Cynthia Erivo disrupts Dracula’s behavior after seeing the members’ camera | Theater

The work of Dracula in the West End on Monday night was canceled after its star, Cynthia Erivo, noticed that an audience member was apparently filming the show.

A representative of the production, in which Erivo plays all 23 roles, confirmed that there has been a temporary suspension due to the incident. Commentator on the Theaterboard forumwho claimed to have been at the show, wrote that Erivo – about an hour before the show – “looked at the crowd and said: ‘Are you filming? and stopped the show”. One commentator said that he went to Dracula – which is at the Noël Coward theater – the next night and there were additional reminders to the audience about photography and photography.

Banned tapes are becoming increasingly popular in theaters, which sometimes give audience members stickers to put on their camera lenses when they enter the venue. This is the current policy on Romeo and Julietand Sadie Sink and Noah Jupe, at the Harold Pinter Theatre, which did the same for Good starring David Tennant. In 2023, photos taken by James Norton at a nude event A Little Life he was published online.

With rare exceptions when it is specifically encouraged, such as closing medleys in some music, recording is prohibited by the theater. It has become common at curtain calls for audience members to take photos and videos as players come to kneel, but earlier this month actress Lesley Manville spoke out against the practice. “Clap or don’t clap, but don’t put your phone in your face,” he said. BBC Radio 4’s Front Row. “I find it insulting.”

Manville begins Les Liaisons Dagereuses at the National Theatrewhen there are signs inside and outside the hall warning you not to use your phone, including during the closing time. Manville said during the performance he gave one audience member “the look” as he pulled out his phone and said “it wasn’t happening”. In New York, where he recently played in an adaptation of Oedipus, he said “almost the entire audience” took out their phones during the closing session.

The Noël Coward theater is one of the theaters West End the venue is owned and operated by Cameron Mackintosh’s Delfont Mackintosh Theatre, whose statement prohibits “the use of recording devices of any kind” and “the use of mobile phones, pagers, digital watches, laser pointers or any electronic device, which must be disabled at all times”. In some of its locations, the Delfont Mackintosh Theater allows the use of GalaPro, an app that provides closed captioning and voiceover on your phone.

Dracula, directed by Kip Williams, runs until 30 May. Like Williams’ 2024 hit The Picture of Dorian Gray, in which Sarah Snook played 26 peopleit relies on advanced stage cameras.