site molecular testing, such as PlusLife.
If Covid is contributing to the erosion of moral reasoning and impulse control, then preventing further infections isn’t just about health—it’s about preserving the fabric of our social lives.
Theatre has always reflected our individual and collective struggles, and Macbeth itself serves as a cautionary tale about moral decay.
Today, the challenge is to confront the slow erosion of our collective empathy and impulse control, not from ambition, but from infectious disease.
The question cannot be more urgent: if Covid-19 is silently reshaping our brains and behaviours, what kind of society will we become? The answer, as always, lies in our willingness to confront the truth and to act before we find ourselves having lost our grasp on morality – just like the play’s titular character.
Featured image via the Canary
