Drunken Theatre VIP Shut-Down 'Othello' Performance Amid Chaotic Scenes

"Very Angry": Mike Fox

An all-female theatre performance of ‘Othello’ was cut short amid chaotic scenes after a cast mutiny against a VIP guest, who then shoved one actress into the front row of seats, a court heard.

The drunken disruptive behaviour of creative arts schoolteacher Mike Fox, 56, who continually disturbed the performance, resulted in a shout of: “Stop the show. Call the police.”  

The part-time theatre producer was invited to attend the London Theatre production in New Cross, which he planned to take to the south coast until causing the dramatic shut down.

He told Bexley Magistrates Court the cast formed a human barricade to block his return to his seat and the performer playing Othello gave his wife the “middle finger” during the fracas.

Fox, of Beechfield Road, Bromley - a graduate in Arts & Entertainment - was convicted yesterday of assaulting Jo Sharifi, who was playing Cypriot governor ‘Montano’ at the October 20 performance last year.

The trial heard Fox, a well-known performer and writer on the fringe scene, dodged past the actors who tried to block him as he continued to try watching the play.

The cast wanted theatre owner and director Harry Denford to throw his guest out for his disruptive behaviour and Ms Sharifi said: “He’s trying to get him to leave and he’s not leaving.

“They started jostling and had a hold of each other and Mike said: ‘Do you want to fight Harry?’

"Immediate Pain": Jo Sharifi

“I felt a hand come onto my waist to move me out of the way, it was Mike’s hand and I said: ‘Get your hands off me.’

“I called out: ‘Stop the show. Call the police’ and Mr. Fox’s wife goes onto the stage and there is shouting between her, the audience and the cast members.

“I was apologising to the audience when I felt a big push with two hands behind me. I lost my balance and fell onto three empty front row chairs.

“They were metal chairs and really painful. My knees hit the metal in between them and there was immediate pain. I started crying and said: ‘He pushed me.’

“Everyone in the theatre was shouting: ‘Oh my God, you pushed her’ and he replied: ‘I didn’t push her, she fell.’

“I felt shocked and burst into tears, I was tense and for the following weeks felt very vulnerable,” an emotional and tearful Ms Sharifi told the trial.

Actress Isaura Barbe-Brown - who played ‘Othello’ - said: “He was shifting around and making too much noise, getting up a lot and getting in the way.

“When he was asked to get out of the way for the actors to get on and off the stage he was quite rude.”

The ‘Fantastic Beasts’ star didn’t recall giving Cheryl Fox the “middle finger,” but said: “There was a lot of arguing and yelling from her.

“I was being yelled at and sworn at quite a lot and told them they should leave if they were in that mood and that the police had been called, but they did not want to.”

PC Anwar Khan described Mr. Fox as “hostile and aggressive” and clearly drunk, slurring his speech and smelling of alcohol. “He was getting very angry for very little reason.”

'Othello': Isaure Barbe-Brown

Fox told the court he only had a small glass of wine before the play, which he described as “inordinately long” and left the first time when Mr. Denford incorrectly accused him of filming.

He then left for the toilet. “I felt I needed to go. I tried to hold on, but unfortunately wasn’t going to make it so I nipped through the curtain.

“When I returned I was immediately blockaded by four or five people. My heart raced for a moment because I thought they were people from the street.

“It was members of the cast trying to block me and when I stepped sideways I was grabbed. I said: ‘This is ridiculous. What’s going on?’

“I saw an opening and nipped back to my seat when somebody threw the curtain open with great gusto and the house lights came up immediately, full blast, and everyone was wincing.

“I was getting shouted at and assailed on all sides by hostile people saying: ‘You’ve ruined the play; You stupid idiot,’ and various swear words were going back and forth.

“I was mortified they had stopped the play and had no reason they had taken against me. I’d gone to my friend’s theatre and was being blamed.

“I did not know what was going to kick off when somebody lunged towards me and I instinctively put my hands up and they fell over these chairs.

“She jumped back up and was in my face, shouting at me.”

His wife Cheryl Fox said: “There was chaos everywhere, everyone was up. The cast seemed very aggrieved and were angry about something.

"There Was Chaos Everywhere": Cheryl Fox

“They were surrounding Mike like a mob, I was scared for Mike. They kept saying: ‘This is your fault. You’ve ruined our play.’

“It was an intimidating situation and utterly confusing. The woman who played Othello was quite aggressive and was pointing at my face and gave me a one-fingered gesture.”

Fox produced ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ with Harry for Bromley’s ‘Shakespeare in the Park’ last year, which he told the court was attended by the local mayor and MP.

“We have also put on some theatre and comedy shows together. I am a producer, writer and composer,” he said.

He is an events organiser at London’s ‘Fat Jesters’ comedy club and has taken shows to the Edinburgh Festival and other fringe projects.

Fox’s credits include bit parts in EastEnders and Casualty, plus work with the BBC News and BBC Radio One.

He and wife Cheryl did not have to pay and were also given a complimentary bottle of wine by Harry before the show, but say they did not drink it, having visited a local pub beforehand.

“We’d had a few drinks. I still knew what I was doing and was quite coherent,” he said. 

Fox was sentenced to a 12-month community order, which includes 50 hours community service work must pay £200 compensation to Ms Sharifi, plus £215 costs and an £85 victim surcharge.