It’s a Funny Old World 3

“This may be a consequence of me being American,” explained Bristol University’s Dr. David Glowacki, a Royal Society Research Fellow, “but I can quite easily be provocative without the need to be inebriated.” He had, as reported by the Irish Independent, attempted to crowd surf during a performance of Handel’s Messiah.

Before the performance, Mr Morris [Tom Morris, artistic director of the Bristol Old Vic] invited the audience to bring their drinks into the standing area in front of the stage and instructed them: “Clap or whoop when you like, and no shushing other people.”

But Dr Glowacki, a Royal Society Research Fellow, was so overcome during the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ he began lurching from side to side with his hands raised and whooping before attempting to crowd-surf, witnesses claimed.

Irritated by the distraction, audience members proceeded to physically eject the Bristol University academic from the area, in what Mr Morris claims is the first such incident at a classical concert since the 18th century.

It was, of course, someone else’s fault for not being as free as he was. “Classical music, trying to seem cool and less stuffy, reeks of some sort of fossilised art form undergoing a midlife crisis,” he said, complaining that he’d been assaulted, knocked down, and “forcibly dragged out by two classical vigilantes.”

“Neither the bourgeoisie audience nor their curators (eg Tom Morris) really believe what they say. You’re free to behave as you like, and it’s comforting to think that you have that freedom, but it’s only available to you so long as you behave correctly.”