London Theatres Outfit Staff With Body Cameras to Handle Rowdy Attendees

London Theatres Outfit Staff With Body Cameras to Handle Rowdy Attendees

After experiencing a rise in aggressive behavior from guests, theatres in London’s West End are using body cameras to deter audience members from being abusive toward staff.

After facing down aggressive behavior from attendees, security workers and ushers working in London’s West End theatres are stepping up their security operations with technology typically associated with police officers: body cameras.

Seven theatres with the Society of London Theatre and UK Theatre have partnered with the security company Calla to try out body cameras for front-of-house staff in hopes of de-escalating incidents with guests, The Stage, a British theater newspaper, reported last month.

Phill Brown, the society’s head of risk and safety, told The Stage that the theatres had seen more problems with audience behavior and “increasing levels of aggression towards staff” in recent years. Part of the issue is alcohol consumption, he said.

“When you mix alcohol with the theatre environment that can exacerbate situations and we want to try to manage that before it becomes a major problem within our industry,” Brown said.

The incidents became so upsetting that some security guards and other staff were refusing to work at certain shows or at particular times of the week, particularly weekend evenings, Brown said.

A three-month trial at one theatre earned positive feedback from staff and helped to de-escalate volatile audience members, Brown said. The cameras can be clipped to belts or shirts and have front-facing screens that show the video footage as it is being recorded.

“I think just the fact that people can see themselves behaving in an unpleasant way can sometimes be enough to calm themselves down so they walk away from the situation before it turns into something more significant,” Brown said. “So I think body cameras can make a difference.”

Some ushers say the audiences for “jukebox musicals”  “Mamma Mia!” and “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical” among them  are known for having the worst behaved audiences, but other, more formal shows have had their own share of challenges, The New York Times reported. One incident included a theater producer being punched after asking a woman to stop using her phone during a performance.

For their part, some audience members think the cameras are a “brilliant” idea.

“I’m all for people having a little bit of a laugh, but it’s a thin line when you’re spoiling it for others,” Emma Simpson, who attended a performance for her bachelorette party, told the Times.

About the Author

Haley Samsel is an Associate Content Editor for the Infrastructure Solutions Group at 1105 Media.

Featured

  • AI Is Now the Leading Cybersecurity Concern for Security, IT Leaders

    Arctic Wolf recently published findings from its State of Cybersecurity: 2025 Trends Report, offering insights from a global survey of more than 1,200 senior IT and cybersecurity decision-makers across 15 countries. Conducted by Sapio Research, the report captures the realities, risks, and readiness strategies shaping the modern security landscape. Read Now

  • Analysis of AI Tools Shows 85 Percent Have Been Breached

    AI tools are becoming essential to modern work, but their fast, unmonitored adoption is creating a new kind of security risk. Recent surveys reveal a clear trend – employees are rapidly adopting consumer-facing AI tools without employer approval, IT oversight, or any clear security policies. According to Cybernews Business Digital Index, nearly 90% of analyzed AI tools have been exposed to data breaches, putting businesses at severe risk. Read Now

  • Software Vulnerabilities Surged 61 Percent in 2024, According to New Report

    Action1, a provider of autonomous endpoint management (AEM) solutions, today released its 2025 Software Vulnerability Ratings Report, revealing a 61% year-over-year surge in discovered software vulnerabilities and a 96% spike in exploited vulnerabilities throughout 2024, amid an increasingly aggressive threat landscape. Read Now

  • Motorola Solutions Named Official Safety Technology Supplier of the Ryder Cup through 2027

    Motorola Solutions has today been named the Official Safety Technology Supplier of the 2025 and 2027 Ryder Cup, professional golf’s renowned biennial team competition between the United States and Europe. Read Now

  • Evolving Cybersecurity Strategies

    Organizations are increasingly turning their attention to human-focused security approaches, as two out of three (68%) cybersecurity incidents involve people. Threat actors are shifting from targeting networks and systems to hacking humans via social engineering methods, living off human errors as their most prevalent attack vector. Whether manipulated or not, human cyber behavior is leveraged to gain backdoor access into systems. This mainly results from a lack of employee training and awareness about evolving attack techniques employed by malign actors. Read Now

New Products

  • ResponderLink

    ResponderLink

    Shooter Detection Systems (SDS), an Alarm.com company and a global leader in gunshot detection solutions, has introduced ResponderLink, a groundbreaking new 911 notification service for gunshot events. ResponderLink completes the circle from detection to 911 notification to first responder awareness, giving law enforcement enhanced situational intelligence they urgently need to save lives. Integrating SDS’s proven gunshot detection system with Noonlight’s SendPolice platform, ResponderLink is the first solution to automatically deliver real-time gunshot detection data to 911 call centers and first responders. When shots are detected, the 911 dispatching center, also known as the Public Safety Answering Point or PSAP, is contacted based on the gunfire location, enabling faster initiation of life-saving emergency protocols.

  • FEP GameChanger

    FEP GameChanger

    Paige Datacom Solutions Introduces Important and Innovative Cabling Products GameChanger Cable, a proven and patented solution that significantly exceeds the reach of traditional category cable will now have a FEP/FEP construction.

  • Connect ONE’s powerful cloud-hosted management platform provides the means to tailor lockdowns and emergency mass notifications throughout a facility – while simultaneously alerting occupants to hazards or next steps, like evacuation.

    Connect ONE®

    Connect ONE’s powerful cloud-hosted management platform provides the means to tailor lockdowns and emergency mass notifications throughout a facility – while simultaneously alerting occupants to hazards or next steps, like evacuation.