Cynthia Erivo brings her one woman Dracula show to a halt after spotting an audience member filming the West End production on their phone

Cynthia Erivo brought her final West End performance in Dracula to a dramatic halt on Monday evening after an audience member was seen filming the production on her mobile phone.

The actress is currently on stage at London’s Noël Coward Theatre, in director Kip Williams’ contemporary one-woman adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic novel.

But Erivo, 39, cut short his show Monday evening by about ten minutes after noticing someone in the audience filming, in a direct violation of standard theater etiquette.

In footage circulating online, stunned spectators, most unaware of the problem, watch in stunned silence as the curtain comes down in the middle of the act.

As nervous laughter ripples around the room, a production assistant can be heard encouraging ticket holders to ‘stay in their seats’, assuring them that the production will ‘resume shortly’.

One theater goer wrote in a short clip of the incident: ‘Cynthia Erivo not watching someone filming in the audience during Dracula and stopping the entire show.’

Accordingly WhatsOnStageAnother described how he directly called the man out! He raised his hand and said, “Excuse me, are you applying right now?!” he said. And the person said ‘I’m sorry’.’

Erivo’s West End show divided theater critics, who praised her ‘incredible feat of endurance’ and insisted the play ‘has no bite’.

The show opened at the Noël Coward Theater in February, and first impressions were “disappointing” with many viewers who found the star “feeding on his words”. Telegram.

While most critics agreed on Cynthia’s ‘outstanding and hat-tip-worthy’ performance, it was the production itself that did not receive such glowing reviews.

Theater critics said the play was ‘convoluted and overlong’, even calling it a ‘bloodless, soul-draining affair’.

Sharing his mixed review of the series, Patrick Marmion of The Daily Mail gave the series only three stars, applauding Cynthia while criticizing the play.

He wrote: ‘For a very long and grueling two hours and five minutes he delivers an astonishing performance – without being at the mercy of any intervals – portraying a total of 23 characters from Bram Stoker’s 19th-century Gothic horror novel.’

‘The complexities in Stoker’s script begin to outweigh the complexities in Williams’ staging,’ he added.

‘But I still find myself tipping my pointy hat to Erivo.’

The actor portrays a total of 23 characters throughout the show, but despite the surprising success, disgruntled theater goers accused him of reading lines from a teleprompter.

“I saw it last night and was so disappointed,” one wrote on Reddit. ‘An interesting point about the last 30 minutes; I spent that time wondering when the show would end.

Footage circulating online stunned audience members – most of whom were unaware of the problem – who watched in stunned silence as the curtain came down midway through the act.

Fans praised Erivo for pulling the plug on her latest show after noticing a clear violation of theater etiquette among paying audiences

‘Normally I’m a big fan of the theater but to be honest I was disappointed to spend £70 on a ticket.’

Another fan responded to the comment, adding: ‘I tried so hard to get into this too but couldn’t.’

Another noted: ‘I wish I hadn’t bought tickets early for this.

There were technical and staging issues on my night, but worst of all Cynthia was having trouble remembering her lines and her place in the script (despite the automated cues appearing on both sides).

‘I think it was a rehashing of the Dorian Gray experience with a weaker story.

‘I’m sure the issues will be resolved within a few weeks and it will be fantastic and I fully accept that if you buy tickets at the start of the run you should be prepared for mishaps but to be honest this is disappointing.’

The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for further comment.