For the past few weeks, theatergoers have been heading to the Old Vic to see the British actor Bertie Carvel embody Trump in “The 47th,” a play by Mike Bartlett that imagines what might happen if Trump runs in the 2024 election. Wearing heavy padding, Carvel spits out withering insults at Kamala Harris (played by Tamara Tunie) and derides Ivanka Trump (Lydia Wilson). But, at a recent performance, not everyone in the audience found the play funny.

Ranney Mize, 79, a retired neuroscientist visiting from New Orleans, said afterward that he had not laughed as much as the theatergoers around him in the orchestra level. He and his wife “were deeply concerned about the future of American democracy and the threat Trump poses to that institution,” he said. Carvel’s portrayal of Trump was more evil than funny, Mize said.

Jenna Williams, 47, who works in venture capital in New York, said that she had also reacted differently than most audience members. When Trump made a leering reference to Ivanka’s figure, Williams said, she let out a cry of disgust in an otherwise silent auditorium.