Benedict Cumberbatch has pleaded for fans to stop distracting him after one filmed his ‘To be or not to be’ speech in Hamlet. But this is just one of the many new perils today’s actors face

“When sorrows come,” says Claudius in Hamlet, “they come not single spies – but in battalions.” Benedict Cumberbatch, hardly out of the blocks with his hotly-anticipated portrayal of the great Dane, is now discovering the truth behind the Bard’s wise words.

The play – which sold out in minutes last year, making it the fastest-selling production in British history – was reportedly stopped twice during a preview performance on Saturday thanks to technical difficulties. But Cumberbatch complained that restarting his performance had been made even harder by the “blindingly obvious” filming by “someone in the third row”. Worse, it was during his “To be or not to be” speech. And worse still, the production had decided to transpose these iconic words to the very opening of the show, which meant Cumberbatch had to slam on the brakes when he’d barely started trundling down the runway. He described the experience as “mortifying”.

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