Royal Opera House gives lifetime ban to heckler who yelled at child actor

A man who shouted “rubbish” and booed a child actor at a performance of Handel’s opera Alcina, was handed a lifetime ban.

12-year-old Malakai M Bayoh was singing at the opening night on Tuesday 8 November when his performance was marred by the disruptive audience member, who started yelling at him.

Several people in the shocked audience asked the man to keep quiet. The heckler is believed to have left the opera in Act 2.

In support of Mr Bayoh, the audience loudly cheered and applauded the 12-year old.

Some opera lovers were appalled by the behaviour, with one posting on Twitter: "A 12-year-old boy was sweetly singing his lines when a man in the audience yelled, ‘Rubbish!’ and booed him," he tweeted.

"Who would do that to a child?

"Once the boy was done, the audience responded with wild applause and cheering."

Another tweet condemned the actions of the heckler. “Vile behaviour from one audience member at Alcina at the Royal Opera House. He booed and heckled the young boy singing (in a lovely way) Oberto.

“Thankfully, the rest of the audience drowned the heckler out with extra-loud, heartfelt applause. But, seriously, who boos a child?!”

The Royal Opera House released a statement saying: "We would like to congratulate Malakai M Bayoh for his stellar performance as Oberto in our first night of Alcina. Malakai is astonishingly talented – bringing great acting and beautiful singing to the role - a huge accomplishment for such a young singer.

"Unfortunately, the opening night of Alcina featured an audience member who disrupted the show and Malakai’s excellent performance. We are appalled that a member of the audience behaved in this way and our support is with Malakai and the cast and creative team of Alcina. Steps have been taken to ensure the audience member in question does not return to the Royal Opera House."

Malakai M Bayoh is a pupil at Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School in West London. The story of Handel’s opera, centres around Oberto, a young boy who is searching for, and is reunited, with his father, Astolfo, who had mysteriously vanished.