Lesley Manville has sparked debate after criticising audience members who film curtain calls during theatre performances. The 70-year-old actress, currently starring in Les Liaisons Dangereuses at the National Theatre, made the comments during a BBC Radio 4 interview promoting the play.
Manville, who won Olivier Awards for her stage work, said she noticed the habit while performing in Oedipus on Broadway last year. She claimed it was starting to filter into West End productions and urged audiences to refrain from taking photos or videos at the end of shows.
“Why can't they let it live in their souls for five minutes?” she asked. “It's like people need to take a photo of the curtain call to prove that they've seen it. Come on, it's theatre! Let's preserve it. Let's take the digital out of it just for a moment.” She added that she finds it “insulting” when phones are put in actors’ faces.
The National Theatre now includes a verbal announcement before each performance asking patrons not to take photographs. However, some social media users criticised Manville as “pretentious and out of touch,” with one commenting that the unaffordability of theatre makes photos a way to preserve memories. Others supported her, including actress Hannah Waddingham, who wrote “HEAR, HEAR.”
