Rosamund Pike berates audience member for texting during show
The actor accused the texter at Wyndham’s Theatre in London of breaking the bond between cast and audience during her performance in Inter Alia.
Rosamund Pike was applauded after she told off an audience member for texting during the play’s emotional finale, saying she hoped it was “very important”.
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The actor, who won an Olivier award for her role as a crown court judge in Inter Alia, accused the texter at Wyndham’s Theatre in London on Saturday of breaking the bond between cast and audience.
“Somebody was texting in this part,” she told a section of the audience. “You know who you are, and I’m not going to single you out."
Her speech drew cheers from the audience as she told them how upsetting the incident was.
“I just wanted to say, for anyone going to the theatre, it’s a huge thing that we’re trying to give you. I am trying to tell you a story, and I’m feeling you, and I hope you’re feeling me too,” she reportedly told the crowd.
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An audience member told The Times: “She suggested that someone texting in the climax of this devastatingly emotional play broke this bond. She seemed genuinely upset.”
“We had all let her down” because she had “given her all” to the performance, they added.
“We all felt a bit stunned. It’s a very emotional play. She indicated the area of the stalls where the person was sitting, but said she would not single them out.“
"She joked that maybe they were a doctor who saved someone’s life, and she hoped that was the case.”
In the show by Australian playwright, Suzie Miller, Pike plays a senior Crown Court judge who advocates for better treatment for female sexual assault victims.
The play runs for 100 minutes without an interval.
One audience member, under the username Neddy, wrote on X: “It was an amazing show, but huge props to Rosamund Pike for calling out someone for texting.
Another wrote: “Rosamund Pike calling out an audience member in the stalls section who texted during a very important/intense moment during curtain call was quite cool.”
Pike joins a long list of acting luminaries who have criticised theatregoers for their behaviour, including Lesley Manville, Dame Imelda Staunton, Daniel Craig and Benedict Cumberbatch.