Page 157 - Media Coverage Book - 75th Aldeburgh Festival 2024

Steven Isserlis: 'You're meant to be transported into another world by a concert' CREDIT: Satoshi
Aoyagi

I think Benedict Cumberbatch dealt with this issue very well back in 2015. He was playing Hamlet
at the Barbican and stepped out of character to ask the audience to stop filming because it was
distracting him and preventing the suspension of disbelief. [Cumberbatch said: “I can see cameras
in the auditorium… It’s mortifying and there’s nothing that’s less supportive or enjoyable as an
actor on stage experiencing that.”]

I find it very condescending of concert organisers to assume that an audience can’t concentrate or
engage unless they’re holding their phones up. You’re meant to be transported into another world
by a concert, not yanked constantly into the present by the selfish behaviour of the person two
rows ahead of you.

I was playing at a festival in Italy recently and this woman in the front row was pointing her phone
camera right at my face in the most off-putting way. At the end of the movement I said to her,
“Could you please put your phone away”. I was obviously a little bit annoyed but I don’t think I was