By Centralsomgaz: The residents of Glastonbury are a hardy bunch, used to sharing their
High Street with fairies, zombies, Goddesses and religious pilgrimage,
barely batting an eyelid at some of the more colourful characters
appearing in the town.
But on Friday afternoon a scuffle between a man and a man dressed
in a penis costume, while a woman dressed as a vagina tried to calm the
situation down was enough to raise a few eyebrows.
Members of the Nomadic Academy of Fools had been performing some street theatre to help promote two of the plays in their Fooling around: Four Days of Plays run at the Assembly Rooms.
But police were called after one man took offence to their costumes and took his frustration out on one of the actors.
Chris Murray, who was wearing the costume said: "He started shouting at me, saying it was disgusting and children could see us.
"I could tell by his body language that he was really angry. I tried to calm him down, I wasn't looking for a fight; but he grabbed my hat, tore it off and chucked it on the pavement."
The theatre group headed back to the Assembly Rooms, but a bystander had called the police, who came to talk to the group.
Joanne Tremarco, who was dressed in costume as female genitalia, told a police officer they did not want to press charges against the man.
"Then he explained that I needed to take the costume off, or I could be arrested," she said.
"They also removed flyers for the plays we were performing - Women who *ank and The Penis Monologues."
The group say they understand how some people might have been offended by their costumes.
"We're trying to highlight the contradiction in society," said Ms Tremarco.
"People were offended by us walking around in costume, but it's nothing you can't see in magazines and newspapers that are often displayed in a child's eye-line. On the whole, the reaction we had was positive from most people."
The group agreed not to do any more street performances, after the officer explained they could be arrested for public order offences.
A spokeswoman for the Assembly Rooms said: "We were deeply surprised by the reaction of the police in this situation.
"This is not the first time these shows have been performed here.
"The plays were very well attended and we experienced no trouble at the venue."
Inspector Mark Nicholson said: "We wouldn't have stopped the play going ahead, but it's not appropriate to have costumes and swear words like that in the streets where young children and other people could see them and be offended."
Source
But on Friday afternoon a scuffle between a man and a man dressed
in a penis costume, while a woman dressed as a vagina tried to calm the
situation down was enough to raise a few eyebrows.Members of the Nomadic Academy of Fools had been performing some street theatre to help promote two of the plays in their Fooling around: Four Days of Plays run at the Assembly Rooms.
But police were called after one man took offence to their costumes and took his frustration out on one of the actors.
Chris Murray, who was wearing the costume said: "He started shouting at me, saying it was disgusting and children could see us.
"I could tell by his body language that he was really angry. I tried to calm him down, I wasn't looking for a fight; but he grabbed my hat, tore it off and chucked it on the pavement."
The theatre group headed back to the Assembly Rooms, but a bystander had called the police, who came to talk to the group.
Joanne Tremarco, who was dressed in costume as female genitalia, told a police officer they did not want to press charges against the man.
"Then he explained that I needed to take the costume off, or I could be arrested," she said.
"They also removed flyers for the plays we were performing - Women who *ank and The Penis Monologues."
The group say they understand how some people might have been offended by their costumes.
"We're trying to highlight the contradiction in society," said Ms Tremarco.
"People were offended by us walking around in costume, but it's nothing you can't see in magazines and newspapers that are often displayed in a child's eye-line. On the whole, the reaction we had was positive from most people."
The group agreed not to do any more street performances, after the officer explained they could be arrested for public order offences.
A spokeswoman for the Assembly Rooms said: "We were deeply surprised by the reaction of the police in this situation.
"This is not the first time these shows have been performed here.
"The plays were very well attended and we experienced no trouble at the venue."
Inspector Mark Nicholson said: "We wouldn't have stopped the play going ahead, but it's not appropriate to have costumes and swear words like that in the streets where young children and other people could see them and be offended."
Source
No comments:
Post a Comment