Image copyright Marc Brenner
Orlando Bloom plays a contract killer in Killer Joe
Actor Orlando Bloom halted a theatre performance of Killer Joe twice on Thursday to ask an audience member to put her iPad away, reports said.
Eye-witness accounts on social media said Bloom made unscripted interruptions to berate the theatre-goer at London's Trafalgar Studios.
"I need YOU to put iPad AWAY NOW!" he shouted, according to a tweet by theatre critic Mark Shenton.
In a statement the show's producers confirmed an "incident" took place.
"The Trafalgar Studios is a very intimate performance space, which can make the use of electronic devices by any audience member extremely distracting for the company," the statement continued.
Bloom has not commented publicly.
The British actor's firm stance was largely met with praise on social media.
One fan praised him for "publicly rebuking" the woman.
Saw the matinee performance of Killer Joe with Orlando Bloom this afternoon. Brilliant performances all round and well done to Mr Bloom for publicly rebuking the woman in the audience trying to film him on her iPad, and then smoothly continuing with the show @KillerJoePlay
— Philippa Hall (@philippajuul) July 26, 2018
Another audience member commented that he managed to stay in character during the outburst.
Killer Joewritten by Tracy Lettssees Bloom play Joe Cooper, a police detective who moonlights as a contract killer.
But another audience member suggested the woman had not been trying to film him, adding he "wouldn't be able to see this though".
There’s a pic someone posted of this lady. She wasn’t filming. She had a small fan plugged into the top of her iPad and was using its power to work the fan. iPad was clearly not switched on. Orlando Bloom wouldn’t be able to see this though.
— Anne Mizrahi (@fluteannie) July 27, 2018