Kevin Spacey (in Character) Stops Show to Scold Audience Member for Ringing Cell Phone

From left: Kevin Spacey, in Clarence Darrow; Neil Patrick Harris, in Hedwig and the Angry Inch; and James McAvoy
  Attention, theatergoers: Do not annoy Kevin Spacey when he's onstage – or prepare to incur his wrath.

The Oscar-winning actor, 54, scolded an audience member Wednesday during the opening night of his one-man show, Clarence Darrow, when a ringing cell phone blasted through London's Old Vic theater during a pivotal stage speech.

"If you don't answer that, I will!" Spacey pointedly said in character, reports the Independent newspaper, after the guilty party failed to silence the phone quickly. (The audience clearly appreciated the unscripted line, which was met with loud applause.)

The House of Cards star, who is wrapping up a 10-yeat stint as the Old Vic's artistic director, is not the only performer to call out an audience member for bad behavior. 

In April, Neil Patrick Harris stayed in character yet made his annoyance apparent when a female audience member yelled out "I love you, Neil" while he was performing the title role in Broadway's Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

"Who's Neil? I'm not Neil," he first replied, before adding, "I'm doing something up here, motherf–––." (In the context of the show, this isn't as confrontational as it might seem.)

Also adhering to the rules of theater attendance? James McAvoy, who halted a performance of Macbeth in London's West End last year. The actor shouted at an audience member who was filming the show without permission, reports the Telegraph.

But leave it to Broadway diva Patti LuPone to top them all.

In 2009, she dramatically stopped a Broadway performance of Gypsy for more than two minutes to berate someone in the audience for snapping photos. She demanded the offender be removed from the premises, then thanked the rest of the audience for abiding by the rules before transforming back into character of stage mother supreme, Mama Rose.

Later that year, LuPone made a similar move in Vegas when she caught someone snapping photos of her while performing "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina" from Evita – and later defended her actions to The New York Times.

Witchy sez:
We don't use cell phones. I think if it's for business, fine, but people use them as if they are afraid to be alone with their thoughts. I don't want to hear your conversation so take it to your car or your house (remember landlines).
I most hate it when parents use the cell phone in the presence of their children or at a restaurant and one or more is so busy on the phone they don't talk to their family, how sad and pathetic your life is!!!!! If you're already with your family, the phone call can wait.
Stop being so rude, self-absorbed and disrespectful!!
Want to annoy me just start pushing a grocery cart with one hand in the market and hold on to your phone with the other and carry a conversation we can all hear one side of. And when we try and pass you because you're right smack in the middle of the isle but you can't hear "excuse me" because you are too in thralled in your conversation. One of these times I'm just going to ram my cart right up your  A**  and see how fast you listen.