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An angry theatregoer ‘full of sound and fury’ sparked chaos this week in the West End during a performance of Macbeth.
David Tennant had to be pulled off stage on Tuesday when a ticket holder caused a furore when he was told he would have to wait to return to his seat after returning from the toilet.
He was said to have been ‘insisting on getting back to his seat and then lots of people kicked off about his disturbance’, reported The Times.
Scottish actor Tennant, 53, was was asked to the leave the stage by theatre staff at the Harold Pinter theatre.
The troublesome member of the audience is said to have left the theatre some 15 minutes later.
A spokesman for the production said: ‘We can confirm there was an incident at the theatre last night, which made it necessary for the front of house team to request a show stop.
‘This is standard practice, in order to deal with the situation as swiftly and effectively as possible, enabling the remainder of the production to continue with minimum impact to both the audience and company.’
A message on the theatre’s website warns that ‘if you need to leave the auditorium during the show, there is no readmittance’.
David Tennant bows at the curtain call during the press night performance of Macbeth at the Harold Pinter Theatre – October 8, 2024
Cush Jumbo and Tennant during the press night performance of Macbeth at the Harold Pinter Theatre – October 8, 2024
The former Dr Who actor stars in the Shakespearean play alongside Cush Jumbo who plays Lady Macbeth.
The adaptation is directed by Donmar associate director Max Webster, also known for Life Of Pi and Henry V.
It has broken box office records at the Harold Pinter theatre having achieved the highest ever initial on sale, reaching over £2,150,000 in just one day.
At the start of November the show was cancelled for three consecutive nights due to ‘company illness’.
Jumbo previously appeared in Hamlet at the Young Vic in 2021, where her performance was described by the former New York Times theatre critic Ben Brantley as radiating ‘that unquantifiable force of hunger, drive, talent usually called star power’.
Speaking about their part in Macbeth last year, Tennant told The Guardian: ‘I thought I knew this play very well and that it was, unlike any other Shakespeare I can remember rehearsing, straightforward.
‘But each time I come to a scene, it goes in a direction I wasn’t expecting. It has such muscle to it, it powers along.
‘Plot-wise, it’s more front-footed than any Shakespeare play I’ve done.’
The adaptation is directed by Donmar associate director Max Webster, also known for Life Of Pi and Henry V
It has broken box office records at the Harold Pinter theatre having achieved the highest ever initial on sale, reaching over £2,150,000 in just one day
Of her character Lady Macbeth, Jumbo added: ‘She is deeply ingrained in our culture. Everyone thinks they know who she is.
‘Most people studied the play at school. I did – I hated it. It was so boring but that’s because Shakespeare’s plays aren’t meant to be read, they’re meant to be acted.
‘People think they know Lady Macbeth as a type – the strong, controlling woman who pushed him to do it. She does things women shouldn’t do.
‘The greatest misconception is that we have stopped seeing Lady Macbeth as a human being.’
