Lesley Manville has opened a can of cyber worms with her curtain call comments

Last week, I popped along to the expansive and largely engrossing production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses at the National Theatre. Before the perofrmance started, an announcement kindly requested no photos be taken before the show, during the show, or for the curtain call. “That’s unusual,” I thought to myself, and my phone stayed in my pocket until I’d exited the auditorium.

The day after, the show’s star Lesley Manville went on BBC Radio 4 to bemoan the taking of photographs during the curtain call – a fairly widespread practice for UK theatregoers. Some shows, like Six, actively encourage audience members to “take their phones out, you’re gonna wanna film this.”

To Manville, this is deplorable, saying on Radio 4: “We are all in this room, we are telling you a story, you’re listening – clap or don’t clap, but don’t just stick your phone in our face. I find it insulting.”

Lots to unpack here. In a way, it’s fairly acceptable for a performer to request that photos of themselves not be taken. After giving your all for three hours, emerging to a sea of cameras must be fairly dispiriting. The performance is, in some ways, reduced to a photo op. Capturing the live, fleeting medium of theatre on grainy, shaky phone videos may pull away from its unique status.

On the other hand, as the very active comment sections have been saying since Manville first went on Radio 4, if audience members are paying top prices for tickets, are they not able to expect a photographic keepsake?

This question of money opens another can of cyber worms. Given the cost of theatre attendance these days, what are these social media photos if not a flaunting of wealth and privilege – especially for those who can afford the best seats in the house? Are the curtain call photos just a cheeky brag, a status symbol?

As someone who regularly films curtain calls for the WhatsOnStage socials, of course part of me cringes when I have to whip my phone out when I want to be cheering and applauding. I want to live in the moment. Admittedly, as I’m not the tallest tree in the forest, half the time a phone in the air is the only way to actually see the performers on stage (as mentioned by journalist and writer Kate Maltby when discussing the issue on BBC Front Row). But I also want our followers to know what excitement they have in store when they come to see the show.

Other issues are also at play. Manville has enjoyed a successful career involving being stood slap bang in the middle of a stage for many a curtain call. But for other performers, say, in the ensemble, those who don’t have 30 glossy production photos for their characters, a few photos from the bows can be very special. Furthermore, a curtain call photo can be an excellent celebration of the work done by others – a costume designer’s craft on full display, or say, in a show like Cynthia Erivo’s Dracula, the camera operators and WHAM specialists given a moment in the spotlight.

Ultimately, it has to come down to a producer choice. Some productions like Disney’s The Greatest Showman or the RSC’s My Neighbour Totoro have asked for no photos, and these requests have been honoured – I don’t think I’ve seen a single Showman curtain call snap from its preview run in Bristol. Totoro was never revealed during his wonderful bow. The West End production of Cabaret introduced stickers over cameras to add to the idea of mystique and exclusivity.

At the same time, many shows will pack photographers and videographers into their opening night curtain call to make sure the valuable marketing is leveraged. On the WhatsOnStage TikTok, these curtain call videos can sometimes bag millions of views – free exposure for the production. Some musicals, like Legally Blonde, have choreographed curtain call segments that can help entice digital users.

We were invited to the first preview of Paddington The Musical in order to film the bows. On a night that launched a new West End phenomenon, it was that curtain call video, with Arti Shah’s bear blinking amongst a sea of standing ovation, that performed better than almost anything else across the web.

These curtain call videos can do wonders in reaching new audiences, no matter the fiery debate about etiquette.