David Tennant was forced to bring a performance of Macbeth to an abrupt halt this week due to a disruption in the audience.

The Rivals star is currently appearing in a production of the William Shakespeare classic at London’s Harold Pinter Theatre, with Cush Jumbo appearing as his wife Lady Macbeth.

According to The Times, Tuesday night’s show was disrupted when an audience member left the auditorium to go to the toilet, and was told by staff he’d need to wait for a break in the play before he could return to his seat.

However, he apparently took issue with this request, and as the situation escalated, the house lights were raised and David left the stage so the matter could be dealt with.

The audience member in question then left the venue after around 15 minutes, and the play resumed.

A spokesperson for the play explained: “We can confirm there was an incident at the theatre last night, which made it necessary for the front of house team to request a show stop.

“This is standard practice, in order to deal with the situation as swiftly and effectively as possible, enabling the remainder of the production to continue with minimum impact to both the audience and company.”

David isn’t the only prolific performer to have a performance affected by audience disruptions, though.

When theatres re-opened after the Covid pandemic, singer and actor Beverley Knight spoke out when groups of patrons on two consecutive nights were asked to leave performances of her show The Drifters Girl due to disruptive behaviour.