‘You know who you are’: Rosamund Pike lashes theatre patron for texting during play

Actor Rosamund Pike called out an audience member for texting during her performance of Inter Alia in London’s West End on Saturday night (Sunday AEST).

The Gone Girl star took a moment after the performance to politely address the audience about theatre etiquette and how an audience member texting during the show made her feel. According to The Times, one member of the audience said they initially thought Pike came on stage for a solo ovation, but instead indicated that people should sit down.

“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,” Pike said,  The Guardian reported. 

“Somebody was texting in this part – you know who you are, and I’m not going to single you out,” she continued, gesturing to a portion of the audience.

“Maybe it was very important, and maybe you’re a doctor, and you’re saving someone’s life, and I hope you are – but we do see these; we do feel them. I’ve got you; I feel like I’ve got to hold you all, so when I feel that and see it, it’s hard.”

The BBC reported that Pike’s speech was met with a large round of applause.

Earlier this year, Inter Alia, the work of award-winning Australian playwright Suzie Miller, was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play, with Pike taking home the best actress award.

The story follows a prominent London Crown Court judge whose feminist and legal convictions are challenged when her teenage son is accused of sexual assault.

It’s not the first time a prominent actor has called out audiences over device use in the theatre. In April, Lesley Manville, the award-winning actor, urged London theatregoers to put down their phones while the cast took its final bows, suggesting taking video of the curtain call was an insult to the performers on stage.

“Come on, it’s theatre; let’s preserve it. Let’s take the digital out of it for just a moment,” Manville said during a performance of Les Liaisons Dangereuses at London’s National Theatre.

“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.”

Also in April, Wicked star Cynthia Erivo halted a performance of Dracula on the West End – in which she plays all 23 roles – when she spotted an audience member appearing to film the show.

According to a commenter on the forum Theatreboard, “[Erivo] looked out into the audience and said: ‘Are you filming? Is someone filming?’ and stopped the show.”

In 2017, Fleabag actor Andrew Scott halted his “to be or not to be” soliloquy while performing Hamlet at London’s Almeida Theatre after an audience member pulled out their laptop.

“I was pausing and [the stage team] were like, ‘Get on with it’ and I was like, ‘There’s no way.’ I stopped for ages,” he recalled on the Happy Sad podcast in 2024.

Inter Alia is the follow-up to Miller’s 2019 play Prima Facie, which went on to the West End in 2022, winning Olivier awards in 2023 for best new play and best actress for its star Jodie Comer.

It is now showing in a return season at Ros Packer Theatre with its originating star Sheridan Harbridge.