More entertainment than expected

Taking the kids to a Christmas season bit of theatre seems to be a riskier exercise than it used to be. First, you have to hope that Amy Winehouse is not in the audience:

During a production of Cinderella at Milton Keynes theater in Bucks, Winehouse, who was in the audience with parents and children, heckled the cast and kept shouting, “He’s f…ing behind you”, The Sun reported.

Winehouse allegedly refused to be seated as she blocked the view of families by standing up in the stalls and walking along rows.

She called out for more than half an hour in the first act, yelling: "F… Cinders, Prince Charming, marry me" and branding the ugly stepsisters characters "bitches", sources said.

She refused to be ushered to a box after the interval and allegedly launched herself at front-of-house manager Richard Pound - allegedly pulling his hair, punching him and kicking him between the legs.

And even in New Zealand the kids might get more of an education that you expected:

About 130 foster children went along to see a performance of An Adagio Christmas put on specially for the young group.

Most of the children in the group were under 10, and some were as young as six.

But the government service that arranged the free Christmas play had not seen the script, which contained swearing and sexual references.

One character in the show swore: "He called me fat. You can talk you fat f**k."

Then another character talked about losing her virginity and pretended to have an orgasm.

"She loses her virginity! She shuddered and he lifted her higher, higher!"

The deputy chief executive of the Child, Youth and Family service, Ray Smith, has released a statement saying the play was a generous gift from a Wellington theatre.

He says he is disappointed the event has been tarnished by what he calls less-than-fair media coverage.

He said while small sections took everyone a little by surprise, they did not detract from what was an amazing show.