Martin Shaw Urges Theatres to Block Phone Signals to Tackle Disruption

Veteran actor Martin Shaw has said that theatres should tackle phone use that “spreads like a virus” through the audience.

Speaking to The Times, Shaw described “a general atmosphere of dumbing down in the country”

“If it happens during one of my lines, I’ll stop and look towards the mobile phone, so the person concerned knows exactly why I’m stopping."

“Almost invariably, a round of applause will go up because the audience are so indignant that someone has been stupid enough to leave on their mobile.”

He explained that he would like to see “theatres becoming a lot heavier about dealing with the issue, perhaps even screening out mobile phone signals in the auditorium”.

“Failing that,” he added, “maybe the theatre should put a sniper in one of the boxes”.

The actor, who is currently starring in a new comedy Alone Together at the Theatre Royal Windsor, described an audience as “like a single organism” that forms “an intrinsic part of the drama”.

“So when a mobile phone goes off, there will be a block of around 20 people around that phone who are excised from the experience. That will spread like a virus and you’ll get the indignation and upset of everyone around.

“Then the actors lose their concentration . . . and all because of some idiot, some philistine, who hasn’t got the social responsibility to turn off their phone.”

Photo Credit: Pamela Raith