Amber Davies has reignited the debate over theatre etiquette after requesting that an audience member be removed from a performance of Legally Blonde for filming. The former Love Island star, currently starring as Elle Woods in the UK and Ireland tour, made the request during the interval of a Saturday show at Dublin's Bord Gáis Energy Theatre.
Davies Calls Out Filming in Instagram Video
During the interval, Davies, 29, shared a video on Instagram Stories addressing the incident. Wearing Elle's blonde wig, she said: "This is your daily reminder not to film at the theatre. Unfortunately tonight at the Bord Gáis, we've got a beautiful audience, but there's just one woman in the front row, been filming the entirety of act one. It's had us all distracted, it's ruined the morale of our wonderful eighth show on a Saturday night from selfish actions."
Davies added: "Hopefully she's not back to act two. I've asked, 'Can she go so we can just enjoy ourselves?' But there have been a couple of people filming in Ireland this week, and I'm the kind of person, I will count how many seats away you are from what door, and you will be told and asked to leave."
Reinforcing Theatre Etiquette
She concluded the video by reiterating: "Don't film. Let's just enjoy the two-and-a-half hours together. We don't need to film everything." The Legally Blonde musical, based on the 2001 Reese Witherspoon film, runs at Dublin's Bord Gáis until Saturday.
Davies, who rose to fame on the 2017 series of Love Island, has since performed in stage productions of 9 to 5, Bring It On, and Pretty Woman. Her comments are the latest in a series of complaints from stage actors about filming and poor audience behaviour.
Industry Backlash Against Filming
Earlier this year, Lesley Manville branded theatregoers who take photos during the curtain call "insulting." The Olivier winner, then starring in Les Liaisons Dangereuses at the National Theatre, told BBC Radio 4: "Come on, it's theatre! Let's preserve it! We are all in this room, we are telling you a story, you're listening. Clap or don't clap, but don't just stick your phone in our face. I find it insulting."
Audience members are routinely instructed not to take photographs or film during theatre productions to protect copyright and avoid distracting the cast and other patrons.
