Have phone, will shoot?
Mumbai Theatre Guide
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Wednesday, 29 April 2026
Have phone, will shoot?
Chatting or messaging during a play is a menace, but illicit recordings of productions featuring stars is a concern too.
Cynthia Erivo, of Wicked fame, interrupted a performance of DRACULA, after spotting audience member's camera
Chris Wiegand reports in The Guardian, "A representative for the production, in which Erivo plays all 23 roles, confirmed that there had been a short stop caused by the incident. A commenter on the forum Theatreboard, who said they had been at the show, wrote that Erivo – roughly an hour into the performance – "looked out into the audience and said: 'Are you filming? Is someone filming?' and stopped the show". Another commenter said that they had attended Dracula – which is at the Noël Coward theatre – the following night and that there were extra reminders to the audience about taking photos and filming."
It's become such a problem, that some theatres are issuing audience members with stickers to place over the lens of their cameraphones when they enter the venue, he writes.
During curtain calls it is increasingly common for people to whip out their phones and take photos or videos. Actress Lesley Manville decried that behaviour. "Clap or don’t clap, but don't just stick up your phone in our faces," she said on BBC Radio's Front Row. "I find it insulting."
"The mission of the playwright is to look in his heart and write, to write whatever concerns him at the moment; to write with passion and conviction. Of course the measure of the man will be the measure of the play."
Robert Anderson
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