Lady with dementia leaves Mamma Mia screening as audience complain at her singing along

A woman with dementia who left a screening of Mamma Mia because members of the audience complained about her singing along has been invited to a special viewing at another cinema.

Shirley Lewis, from Cwmbran, South Wales, was taken to see the film for her 68th birthday by her daughter Rhiannon Lewis. But the pair left the cinema when people sitting behind them began "huffing, puffing and tutting" as she sang along to her favourite ABBA songs.

Her daughter ‘felt obliged’ to take her mum out of the Vue cinema less than half way through the film.

Writing on Facebook, she said: “My mum has dementia, Mamma Mia is her favourite film, it makes her happy. Mum gets excited when she sees her favourite characters and hears her favourite music. She has no spatial awareness, no way of controlling her volume, that’s part of the disease.

“Your huffing, puffing and tutting made us feel so uncomfortable that, as her carers that we made the decision to leave. At the time I was empathetic to the other guests in the cinema. However, on reflection I really wish I had told that lady so that she could have learnt her lesson in front of a room full of strangers.

“My mum was really sad. She didn’t want to leave the cinema. She yelled ‘no’ when we tried to get her out of her seat and she fought every step on the staircase.”

After her post went viral it caught the attention of the general manager of Cineworld in Newport, who offered Ms Lewis free tickets to her and her mother in a special area of the cinema for another viewing.

Since then, more than 70 people have contacted Ms Lewis on Facebook requesting tickets for the dementia-friendly screening, including care home managers wishing to take their residents along.

“We are really looking forward to it,” said Ms Lewis. “I’ve invited other people from clubs where my mother goes – and everyone can sing or shout as much as they want.”