Orlando Bloom is a stickler for theater rules. During a Thursday matinee performance of his play “Killer Joe” on London’s West End, the actor stopped the show twice to tell an audience member to put away her iPad.

London theater critic Mark Shenton tweeted an “eye-witness account” from the play, documenting Bloom’s unscripted outbursts, in which he threatened to stall the show if the iPad remained in sight.

“I need you to put [that] iPad away now!” Shenton quoted Bloom as saying, before reportedly adding minutes later, “Put that f—ing iPad away now and I will wait.”

Eye-witness account from today’s matinee of @KillerJoePlay: #OrlandoBloom made two unscripted interventions: “I need YOU to put iPad AWAY NOW!” Then again a few mins later: “PUT that fucking IPad away now and I will wait”. pic.twitter.com/WZ4ybgKexJ — Mark Shenton (@ShentonStage) July 26, 2018

Another audience member, actor Harry Edwin, replied to Shenton’s tweet to defend the iPad owner, behind whom he was sitting during the incident. According to Edwin, the woman in question was using the iPad “for her fan” in the hot theater.

“I was sat behind and although it would have looked bad, in her defense she was only using it for her fan as the auditorium was roasting!” Edwin wrote, posting a photo from behind the woman’s row that pictured a miniature fan propped up on an iPad with a blank screen.

I was sat behind and although it would have looked bad, in her defence she was only using it for her fan as the auditorium was roasting! #preshowpic pic.twitter.com/TAwSWLRT4b — Harry Edwin (@HarryEdwin_UK) July 26, 2018

“There was an incident at yesterday’s matinee of ‘Killer Joe’ that was dealt with swiftly and efficiently by the Front of House team,” a spokesperson for the theater told multiple outlets. “ 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 Trafalgar Studios’ team [does] a great job of making sure everyone at the Theatre can enjoy the live experience.”

