Cate Blanchett has made a plea for theatre audiences to keep their phones away while they’re watching people performing.
The two-time Oscar winner is currently starring at the National Theatre’s Electra/Persona, and during her curtain call on Friday, she took a moment to get something off her chest.
She began: “There are few places on this planet where we can simply be together, and be present.
“I understand you like filming the curtain call – and it is kind of flattering in a way – but for anyone who was filming the show, please don’t.”
Cate continued: “It spoils it for the next group of people who come in and are present with us. So, thank you very much.”
One Instagram user commented on a clip of Cate’s message: “I was there on Friday, so just to clarify what happened: after the first act, while they were changing and preparing for the second, latecomers were being let in, the staff were cleaning the stage, and the cast were doing their makeup onstage.
“Cate noticed someone recording during that break. She came towards the front of the stage and gestured ‘no, no, no’ with her finger for them to stop. She also mentioned it to the audience at the very end before they left.
“The person wasn’t filming the actual performance, but the interval between the two acts while the cast were still onstage. To be fair, people do this quite often and the staff usually don’t say anything. It was my third time seeing the play, and I’ve seen people film during that break every time. Friday was simply the first time I saw Cate notice it herself, just after she had finished doing her makeup.”
Another added: “I was there. Great show. And I was appalled she felt she had to make this statement.
“I didn’t see anyone taping from where I was. But clearly people were. Get a life. If you’re only going so you can put it on Instagram then don’t bother. You’re not wanted.”
Cate is far from the first performer to call out people’s phone use in theatre during recent memory.
Back in June, Rosamund Pike called out an audience member during the curtain call of her show Inter Alia for using their phone in the auditorium, while Cynthia Erivo went as far as pausing a performance of Dracula when she noticed she was being recorded.
Since then, Amber Davies also made her feelings known on the “selfish actions” of those who chose to use their phones in a theatre environment.
Meanwhile, Broadway legend Patti LuPone has been vocal on this issue for years, infamously once swiping an audience member’s phone after seeing them on it during a performance in 2015.
Similarly, Gemma Arterton once claimed during an interview on The Graham Norton Show that she had done the same thing when she spotted a patron filming her while she was performing in the West End musical Made In Dagenham.
