Am-dram society confirms talking about bad behaviour is now worse than the behaviour itself

THE Fabricated Players have clarified that discussing something appalling a member has done is considerably worse than the original appalling thing.

The ruling follows an incident in which member Lauren told several people that another member, Colin, had behaved disgracefully at a society event.

Committee members immediately condemned Lauren for “creating negativity”, while agreeing that what Colin actually did was “obviously not ideal”.

Chairwoman Patricia said: “Nobody is defending Colin.

“What he did was completely unacceptable.

“But Lauren talking about it has now made everyone uncomfortable, which is arguably much more serious.”

The society has adopted a new disciplinary scale under which bad behaviour is considered unfortunate, complaining about bad behaviour is divisive, and providing evidence of bad behaviour constitutes bullying.

Patricia explained: “Suppose Brian tells somebody to f**k off during rehearsal.

“That’s a heated moment.

“If Mary then tells another member that Brian told somebody to fuck off, Mary has deliberately chosen to spread the information.

“You can see who the real problem is.”

Members have been reminded that the correct response to unacceptable conduct is to raise it privately with the committee, who will acknowledge receipt and then become extremely difficult to contact.

If the issue subsequently becomes public, the person who raised it may be investigated for bringing the society into disrepute.

Lauren said: “I genuinely thought people would be concerned about what Colin had done.

“Instead I’ve been asked to apologise for mentioning it.”

The committee stressed that it takes all complaints extremely seriously, particularly complaints about people making complaints.

Secretary Kevin said: “We need to protect the reputation of the society.

“You cannot have members going around telling people about things that genuinely happened.

“Imagine how that looks.”

Colin has since been informally reminded of expected standards and allowed to continue as normal.

Lauren has been removed from three WhatsApp groups, asked to attend a disciplinary meeting and described by several committee members as “toxic”.

Patricia said: “Hopefully everyone can now draw a line under this and move forward.”

She added that anyone discussing where the line had been drawn would also be dealt with.