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Earlier this month, English actor Rosamund Pike called out an audience member who was texting during the emotionally-charged climax of her play Inter Alia in London’s West End. She returned to the stage after curtain and said, “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.” A week later at the same venue, a woman sitting in the front row had her alarm ringing for over a minute, during which Pike threw her a dirty glance, but continued her performance.
Back home in Delhi, actor and NSD Repertory chief Rajesh Singh’s monologue in the recent staging of the play Babuji got interrupted by an e-wallet notification at the National School of Drama (NSD); despite repeated pre-show announcements to keep phones on silent. This caused Singh to break character and call the audience out, saying, “This is not done. Yeh rangmanch hai, ek kala hai! Jaan nikal jaati hai yahan apni kala ka pradarshan karte huye. Please ise aise disrespect mat kariye. Bahut hi kam logon ko iss kala ko dekhna naseeb hota hai! Aap apna phone band kariye and please leave.” After the audience member apologised, the director- actor resumed the scene. After the play ended, Singh returned to the stage and said, “Maine gusse mein kaafi kuch bol diya tha, lekin live performances mein apko apna phone nahi istemaal karna chahiye.”
Theatre artistes getting irked by mobile phones during live stage acts is not a new phenomenon. Most lovers of this art form would remember the time in 2013 when thespian Naseeruddin Shah had paused mid-performance in Delhi to confront an audience member speaking loudly on the phone.
Over a decade later, Delhi continues to miss the point, and often uses phones or texts during live shows. Why? Actors, directors, and organisers wonder…
‘Theatre ko logon ki zarurat hai, aur logon ko respect aur chivalry ki’
Chittaranjan Tripathy, director, National School of Drama, says: “There is an unspoken understanding about paying attention when people come to watch the play. There is no solution to this use of phones during live performances! People need to have more respect for the art. Kayi baar artistes naraz ho jaate hain. Koi artiste chorh ke chala jata hai, koi gussa ho jaata hai, koi ignore kar deta hai. Kyunki bina logon ke theatre nahi ho sakta. Theatre ko logon ki zarurat hai aur logon ko respect aur chivalry ki.”
‘Ringing phones have to be dealt with fast!’
Anasuya Vaidya, director, Akshara Theatre, says: “We always make an announcement at the beginning of the show, requesting audience members to put their phones on silent and prohibit them from flash photography. Still there is always an odd person whose phone will ring. But, we have to deal with them fast. So we have people who escort them out. Almost always, a member of the audience only asks them to leave.”
‘Keeping phones on silent is a simple act of respect’
Kajal Suri, director, Roobroo Theatre, says: “Theatre relies on a shared focus between performers and audiences. So a glowing screen, ringing phone, or someone recording can break that connection not only for the actors but also for fellow audience members. When audiences are fully engaged, performers can feel that energy and respond to it. Distractions interrupt that exchange and pull people out of the moment… Silencing phones and keeping them out of sight is a simple act!”
‘Digital world can wait, stage magic won’t happen repeat’
Ali Asgar, TV actor who will be taking to Delhi stage with the upcoming play Tom and Jerry, says: “In live theatre, the audience is effectively the final co-actor on stage. Your laughs, gasps, and even your absolute silence feed our performance and dictate our pace. If that attention is divided because someone is replying to a text or scrolling through social media, the collective magic is compromised… The digital world can wait, but the magic unfolding live on stage won’t happen the exact same way twice.”
‘Do everyone a favour: put your phone away ’
Asif Shaikh, who has been part of stage productions including Aaall Izz Well with Shuturmurgh, Kiss Kiss Ko Pyaar Karoon, and U-Turn in Delhi, says: “If you’re heading to the theatre, please do everyone a favour: put your phone away and enjoy the show! Recently, during a performance, someone in the front row kept checking their phone and the light was really distracting… Actors are already juggling cues, lights, sound, and dialogue, so phone use just makes it harder to stay focused. If people aren’t paying attention, it’s much harder to tell whether we are getting our message across.”
‘An actor cannot look after the decorum’
Rahul Bhuchar, actor-producer, says: “I believe in staying in character. An actor cannot look after decorum and law and order. I am absolutely against the idea of stopping the play and telling them to leave. For that there are ushers, helpers, bouncers and volunteers. I cannot go around the trumpet and play all the instruments myself! If a phone has suddenly gone off and people have started reacting, our instructions to our ushers and bouncers should be clear enough to politely escort the audience member out of the auditorium. These are audiences, and you are performing for them. They have paid for it and we are actors performing on stage, so our ego should not be as big as a mountain.”
‘When onstage, my focus is on the performance’
Kumkum Jain, theatre actor who has also been a part of films such as Love Hostel (2022), Luka Chuppi (2019), and Youngistaan (2014), says: “When I am on stage, I am not bothered. My focus is totally on the performance. You have to be 100% in that space and time… Aisa koi incident hua nahi ki main disturb hui, but I know it can cause some sort of disturbance if it comes straight to my eyeline. Audience mein, especially Delhi mein, itni awareness nahi hai. But this is not an actor’s job. This is for the organisers and management to see. Because my job is to act onstage.
‘Theatre is meant to be experienced directly, not through a screen’
Mazibur Rehman, actor, who was a part of the production Babuji by NSD Repertory Co. when Rajesh Kumar Singh broke character to reprimand the audience member: “Smartphones have become an inseparable part of modern life, and naturally, phone-related distractions are more common today than they were in the past. Theatre is meant to be experienced directly, not through the lens of a camera or a mobile screen. Recording (of plays) is even more disruptive because it takes attention away from the live moment and shifts it toward documentation. In fact, during a recent performance of our play Babuji, a mobile phone rang during a particularly intense and emotional scene. The interruption broke the actor’s concentration and the emotional flow of the moment to such an extent that the scene had to be paused briefly and then restarted. Incidents like these remind us how fragile and precious a live performance can be.”
They have been saying it for years:
April 2026: Cynthia Erivo interrupted her performance of Dracula in the West End after spotting an audience member filming the show.
2019: In June, irked with the constant ringing of phones in Nashik, Sumeet Raghavan, lead actor in the play Knock Knock Celebrity, walked off the stage midway. He later posted on X about the interruptions he faced from the audience during his performance with the hashtags #ZeroTolerance and #NoMobileDuringPerformance.
2016:Anupam Kher, while performing Mera Woh Matlab Nahi Tha in the Capital, called out a woman in the audience who was using her phone, saying: “I don’t wish to embarrass you, but what you’re doing is disturbing me,” Kher had told her. In December 2015, after performing the same play in Gurugram, Kher had said in an interview, “I often stop the play if there’s a phone ringing. The light from the screen can be very distracting.”
2013: Naseeruddin Shah stopped his performance of Dear Liar (alongwith wife, actor Ratna Pathak Shah) in Kamani Auditorium, when a man started having a loud telephonic conversation inside the theatre. Shah waved to him and said, “Aap baat kar lain. Play to hum baad mein bhi kar lenge.”
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