June 2, 2006
Stage Actor Richard Griffiths berates young man in audience for cell phone disturbance
Actor Richard Griffiths - up for a Best Actor Tony for playing an unconventional teacher in a British high school in "History Boys" and known for his roles as Uncle Vernon in the Harry Potter films - berrated a young man in the audience, the third time a cellphone rang out in the theater.
Interrupting his performance, he clamored: "Okay, I am not going to compete with these electronic devices. You were told to turn them off by the stage manager, you were told it was against the law, and you heard two phones go off already before this.
"You should be ashamed of yourself," Griffiths continued, in a fit of ring rage. "Now I'm going to exit, and we're going to start this scene again, so tech stand by ... and I assure you if we hear one more phone go off we'll be in our right mind to quit this afternoon's performance ... you have been warned."
In a previous London show, " Heroes ", Griffiths asked the woman in the audience who's cell phone rang, to get up and leave - which she agonizingly did while the audience gave her a standing ovation.
Related article: - Actor wins ovation as he stages attack on phone offender
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