Cumberbitches Cumberbabes, put down those phones and cameras.
Benedict Cumberbatch delighted a slew of fans waiting outside for him outside the stage door of the Barbican Theatre in London on Saturday after his performance in the new production of Hamlet by greeting them and speaking to them directly for a full minute and a half.
However, the immensely popular Sherlock actor's tone was somber, as he made a special plea to the group, addressing "all these cameras, all these phones, everyone filming me."
"I don't use social media and I'd really appreciate it if you did tweet, blog, hashtag the s--t out of this one for me," he said, drawing laughs. "I don't mind this, this is part of it, photographs, whatever, outside—fine. [Inside] I can see cameras, I can see red lights in the auditorium. And it may not be any of you here that did that but it's blindingly obvious."
Cumberbatch, 39, told the fans that during Saturday's performance, he "could see a red light at about the third row on the right."
"It's mortifying," he said.
Photo credit: Johan Persson
Posted by Barbican Centre on Friday, August 7, 2015
The new production of Hamlet opened on Wednesday and runs through Oct. 31. Cumberbatch told the fans that the venue plans to install devices that will have shutterbugs "detected and evicted."
"I don't want that to happen," he said. "So listen, this isn't me blaming you, this is just me asking you to just ripple it out there, in the brilliantly useful way that you do, with the funny, electronic things. I really appreciate it."