Sir, Recently, as I made my way along the front row of the dress circle in a London theatre, I stumbled over an outstretched leg and nearly knocked over two glasses — one of red wine and the other of tomato juice — that had been placed, by people already seated, on the top of the front barrier. (As you know, it has become almost de rigueur in London, to carry drinks of all kinds into the auditoriums of theatres and opera houses.)

I wondered what the legal position would have been had the two drinks fallen on people seated below in the stalls.

Could those affected have successfully sued me, as the immediate cause, for their liquid distress, and for the ruin of their dresses and suits, plus the embarrassing curtailment of their evening’s celebrations? Or should they have sued the theatre for encouraging “take-ins” to boost bar profits, while knowing exactly what is happening in the auditorium and what accidents are inevitable? Or could they have sued the people who had so unthinkingly placed their drinks within inches of free fall? Or the man whose leg shot out and tripped me? Or all of us?

I hesitated before asking: house managers might well increase the already theatrically high bar prices to include a new insurance levy (plus VAT), so that all of us may rest easier, as latecomers from the interval crush rush past us with full, slopping glasses in hand to reach their seats before the next act begins. Maybe the HMs do so already, but I see no mention of such a levy in the pages of (sometimes out of date) advertisements that are sold as programmes.

B. Davies
London SE26

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