The mother of a child with disabilities has claimed her daughter was kicked out of a matinee performance of musical Matilda at Sydney’s Lyric Theatre on Sunday.
Amanda Hirst told the Sydney Morning Herald she travelled from Wollongong to see the show with her 15-year-old daughter Eliza, who has cerebral palsy, is developmentally delayed and is in a wheelchair.
Within minutes of taking their seats, Ms Hirst says she started to feel uncomfortable and before long, the floor manager came over to talk to her.
“He said we had to minimise the noise for the show. He said that usually they have to ask people who are making too much noise to quieten down and if they don’t we ask them to leave,” Ms Hirst said.
“I was so intimidated by him. He told me he had been watching Eliza for 10 minutes and it looked [like] she was not going to settle. He said he was observing the people around us too.
“If she was distressed or throwing things or having a seizure, or upsetting other people I would have taken her out myself but she was just happy and enjoying the show. She loves music and loves to dance, and she cried out in excitement once when a big balloon popped as part of the show.
“I heard a baby crying, other people were clapping and laughing. I just couldn’t understand why Eliza was a problem for him. It’s just so wrong. It’s discrimination. I am just disgusted that my daughter has been put out of a show.”
The theatre’s general manager Graeme Kearns said that no complaints had been made about Eliza’s behaviour, but the “there were a lot of people around her who … were indicating that they wanted to enjoy the performance”.
“If we didn’t do anything [I’d] have other patrons complaining … I’d have a hundred letters on my desk this morning from people wanting their money back,” Mr Kearns said.
“We have hundreds of disabled patrons every week, we welcome them and they have a great time with us.
“We respect the right [for] them to come to the theatre and [we] support them in every way we can.”
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