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AIBU?

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Original poster

To Think That Benedict Cumberbatch........

243 replies

LavenderRain · 10/08/2015 22:36

Is a bit of a nob?
I get that actors don't want to be filmed and think its bad when people use mobiles in live theatre.
But its hardly 'mortifying' as he told his 'fans'
He wants to live in the real world, he may then understand the true meaning of mortifying.

Refreshing to see on the Same news item that a Beatles tribute band actively encourage people to film their show.

OP posts:
SacredHeart · 11/08/2015 07:38

I think it probably is mortifying for him.

Cumberbatch is a upperclass respected actor who has massive admiration for the theatre and thanks to his fans this production has lost all of that and feels more like a heat magazine exposé.

I would be mortified too.

southeastdweller · 11/08/2015 07:41

All he's doing is walking about on stage, and talking at the same time

So laughable, it's almost pathetic Grin.

Pipbin · 11/08/2015 07:43

I reckon they should be escorted out tbh

I used to work front of house at a number of theatres. Getting someone from the middle of a row out of the theatre would cause much more disruption than them filming ever would.

I understand why he has done this. The only reason people are filming it is because he is in it. If the actors were a bunch of unknowns then no one would bother.
Like him or not it's his fans that are doing this and by him asking them it make them think twice. He is asking them to stop, not some faceless company laying down rules.

I worked in theatres in the very early days of mobile phones so they weren't ever really much of a problem.
However, I was working during a production of, I think, Hamlet which used a lot of dry ice. There was a load of teenaged school children in the front row and when the dry ice came over the edge of the stage they started some very dramatic, piss taking, coughing. The actor got really pissed off and shouted 'will you lot fucking shut up' at them!
The theatre manager apologised at the end for the 'non Shakespearian language'.

LittleCandle · 11/08/2015 07:48

While I think Cumberbatch is an over-rated nob, I have to agree with him. They shouldn't be filming in the theatre. oh how I hate to agree with him

LokiBear · 11/08/2015 07:59

I understand his feelings of mortification. That cold realisation when you are on stage and you realise your live performance is being filmed mist be mortifying. Every mistake you make is going to be filmed and posted around the world for all to see. That isn't how the theatre is supposed to work. Theatre is very different from television acting, you make a connection with the audiencr because you arr all in the same room, breathing the same air, living at the same time. The screen destroys that connection and changed that experience.As a teacher of Drama, I have done a lot of performance work in the past. My whole job is a performance of sorts. Yet, when I got married, I found the idea of walking down the aisle absolutely mortifying. The thought of 'all eyes on me' made me physically sick. It's the only reason I wore a veil - so I could hide! If I had seen someone with a video camera I would have been mortified. Luckily, unless we paid for the video licence people couldn't video in church anyway. I think what im trying to say is being a performer doesnt necessarily make you an extrovert and despite the fact that BC is an actor, well used to having his face plastered everywhere for films, he was not making a film at the time, he was doing something completely different.

AliceScarlett · 11/08/2015 08:11

He is BU by calling it mortifying, but i get that its annoying.

YoureAllABunchOfBastards · 11/08/2015 08:16

I saw Daniel Radcliffe in Cripple of Inishmaan. The twat next to me kept taking sneaky photos on his phone - mid performance and in front row so I couldn't say anything.

Pipbin · 11/08/2015 08:18

Why is he wrong to use the word mortifying?

To Think That Benedict Cumberbatch........
angelos02 · 11/08/2015 08:24

I think it would be great if some sort of device was invented to act as.a shield to stop mobile phones being able to work in a parameter around certain places. Eg, cinemas, theatres etc. I wish mobile phones had never been invented.

firesidechat · 11/08/2015 08:27

I both agree with him and think mortified is an accurate way to describe how he probably feels.

I would be mortified too if my "fans" didn't know how to behave properly in a theatre.

Wolpertinger · 11/08/2015 08:27

Because the real reason people shouldn't video in performances is that it's irritating and distracting for other audience members and performers.

Not that it embarrasses it's big star because he's soooo famous everyone wants to video him, not like the plebs he's working with.

Mortifying makes it all about precious Benedict.

TheCowThatLaughs · 11/08/2015 08:28

What is the other meaning of mortification anyway? I'm only aware of the "extreme embarrassment/shame" one

Kampeki · 11/08/2015 08:29

He is not responsible for the behaviour of his fans. I really don't get why he would be embarrassed or ashamed. They might be filming for any number of reasons, in any case.

