A group of about eight women sitting near the mother and child also left, as did several others throughout the evening. However, “there were a couple of ladies that yelled out, ‘Yeah, just get out of here’,” David said. “I just couldn’t believe it. The abuse this lady got from the crowd … I was like, ‘Are we serious here as people?’”
Outside, Faranda realised that about 10 others had followed her out, most of them mothers and grandmothers who could relate to her experience.
In a statement provided to this masthead titled “BabyGate: Let’s Clear the Air” Barker agreed that the baby was “not crying but ‘talking’ as they do”, stating: “I was quite concerned. In my experience of doing comedy for nearly 35 years, an audience’s focus is a delicate thing. If a noise or movement distracts people mid-joke, the payoff can be greatly diminished. At this point, with about 50 minutes of show left, I made [a] difficult decision, I calmly informed the woman holding the baby that the baby couldn’t stay.”
Barker highlighted that the show was “Strictly for Audiences 15+” and added: “It’s been mentioned that she was breastfeeding the baby, which may or may not be the case, but to suggest that this had anything to do with my actions is blatantly false as I couldn’t see well enough to know if she was or wasn’t (the audience was in the dark and I had bright lights in my face) nor would I care. This was ALL to do with AUDIO disruption of my show, nothing more. (For the record, I support public breastfeeding, as it’s perfectly natural.)”
Faranda said Barker initially made comments along the lines of, “I speak fluent baby and it said take me outside.” She started to feel that he wasn’t joking, but wasn’t sure. “It’s a comedian, you don’t know if they’re being serious or not.”
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival said it had received two complaints on Sunday.
“The Melbourne International Comedy Festival was advised of the situation that occurred in Arj Barker’s show on Saturday. Arj is independently produced and at a venue not managed by the festival, however, any interaction between performers and their audiences requires sensitivity and respect,” a festival spokesperson said.
“In our festival-managed venues, babes in arms are generally allowed, but we do ask people to sit up the back with their child so they can quickly and easily leave if the baby gets noisy so as not to disturb the artist and other patrons.”
Barker performed his show, The Mind Field, at the Athenaeum for the past three weeks, in which he set out “to answer some of life’s biggest questions”, according to promotional material.
Loading
Before Saturday night, Faranda had been a big fan of Barker’s. “Every time there was a comedy festival I’d always go and see an Arj Barker show,” she said. “So, I was excited because this is a pre-children version of myself that I can reconnect with – but that didn’t go to plan, obviously.”
The Age is a festival media partner.
Source Agencies
