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Cynthia Erivo brought her latest West End performance in Dracula to a dramatic halt on Monday evening after an audience member was seen filming the production on their mobile phone.
The actress is currently onstage at London’s Noël Coward Theatre in director Kip Williams’ contemporary, one-woman adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic novel.
But Erivo, 39, curtailed Monday evening’s performance for close to ten minutes after spotting someone filming from their place in the audience, a direct breach of standard theatre etiquette.
Footage circulating online captures bemused audience members – many of them unaware of the issue – watching in stunned silence as the curtain drops mid-act.
As nervous laughter ripples across the room, a production assistant can be heard urging ticket-holders to ‘remain seated’ with the assurance that the production will ‘resume shortly.’
Captioning a brief clip of the incident, one theatre-goer wrote: ‘Not Cynthia Erivo clocking someone filming in the audience during Dracula and stopping the whole show.’
Cynthia Erivo brought her latest West End performance in Dracula to a dramatic halt on Monday evening after an audience member was seen filming the production on their phone
According to WhatsOnStage, another told how she ‘she straight up called the guy out! Put her hand up – said “excuse me, are you filing right now?!” And the person said “sorry’.”‘
Erivo’s West End show has divided theatre critics, who have praised her ‘incredible feat of endurance’ while insisting the play ‘lacks bite’.
The show launched at Noël Coward Theatre in February, and first impressions left many viewers ‘disappointed’ after spotting the star was being ‘fed her lines’, according to The Telegraph.
And while most critics agreed on Cynthia’s ‘outstanding and hat-tip worthy’ performance, what didn’t receive such glowing reviews was the production itself.
Theatre critics said the play was ‘meandering and excessively long’, even dubbing it a ‘bloodless, soul-sapping affair’.
Sharing his mixed take on the show, The Daily Mail’s Patrick Marmion gave it just three stars as he criticised the play itself but applauded Cynthia.
He wrote: ‘Over a very long and testing two hours and five minutes – unrelieved by the mercy of an interval – she gives an astonishing performance, playing a total of 23 characters from Bram Stoker’s 19th–century Gothic horror novel.’
‘The complexities of Stoker’s plot start to scupper the complexities of Williams’s staging,’ he added.
‘But I still find myself tipping my pointy hat to Erivo.’
The actress plays a total of 23 characters throughout the show, but despite the astonishing feat disgruntled theatre-goers accused her of reading lines from a teleprompter.
‘I saw it last night and was SO disappointed,’ wrote one on Reddit. ‘Interesting point about the last 30 minutes—I spent that time just wondering when the show was finally going to be over.
Footage circulating online capture bemused audience members – many of them unaware of the issue – watching in stunned silence as the curtain drops mid-act
Fans praised Erivo for pulling the plug on her latest show after spotting a clear breach in theatre etiquette among its paying audience-members
‘I’m normally such a fan of theatre, but I left frustrated at spending £70 on a ticket, honestly’.
Another fan replied to the comment, adding: ‘Same I tried so hard to get into it and I just couldn’t.’
Another pointed out: ‘I wish I hadn’t bought an early on ticket for this.
On my night there were technical issues and staging problems but worst of all Cynthia was struggling with remembering her lines and place in the script (despite visible auto cues on either side of her).
‘In my opinion, it was just a retread of the Dorian Gray experience with a weaker story line.
‘I’m sure the issues will be ironed out in a couple of weeks and it will be fabulous and I totally accept that if you go for a ticket at the start of a run you have to be prepared for mishaps but honestly it was disappointing.’
The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for further comment.
