Cate Blanchett has appealed to theatregoers at the National Theatre to stop filming her performance on their phones, telling a London audience that recording the show “spoils it” for those who come after them.
The Oscar-winning actress addressed the room from the stage of the Lyttelton Theatre following a curtain call of Electra/Persona, the new play in which she stars opposite Nina Hoss. Footage of her remarks, shared on Instagram at the weekend, has since been widely circulated.
“There are few places on this planet where we can simply be together and be present,” she told the audience. “I understand you like filming the curtain call — and it is kind of flattering in a way — but for anyone who is filming the show, please don’t, because it spoils it for the next group of people who come in and are present with us. So thank you very much.”
A play that changes every night
Electra/Persona, written and directed by Benedict Andrews, fuses Sophocles’ Greek tragedy Electra with Ingmar Bergman’s film Persona. Blanchett and Hoss alternate between the roles of Electra/Elisabeth and Clytemnestra/Alma each night, with a coin toss deciding who plays what — giving her plea a practical edge, since no two performances are quite the same and a recording can give away surprises for later audiences.
The wider phone debate
Her intervention is the latest flashpoint in the long-running debate over phones in auditoriums. Theatres across London have tightened no-recording policies as smartphones have become ever more capable, with many employing front-of-house staff to intervene when filming is spotted. The National Theatre enforces a strict no-recording rule across its productions.
The appeal comes during a busy autumn for London’s cultural calendar, from first-time festivals drawing crowds in the east of the city to community open days across the capital. Electra/Persona runs at the Lyttelton Theatre until 10 October.
Reporting based on GB News, WhatsOnStage, BroadwayWorld and Far Out Magazine.