Kampeki · 11/08/2015 08:30

Mortifying makes it all about precious Benedict.

Yes, exactly.

Original poster
LavenderRain · 11/08/2015 08:30

In my job, parents are mortified when they receive bad news about their newborn, and staff and parents are mortified when a baby dies.
comparing this to being filmed just struck me as trivial but maybe im abit too sensitive after a bad few days at work and I cant stand BC

OP posts:
firesidechat · 11/08/2015 08:32

But it is about him isn't it. They do it because it's BC and they just lurves him so much. Would they even go to a Shakespeare tragedy if he wasn't in it? It certainly appears that they aren't regular theatre goers.

firesidechat · 11/08/2015 08:34

What is the other meaning of mortification anyway? I'm only aware of the "extreme embarrassment/shame" one

Something to do with mortifying the body ie fasting, wearing a hair shirt.

TheCowThatLaughs · 11/08/2015 08:39

Thanks fireside. Presumably he didn't mean that then??

Idontseeanytimelords · 11/08/2015 08:40

People use the word mortifying for all sorts of situations, I'm pretty certain he had no intention of comparing embarrassing fans to bereaved parents.
It is all about him though on this occasion - I would bet that a lot of the people who waited for hours to get tickets wouldn't have gone to see the play if it had been an unknown actor in the role. It's his fans who are disrupting the whole thing for the rest of the audience and the other actors, who for all we know have actually asked him to say something in public about it.

Idontseeanytimelords · 11/08/2015 08:41

Lavender that reads back to me a bit snippy Blush, it want meant to be! Thanks

hackmum · 11/08/2015 08:44

I agree completely with Cumberbatch. I think people who film stage performances on their phones are despicable and should be chucked out of the theatre.

As people seem very hung up on this thread about the precise meaning of words, I find it quite irritating that people mix up "knob" and "nob". The OP means that BC is a "knob", i.e. a bit of an idiot. "Nob" means a posh person.

Caprinihahahaha · 11/08/2015 08:46

Mortifying is extreme embarrassment not distress.
It's the right word.

A person isn't mortified by a death. That's grief/distress. Mortification is embarrassment and shame.

When I've said my DD swore in public and I was mortified have some people assumed I was grief stricken?

It's got nothing to do with grief or upset.

AlbrechtDurer · 11/08/2015 08:47

Going to the theatre is my main hobby. I won't go to see anything with BC or David Tennant in because of the way that audiences behave during the show. I actually feel quite sorry for these actors, the level of what can only be described as obsessive stalking is quite disturbing. I know that the theatres are given details of the most unhinged individuals to look out for.

BalloonSlayer · 11/08/2015 08:56

I took him to be "mortified" (i.e. ashamed, embarrassed) as his actual presence is, in a way, spoiling the entire performance for the other actors - and audience members I imagine - with these distracting recording devices being used.

Seriously? Is that actually what he meant by it? I had no idea. I thought he was genuinely displeased about rude modern audience behaviour and trying to make a point.

So, what you think he is saying is, in a nutshell . . .

"It makes me really embarrassed and ashamed that I am soooo much more famous and soooo much more sexy, and have soooo many more fans than all the other actors in this play that all these plebs who have never been to the theatre before and don't know how to behave are flocking to see me and I'm soooo embarrassed, poor POOR me to be so adored!"

His fellow actors must just LOVE him. Grin

I was saying to DH last night that the "Luvvies" column in Private Eye will have to be extended to a whole page to cope with all this.

hackmum · 11/08/2015 09:01

But BalloonSlayer, it's true that Cumberbatch is now mega-famous. This production of Hamlet sold out faster than any other West End theatrical production in history. Do you seriously think that was down to the reputation of its director and the other actors (whose names hadn't even been announced at the time)?

Yes, a lot of the audience are there just to see Cumberbatch. Some of them are twats who think it's a good idea to film the performance. Yes, Cumberbatch probably feels embarrassed about it because it puts the focus on him and detracts attention away from the rest of the cast. I completely understand why he feels mortified by it. You - and others - seem to want to twist his words to make him seem vain and self-aggrandising when he is simply expressing a reasonable sense of embarrassment.