BOWNESS, CUMBRIA — Calling a simulated sex scene between two men “pornography,” a chunk of the audience at a recent performance of one of William Shakespeare’s most famous plays walked out in the middle of an act.The theater company at The Old Laundry Theatre in Bowness, Cumbria, said the scene in The Comedy of Errors was played as the Bard himself might have directed it. After all, the man’s style was notoriously bawdy.

Cleaving to one possible historical interpretation did not sit well with some theatergoers, though. That two men partially disrobed during the scene — exposing only their buttocks — was inappropriate when the audience included viewers as young as eight. Nothing on the playbill or the tickets indicated the performance, which was staged by members of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), was unsuitable for children, one patron said.

“It lasted a long time,” audience member Chrissie Greaves, 56, who attended the performance with her husband and 15-year-old son, told London’s Daily Mail. “The portrayal of a sexual act was upon us without warning, before anyone realized, and there is no off-button at the theatre.

“Afterwards the Dromio character was portraying that he was in some pain and walked around doubled up,” she added. “This was supposed to be funny, but I didn’t find it amusing. They then had some slapstick with breaking wind, and bare buttocks were on show through the door.”

Greaves and other attendees said they did not hold the distasteful scene against the performers or the theater, but LAMDA should be ashamed of itself.

LAMDA principal Peter James defended his troupe’s interpretation of the work.

“A careful reading of the text would demonstrate that we did nothing that was uncalled for by the Bard,” he told the Daily Mail. “However, it is never our intention to cause offense to any member of the audience and we fully support the comments that have already been made by the Old Laundry Theatre.”

The Old Laundry’s general manager apologized publicly, but also defended LAMDA’s interpretation of the material.

“The Old Laundry Theatre apologizes wholeheartedly for any offense caused to the audience during Monday night’s performance of The Comedy of Errors,” Richard Foster said. “Perhaps in hindsight the theatre should have put up a notice, warning the audience of the content of the play. The incidents which seem to have caused offense were an actor playing a clown showing his bare bottom through an aperture 30cm x 30cm and another clothed clown simulating a sex act.

“We would like to point out that on Monday the theatre was full and the vast majority of the audience remained throughout the performance and heartily applauded the production, so much so that the company performed an extra curtain call,” he added. “We also believe the performance fully reflected the bawdy nature of Shakespeare’s writing.”