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Theatregoer Walks Out Mid-Play And Demands Refund Due To 'Yorkshire Accents'

Theatregoer Walks Out Mid-Play And Demands Refund Due To 'Yorkshire Accents'

The Theatre company advertised that the show had 'bold, accessible and unapologetic Northern voices'

People have mocked a theatregoer for making one of the most 'ridiculous complaints' ever by demanding a refund because the actors of a Shakespearean play had 'Yorkshire accents'.

York Theatre Royal was home to a showing of William Shakespeare's comedy 'As You Like It' last week.

Based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, the company has been performing on stages across the country for 30 years, yet claim they have never before come across a complaint about their accents.

Kennedy News and Media

Northern Broadsides marketing and communications manager Jess Rooney said: "It's made us all chuckle - I'll be honest.

"I'm not sure who the complaint applied to specifically but pretty much all of the actors have a Northern accent. They don't hide them.

"Our whole selling point and what we do differently is Shakespeare in northern voices.

"We were just quite bemused by it at first. We've been working on platforming northern voices on stage for the last 30 years.

"In my time, I've never seen this complaint."

The production, which states it is performed by '12 Northern actors' on its posters, ran from Wednesday, March 23 to Saturday, March 26 - with theatre critic Mark Fisher describing one performer's accent as 'gorgeous'.

Kennedy News and Media

Despite the company's charm being their Northern accents, one theatregoer felt so strongly about it, that she filed a complaint and walked out of the showing.

Jess added: "A lot of our actors are from Manchester. Bailey trained at Manchester School of Theatre, Isabel is from Lancaster, Shaban is from Manchester, Gemma is from Leeds, Terri is from Manchester. We've got someone from the Wirral and someone from Hull.

"We have it on the York Theatre Royal website. On all our posters and flyers it says 'performed by 12 Northern actors'. It's everywhere, basically.

Kennedy News and Media

"I think they were expecting a more traditional approach to the text, maybe. It's done us a world of good this complaint."

York Theatre Royal chief executive Tom Bird confirmed they had received a complaint and reassured followers the complainant had 'no chance' of a refund.

Bird said: "We've got a complaint this morning @YorkTheatre from someone who left after an hour of @NBroadsides #AsYouLikeIt last week, because it had 'Yorkshire accents' in it.

"That's Yorkshire accents, right here in Yorkshire. They want a refund."

Kennedy News and Media

The post has since attracted more than 116 retweets and 1,146 likes from other baffled social media users.

One user said: "Surely in the top 10 of ridiculous complaints?", while another said: "Yorkshire accents, in Yorkshire, from a Yorkshire-based theatre company, that was SPECIFICALLY created to showcase Yorkshire accents in all roles? Heaven forbid."

A third said: "This makes me soooo angry! Bored of this narrative that people shun northern accents because they’re 'not supposed to be on stage or represented because it’s not [received pronunciation]'.

LADbible has reached out to York Theatre Royal for a comment.

Featured Image Credit: Kennedy News and Media

Topics: UK News