A COUPLE having a loud and furious argument in public have frustratingly refused to give eavesdroppers the proper background.

Bystanders in Costa Coffee have complained that references including ‘Yeah? Like you bloody did in Dublin?’ and ‘Why don’t you call Liz and tell her all about it?’ are lost because they do not know the backstory.

Susan Traherne said: “Without knowing if this ‘she’ he paid ‘too much for’ is a prostitute or a pet labrador, it’s difficult to get emotionally involved.

“It’s fine to start in the middle to intrigue the audience, but then they refuse to fill in the blanks. ‘Just like your fucking mother’ carries no sting when we don’t know what the mother is like.”

Fellow bystander Stephen Malley agreed: “I’m not a fan of clunky exposition, but I feel they could have found a way to weave it in, instead of saying ‘it’s the worst thing you could have ever done to me’ and refusing to elaborate.

“I mean, some of it was made up in the performance. She was spectacular. I really believed her when she said she wasn’t sorry she keyed his Audi.

“As for the origin of the drama? I guess we’ll never know. And that’s the real tragedy.”