Cynthia Erivo, the star of the one-woman West End production of Dracula, halted a performance on Monday night after spotting an audience member apparently filming the show. The incident occurred roughly an hour into the performance at the Noël Coward theatre in London.
Performance Interrupted
A representative for the production confirmed that a short stop was caused by the incident. According to a commenter on the forum Theatreboard who claimed to have been present, Erivo looked out into the audience and asked, “Are you filming? Is someone filming?” before stopping the show. Another commenter noted that during the following night’s performance, extra reminders were given to the audience about not taking photos or filming.
Rising Concerns Over Illicit Recordings
Illicit recordings have become an increasing concern for theatres. Some venues now issue audience members with stickers to cover their phone cameras upon entry. This practice is currently in place at Romeo and Juliet, starring Sadie Sink and Noah Jupe at the Harold Pinter theatre, and was also used for Good starring David Tennant. In 2023, photos taken of James Norton during a nude scene in A Little Life were published online.
Actors Speak Out
Filming productions is generally forbidden, with rare exceptions such as closing medleys in musicals. However, it has become common for audience members to take photos and videos during curtain calls. Earlier this month, actor Lesley Manville criticised this behaviour. “Clap or don’t clap, but don’t just stick up your phone in our faces,” she said on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row. “I find it insulting.”
Manville is currently starring in Les Liaisons Dangereuses at the National Theatre, where signs inside and outside the auditorium warn against phone use, including during the curtain call. During previews, she gave one audience member “a bit of a stare” when they took out their phone, noting that “it never used to happen”. In New York, where she recently performed in Oedipus, she said “virtually the whole audience” would take out their phones during the curtain call.
Theatre Policies
The Noël Coward theatre is owned by Cameron Mackintosh’s Delfont Mackintosh Theatres, whose terms and conditions prohibit “the use of recording equipment of any kind” and require that “mobile phones, pagers, digital watches, laser pens or any other electronic equipment … must be disabled at all times”. However, some Delfont Mackintosh venues allow the use of GalaPro, an app that provides closed captioning and audio description on mobile devices.
Dracula, directed by Kip Williams, runs until 30 May. Like Williams’ 2024 hit The Picture of Dorian Gray, in which Sarah Snook played 26 characters, it relies on sophisticated onstage camerawork.
