Thsh Reviews 

Great singing and dancing and cast,music amazing,why i stopped at 4 was because a child sitting next to me was allowed to keep his phone on distracting from the flashing screen not looking at the performance, children under 16 accompanied by a adult should not be allowed the phone on during a performance as its very distracting
Normally it's announced please turn your phone off it wasn't, im disabled and found it most annoying in future please say turn off your phones and also no ohotis allowed no announcement very poor,staff running around yelling people not to take photos,get others could and did,if a announcement had been made even in the second half after the interval it might off helped otherwise I'd off given it high 5,staff very helpful,fairy tale in new york excellent, Christmas and Irish music together

The reason I’m opting to post this both here, on Dis-Access and with Nev Garratt is because I think it’s critical to raise awareness among our wider community when public/consumer institutions or services fail to deliver on basic areas of care and consideration when it comes to those of us who have disabilities or impairments.

Whilst Disabled legislation in these areas of public or business management generally takes care of itself (of course we still need a senior Ombudsman or under-minister, but that’s for another blog!), unfortunately, from time to time one still encounters institutions or businesses that don’t seem to be on board or have not moved with the times.

My negative experience last night was at Birmingham Symphony Hall during a concert performance by 1980’s band ABC - fronted by the debonair Martin Fry – who would take to the stage backed by a full band and an orchestra.

Now, as is normal for us (myself and Rachael) when attending all-seated events, we opted to purchase premium front-row tickets, due to my impaired sight and mobility, and also for the opportunity to meet Mr. Fry, a personal favourite of mine some 35-odd years ago(!).

After the VIP meet-and-greet/Photo-opportunity, the concert began in earnest, and for the next hour or so everything was very enjoyable and pleasant as one would expect. We found the sound in the venue, in fact, to be rather exceptional and lush.

Following the mid-set interval, things began to change for the worse, however; there were a number of people who’d vacated their seats in rows behind us and started to dance or mill about in-between aisles and the narrow access channel between us and the raised stage.

Having paid over £100 (each) for the privilege of an unobstructed front-row view, I became rather aggravated by those people repeatedly wandering or dancing back and forth in front of me, particularly as the security guard who was standing just ten feet away didn’t appear to be interested at all in sorting out the problem. I noted at that point he was the very same security guard who’d been standing around when we went backstage earlier, as I’d recalled he’d been talking rather loudly to his colleague saying something derogatory about ‘diabetics’ that I’d taken a momentary exception to.

During this period, two blatantly inebriated middle-aged women decided to park themselves right in front of us, blocking our view entirely. I asked them politely to move but they continued to jiggle around and basically ignore me for the most part. Then a boy (wearing an England football shirt…) also arrived – from about ten rows back – and began to film using his camera.
At this point I spotted that the security guard had moved from his exit-doorway post and was talking to a man in the row behind us who’d been taking photos using a long-lens camera. As he passed me, I asked the security guard if he would tell the people standing/dancing/filming in front of us to move back to their seats.

This ‘security guard’ responded by shrugging his shoulders and telling me if I want to speak to him, I should follow him across the front-row aisle to his doorway post to do so. I explained then that I was sight and mobility impaired (displaying my disabled lanyard card for his benefit) but nevertheless was forced to accede as he’d already walked away from me by then.

Whilst getting up from my seat and crossing the front-row aisle, one of the two inebriated ‘dancing’ women bumped into me and in the process spilled part of the contents of her mini-bottle of wine over me and a plastic bag (containing £90 of concert merchandise I’d purchased) that was in front of my seat. As I began to ask the security guard why he’d ignored my request to manage the situation, he appeared to be quite agitated and defensive for some reason, his attitude towards me becoming rather obnoxious and rude in the process.

Now those who know or get to meet me know that it takes quite a lot of provocation to get me riled (46 years of surmounting life-limiting health issues can have its benefits!) and also being a consummate pro, I don’t really see any value in ‘throwing one’s weight around’ in situations that are basically beyond one’s control anyway.

That said, to be verbally berated and talked to like some punk, for nothing more than asking a security guard to do his job properly is generally going to instigate a terse response from me. I told the guy in no uncertain terms that he should either sort out the problem or radio someone else to do so, but it was very clear that he was more concerned in shouting at me to get back in my seat and leave him be. I asked for his name at that moment, leaning in as if to read the name on his lanyard pass (a bluff, since my eyesight is far too limited to have read it anyway!); he then covered it up with his hand, telling me that it was ‘none of my business’ and that ‘I didn’t need to know’.

So, regrettably then, I’m not able to share this guy’s name with you, but what I can say is that he was 5’9”, around 25-30 years old, had unkempt, short ginger hair, wore glasses and – oh yes, had a huge silver ring-piercing through the middle of his nose.

As the final twenty-minutes of the concert (which I couldn’t really watch since I was too busy being impeded by drunk, dancing women and running around after that lazy, ignorant ‘security guard’) fairly passed us by, this inevitably soured what had been an enjoyable start to an evening out – but I must add that after exiting the hall, there were at least three other couples complaining to the SH steward about the very same incidents that I’ve detailed here.

We were all given the obligatory (email) complaint address and ushered away without so much as a proper apology, but this was our first trip to Birmingham Symphony Hall, and so I’d like to afford them the benefit of the doubt in the hope that these occurrences were fairly atypical.

By most accounts Birmingham Symphony Hall would appear to be a decent concert venue, and certainly not the type of establishment that you’d necessarily associate with either promoting or harbouring any degree of thug behaviour or disabled-intolerance – especially from it’s own security team.

Looks like we’ll just have to see what transpires next April when we return to see Adam Ant play a set of his greatest hits, but until that time – Must Do Better, Birmingham Symphony Hall.”